THE DEBS DECISION _By_ SCOTT NEARING Published by THE RAND SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE New York City Copyright RAND SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE 7 East 15th Street New York 1919 THE DEBS DECISION _By_ SCOTT NEARING 1. THE SUPREME COURT The Supreme Court of the United States on March 10, 1919, handed down adecision on the Debs case. That decision is far-reaching in itsimmediate significance and still more far-reaching in its ultimateimplications. What is the Supreme Court of the United States? Article III, Section I of the Constitution provides as follows: "The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one SupremeCourt. . . . The judges shall hold their offices during good behavior. " The judges are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate(Article XII, Section II). That is all the constitution provides withregard to the Supreme Court. At the present time, there are nine judges on the Supreme bench. Itmight interest you to know some facts about the nine. All of the judgesare men. The chief justice is Edward D. White, who was born in 1845 andadmitted to the bar in 1868. He is seventy-three years of age. Hisbirth-place was Louisiana. He served in the Confederate Army, in theState Senate, in the State Supreme Court and in the United StatesSenate. He has been a member of the Supreme Court for twenty-five years. Joseph McKenna is the second member in point of seniority. He was bornin 1843. His birth-place is Philadelphia. He was a county DistrictAttorney, a member of the State Legislature, a member of the nationalHouse of Representatives, attorney-general of the United States and aUnited States Circuit Judge. He has been a member of the Supreme Courtfor twenty-two years. Oliver W. Holmes, the Justice who read the Debsdecision, was born in Boston in 1841. He is seventy-seven years of age. He was admitted to the bar in 1866. Justice Holmes served in the UnionArmy; he was a member of the Harvard Law School Faculty. He has been amember of the Supreme Court for seventeen years. Those are the threeoldest men on the Supreme bench. They are the three men who have been onthe bench longest, but their political background is typical of thepolitical background of the other members of the Supreme Court, with thesingle exception of Justice Louis D. Brandeis, who as far as I know, held no public office at all before he was appointed a justice of theSupreme Court three years ago. The nine members of the Supreme Court are all old men. Four of them wereborn before 1850; eight of them were born before 1860; one of them wasborn since 1861, that is, James C. McReynolds, who was born in 1862. There is not a single member of the Supreme Court bench born since theCivil War. The oldest man on the bench is Justice Holmes, seventy-seven;the youngest man on the bench is Justice McReynolds, fifty-seven; theaverage age of the justices of the Supreme Court is sixty-six years. These men all began practising law while we were children, or before wewere born. Three of them began the practice of law before 1870; six ofthem began to practice law before 1880; nine of them before 1884. Thelast member of the Supreme bench to be admitted to the practice of law, Justice McReynolds, was admitted in 1884. The Supreme Court Justices were educated in the generation preceding themodern epoch of financial imperialism. They were mature when theindustrial order as we know it today, was established. They are the menwhose word is the word of final authority in all the affairs concerningthe government of the United States. The Supreme Court, not because the Constitution grants it the power, butbecause successive decisions of the Court have established thatprecedent, has the right to veto any piece of legislation passed byCongress and signed by the President. The Supreme Court is the voice offinal authority in the affairs of the government of the United States. After it has spoken, there is no further authority under the machineryof this government. The Debs Case came before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has givenits decision. Eugene Debs goes to jail for ten years. Under the existingorder of government, there is no appeal from this decision, except anappeal to arbitrary executive clemency. 2. THE CANTON SPEECH The Debs Case arose over a speech made by Debs in Canton, Ohio, June16th, 1918. The speech was made before the State Socialist Convention, where Debs was talking to his comrades in the Socialist movement. Themain parts of this speech, as printed in the indictment under which Debswas convicted, are as follows: "I have just returned from a visit from yonder (pointing to workhouse)were three of our most loyal comrades are paying the penalty for theirdevotion to the cause of the working class. They have come to realize, as many of us have, that it is extremely dangerous to exercise theconstitutional right of free speech in a country fighting to makedemocracy safe for the world. I realize in speaking to you thisafternoon that there are certain limitations placed upon the right offree speech. I must be extremely careful, prudent, as to what I say, andeven more careful and prudent as to how I say it. I may not be able tosay all I think, but I am not going to say anything I do not think. AndI would rather a thousand times be a free soul in jail than a sycophantor coward on the streets. They may put those boys in jail and some ofthe rest of us in jail, but they cannot put the Socialist movement injail. Those