Debs: His Life, Writings and Speeches, with a Department of AppreciationsDebs, Eugene V. (Eugene Victor)
History
Debs: His Life, Writings and Speeches, with a Department of Appreciations
Debs, Eugene V. (Eugene Victor)
Socialism -- United States; Socialist Party (U.S.)
No stronger or more convincing proof is required of Mr. Roosevelt’s
allegiance to capital and opposition to labor, nor of the class struggle
and class rule which he so vehemently denies; and the workingman who in
the face of these words and acts, can still support Mr. Roosevelt, must
feel himself flattered in being publicly proclaimed a barbarian, and
sheer gratitude, doubtless, impels him to crown his benefactor with the
highest honors.
If the working class are barbarians, according to Mr. Roosevelt, this
may account for his esteeming himself as having the very qualities
necessary to make himself Chief of the Tribe.
But it must be noted that Mr. Roosevelt denounced organized labor as
savages long before he was a candidate for president. After he became a
candidate he joined the tribe and is today, himself, according to his
own dictum, a barbarian and the enemy of civic morality.
The labor union to which President Roosevelt belongs and which he is
solemnly obligated to support, is unanimously opposed to “Government by
Injunction.” President Roosevelt knew it when he joined it and he also
knew that those who oppose injunction rule have the instincts of
cannibals and are a menace to morality, but his proud nature succumbed
to political ambition, and his ethical ideas vanished as he struck the
trail that led to the tribe and, after a most dramatic scene and
impressive ceremony, was decorated with the honorary badge of
international barbarism.
How Theodore Roosevelt, the trade-unionist, can support the presidential
candidate who denounced him as an immoral and dangerous barbarian, he
may decide at his leisure, and so may all other union men in the United
States who are branded with the same vulgar stigma, and their ballots
will determine if they have the manhood to resent insult and rebuke its
author, or if they have been fitly characterized and deserve humiliation
and contempt.
The appointment of Judge Taft to a cabinet position is corroborative
evidence, if any be required, of President Roosevelt’s fervent faith in
Government by Injunction. Judge Taft first came into national notoriety
when, some years ago, sitting with Judge Ricks, who was later tried for
malfeasance, they issued the celebrated injunction during the Toledo,
Ann Arbor & North Michigan railroad strike that paralyzed the
Brotherhoods of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen and won for them the
gratitude and esteem of every corporation in the land. They were hauled
to Toledo, the headquarters of the railroad, in a special car, pulled by
a special engine, on special time, and after hastily consulting the
railroad magnates and receiving instructions, let go the judicial
lightning that shivered the unions to splinters and ended the strike in
total defeat. Judge Taft is a special favorite with the trust barons and
his elevation to the cabinet was ratified with joy at the court of St.
Plutus.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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