Labor and Freedom: The Voice and Pen of Eugene V. DebsDebs, Eugene V. (Eugene Victor)
History
Labor and Freedom: The Voice and Pen of Eugene V. Debs
Debs, Eugene V. (Eugene Victor)
Labor -- United States; Socialism -- United States; Socialist Party (U.S.); Working class -- United States
This national scandal shows up the president's two-faced character so
clearly and convincingly that it leaves not so much as a pin-hole for
escape. It is a damning indictment of not only the president, but the
whole brood of plutocrats, promoters and grafting politicians who have
been looting this nation for years.
There is one among these illuminating epistles which I want to burn in
the minds of the working class dupes who have been bowing in the dust
before this blustering bully of the White House:
"Personal.
"October 1, 1904.--My Dear Mr. Harriman: A suggestion has come to me in
a round-about way that you do not think it wise to come to see me in
these closing weeks of the campaign, but that you are reluctant to
refuse, inasmuch as I have asked you. Now, my dear sir, you and I are
practical men, and you are on the ground and know the conditions better
than I do.
"If you think there is any danger of your visit to me causing trouble,
or if you think there is nothing special I should be informed about, or
any matter in which I could give aid, why, of course, give up the visit
for the time being, and then, a few weeks hence, before I write my
message, I shall get you to come down to discuss certain government
matters not connected with the campaign. With great regards, sincerely
yours,
(Signed) "THEODORE ROOSEVELT."
Does not this brand the president with the duplicity of a Tweed and the
cunning of a Quay?
Would a president who is honest with the people clandestinely consort
with the villain he characterizes as a liar and all that is vicious?
The disclosures made in the secret correspondence strip the president of
the last shred of deception with which to cloak his perfidy. The mask is
lifted and the exposure is complete. It is in the president's own
handwriting in a letter to Harriman that would never have seen the light
had not circumstances forced it upon the attention of a betrayed people.
It is adroitly phrased, but its meaning is not in doubt. He knew
Harriman then as he knows him now; wanted his boodle and insinuatingly
coaxed him to sneak to the White House when no one was looking, and only
after he was discovered did he denounce Harriman as a liar and fall into
his usual fit of moral epilepsy.
From now on there will be a sharp decline in the stock of Theodore
Roosevelt. The capitalist papers may continue to boom him as the only
savior and his corps of press agents at the White House may continue to
grind out three-column stories about the awful conspiracy of his
"trusty" friends to ruin him, but his bubble is pricked and the cheap
glory in which he reveled is departing forever.
The people have been sadly deceived for a time, but the march of events
is opening their eyes.
Only the very ignorant and foolish believe that a president who has
surrounded himself with Wall Street darlings as cabinet ministers has
any serious designs on the trusts.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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