prison bars separate their bodies from ours, but their soulsare here this afternoon. They are simply paying the penalty that all menhave paid in all of the ages of history for standing erect and seekingto pave the way for better conditions for mankind. "If it had not been for the men and women who, in the past, have had themoral courage to go to jail, we would still be in the jungles. "Why should a Socialist be discouraged on the eve of the greatesttriumph of all the history of the Socialist movement? It is true thatthese are anxious, trying days for us all, testing those who areupholding the banner of the working class in the greatest struggle theworld has ever known against the exploiters of the world; a time inwhich the weak, the cowardly, will falter and fail and desert. They lackthe fibre to endure the revolutionary test. They fall away. Theydisappear as if they had never been. "On the other hand, they who are animated with the unconquerable spiritof the social revolution, they who have the moral courage to standerect, to assert their convictions, to stand by them, to go to jail orto hell for them--they are writing their names in this crucial hour, they are writing their names in fadeless letters in the history ofmankind. Those boys over yonder, those comrades of ours--and how I lovethem--aye, they are our younger brothers, their names are seared in oursouls. "I am proud of them. They are there for us and we are here for them. Their lips, though temporarily mute, are more eloquent than ever before, and their voices, though silent, are heard around the world. "Are we opposed to Prussian militarism? Why, we have been fighting itsince the day the Socialistic movement was born and we are going tocontinue to fight it today and until it is wiped from the face of theearth. "The other day they sent a woman to Wichita Penitentiary for ten years. Just think of sentencing a woman to the penitentiary for talking. TheUnited States under the rule of the plutocrats is the only country whichwould send a woman to the penitentiary for ten years for exercising theright to free speech. If this be treason, let them make the most of it. Let me review another bit of history. I have known this woman for tenyears. Personally I know her as if she were my own younger sister. Sheis a woman of absolute integrity. She is a woman of courage. She is awoman of unimpeachable loyalty to the Socialist movement. She went outinto Dakota and made her speech, followed by plain-clothes men in theservice of the government, intent upon encompassing her arrest, prosecuted and convicted. She made a certain speech and that speech wasdeliberately misrepresented for the purpose of securing her conviction. The only testimony was that of a hired witness. And thirty farmers whowent to Bismarck to testify in her favor, the judge refused to allow totestify. This would seem incredible to me if I had not some experienceof my own with a Federal Court. Who appoints the Federal Courts? Thepeople? Every solitary one of them holds his position through influenceand power of corporation capital. And when they go to the bench, they gothere not to serve the people, but to serve the interests who sent them. The other day, by a vote of five to four, they declared the Child LaborLaw unconstitutional; a law secured after twenty years of education andagitation by all kinds of people, and yet by a majority of one, theSupreme Court, a body of corporation lawyers, with just one solitaryexception, wiped it from the Statute books, so that we may stillcontinue to grind the blood of little children into profit for theJunkers of Wall Street, and this in a country that is now fighting tomake democracy safe for the world. These are not palatable truths tothem. And they do not want you to hear them and that is why they brandus as traitors and disloyalists. If we were not traitors to the people, we would be eminently respectable citizens and ride in limousines. It isprecisely because we are disloyal to the traitors that we are notdisloyal to the people of this country. "How short-sighted the ruling is. The exploiter cannot see beyond theend of his nose. He has just been cunning enough to know what graft isand where it is, but he has no vision. You know this is a greatthrobbing world that speaks out in all directions. Look at Rockefeller. Every move he makes hastens the coming of his doom. Every time thecapitalist class tries to hinder the cause of Socialism they hurtthemselves. Every time they strangle a Socialist newspaper they add athousand voices to those which are aiding Socialism. The Socialist has agreat idea. An expanding philosophy. It is spreading over the face ofthe earth. It is as useless to resist it as it is to resist the risingsun. Can you see it? If you cannot you are lacking in vision, inunderstanding. What a privilege it is to serve it. I have regretted athousand times I can do so little for the movement that has done so muchfor me. The little that I am, the little that I am hoping to be, is duewholly to the Socialist movement. It gave me my ideas and my ideals, andI would not exchange one of them for all the Rockefeller blood-staineddollars. It taught me how to serve; a lesson to me of priceless value. It taught the ecstasy of the handclasp of the comrade. It made itpossible for me to get in touch with you, to multiply myself over andover again; to open the avenue, to spread out the glorious vistas; toknow that I am kin with all that throbs; with all who become classconscious. Every man who toils, everyone of them, is my comrade. Toserve them is the highest duty of my life. And in the service I can feelmyself expanding. I rise to the stature of a man. Yes, my heart isattuned to yours. All of our hearts are melted into one great heartwhich throbs to the response of the people. "Here I hear your heart beats responsive to the Bolsheviki of Russia. (Applause) Yes, those heroic men and women, those unconquerablecomrades, who have by their sacrifice added fresh lustre to theinternational movement. Those Russian comrades who have made greatersacrifices, who have suffered more, who have shed more heroic blood thanany like number of men and women anywhere else on earth. They have ledthe first real convention of any democracy that ever drew breath. Thefirst act of that memorable revolution was to proclaim a state of peacewith an appeal not to the kings, not to the rulers, but an appeal to thepeople of all nations. They are the very breath of democracy; thequintessence of freedom. They made their appeal to the people of allnations, the Allies as well as the Central Powers, to sendrepresentatives to lay down terms of a peace that should be lasting. Here was a fine opportunity to strike a blow to make democracy safe tothe world. Was there any response to that noble appeal? And here let mesay that appeal will be written in letters of gold in the history of theworld. While it has been charged that the leaders made a traitorouspeace with Germany, let us consider this proposition briefly. At thetime of the revolution, Russia had lost 4, 000, 000 of her soldiers. Shewas absolutely bankrupt. Her soldiers were without arms. This was whatwas bequeathed to the revolution by the Czar. For this condition, LeonTrotsky was not responsible nor was the Bolshevik movement, but the Czarwas. "When Leon Trotsky came into power, he found the secret treaties madebetween the French government and the British government and the Italiangovernment which was to divide the territory of the Central Powers ifthe Allies were victorious, and these secret treaties have not beenrepudiated up to this time. Very little has been said about them in theAmerican newspapers. This shows that the purpose of the Allies isexactly the purpose of the Central Powers. "Wars have been waged for conquests, for plunder, and since the feudalages, the feudal lords along the Rhine made war upon each other. Theywanted to enlarge their domains, to increase their power and theirwealth and so they declared war upon each other. But they did not go towar any more than the Wall Street Junkers go to war. Their predecessorsdeclared the wars, but their miserable serfs fought the wars. The serfsbelieved that it was their patriotic duty to fall upon one another, towage war upon one another. And that is war in a nut shell. The masterclass has always brought a war, and the subject class has fought thebattle. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, andthe subject class has had all to lose and nothing to gain. They havealways taught you that it is your patriotic duty to go to war andslaughter yourselves at their command. You have never had a voice in thewar. The working class who made the sacrifices, who shed the blood, havenever yet had a voice in declaring war. The ruling class has always madethe war and made the peace. "Yours not to question why, Yours but to do and die. "Another bit of history I want to review is that of Rose Pastor Stokes, another inspiring comrade. She had her millions of dollars. Her devotionto the cause is without all consideration of a financial or economicview. She went out to render service to the cause and they sent her tothe penitentiary for ten years. What has she said? Nothing more than Ihave said here this afternoon. I want to say that if Rose Pastor Stokesis guilty, so am I. If she should be sent to the penitentiary for tenyears, so ought I. What did she say? She said that a government couldnot serve both the profiteers and the employees of the profiteers. Roosevelt has said a thousand times more in his paper, the _Kansas CityStar_. He would do everything possible to discredit Wilson'sadministration in order to give his party credit. The Republican andDemocratic parties are all patriots this fall and they are going tocombine to prevent the election of any disloyal Socialists. Do you knowof any difference between them? One is in, the other is out. That is allthe difference. "Rose Pastor Stokes never said a word she did not have a right to utter, but her message opened the eyes of the people. That must be suppressed. That voice must be silenced. Her trial in a capitalist court was veryfarcical. What chance had she in a corporation court with a put-up juryand a corporation tool on the bench? "Every Socialist on the face of the earth is animated by the sameprinciples. Everywhere they have the same noble idea, everywhere theyare calling one another 'comrade, ' the noblest word that springs fromthe heart and soul of unity. The word 'comrade' is getting us intocloser touch all along the battle line. They are waging the war of theworking class against the ruling class of the world. They conquerdifficulties; they grow stronger through them all. "The heart of the international Socialist never beats a retreat. Theyare pressing forward here, there, everywhere, in all the zones thatgirdle this globe. These workers, these class-conscious workers, thesechildren of honest toil are wiping out the boundary lines everywhere. They are proclaiming the glad tidings of the coming emancipation. Everywhere they are having their hearts attuned to the sacred cause;everywhere they are moving toward democracy, moving toward the sunrise, their faces aglow with the light of coming day. These are the men whomust guide us in the greatest crisis the world has ever known. They aremaking history. They are bound upon the emancipation of the human race. "Few men have the courage to say a decent word in favor of the I. W. W. I have. (Here several in the crowd yelled, 'So have I. ') "After long investigation by five men who are not Socialists: JohnGraham Brooks, Harvard University; Mr. Bruere, Government investigator(other names not noted), a pamphlet has been issued called 'The TruthAbout the I. W. W. ' "These men investigated the I. W. W. They have examined its doings, beginning at Bisbee, Arizona, where the officers deported five hundred. It is only necessary to label a man, 'I. W. W. ' to lynch him. Just thinkof the state of mind for which the capitalist press is responsible. "When Wall Street yells war, you may rest assured every pulpit in theland will yell war. The press and the pulpit have in every age and everynation been on the side of the exploiting class and the ruling class. That's why the I. W. W. Is infamous. "The I. W. W. In its career has never committed as much violence againstthe ruling class as the ruling class has committed against the people. The trial at Chicago is now on and they have not proven violence in asingle solitary case, and yet, one hundred and twelve have been on trialfor months and months without a shade of evidence. And this is all inits favor. And for this and many other reasons, the I. W. W. Is fightingthe fight of the bottom dog. For the very reason that Gompers isglorified by Wall Street, Bill Haywood is despised by Wall Street. Whatyou need is greater organization. "In the shop is where the industrial union has its beginning. Organize. Define your capacity. Act together. And when you organize industriallyyou will soon learn that you can manage industrially as well as operateindustry. You will find that you do not have to take work from them; yougive them work to do. You can dispense with them. You ought to own yourown tools. Organize industrially. Make the organization complete. Unitein the Socialist party. Vote as you organize. Stand with your party. Seethat that improves the working class, especially this year when theforces will clash as they have never clashed before. Take your place inthe ranks. Help to inspire the weak and strengthen the faltering. Then, when we vote together we will develop the supreme power of the one classthat can bring peace in the world. We will transfer the title deeds ofthe railroads, of the telegraphs, the mines and the mills. We willtransfer them to the people. We will take possession in the name of thepeople. We will have industrial, social and political democracy. Thischange will be universal. "And now for all of us to do our duty. The call is ringing in your ears. Do not worry over the charge of treason to your masters, but beconcerned about the treason that involves yourself. This year we aregoing to sweep into power and in this nation we are going to destroycapitalistic institutions and recreate them. . . . The world of capital iscollapsing. We need industrial builders. We Socialists are the buildersof the world that is to be. We are inviting you this afternoon. Join andit will help you. "In due course of time we will proclaim the emancipation of thebrotherhood of all mankind. " 3. THE DAY BEFORE THE TRIAL These were the essential parts of the speech which Debs made at Canton. He was indicted. On Monday, September 9th, the case went to trial inCleveland. I happened to be out West at the time, and on Sunday, September 8th, Ihad the opportunity of spending the afternoon with Debs and his attorneyand of hearing him review the case. The case was discussed, theattorneys presenting the various possibilities. Debs made it quite clearthat there was only one thing he could do and that was to repeat hisCanton speech. He said, "I have nothing to take back. All I said Ibelieve to be true. I have no reason to change my mind. I have no reasonto change my position. " His lawyers and he knew on Sunday that thefollowing week would see him sentenced to the penitentiary. He spoke of it in his quiet way as his simple opportunity to serve thecause. He said that he had always felt like a member of the rank andfile, and now he had his chance to travel along the road the ordinaryman had to follow, under ordinary circumstances--to go right on alongthe road and ignore the difficulties that were ahead. He was an old man, broken in health, facing, without flinching, without budging an eyelid, a possibility of twenty years in jail. I remember leaving the Hotel that afternoon and walking down to thestation and saying to myself: "If that man can behave as he does, thereis surely no excuse for us younger chaps, " and I felt then as I havefelt ever since that I never in my life came in contact with so radianta spirit as I did that afternoon when Debs was getting ready to take hisplace in the Federal Court and receive a penitentiary sentence. 4. DEBS ADDRESSES THE JURY When the prosecution had finished with its case, the defense rested, andDebs addressed the jury in his own behalf. In that speech to the jury hesaid again the things that he had said at Canton, and then he addedother things that a jury of old men, who had never heard aboutSocialism, should know about the purposes of the Socialist movement. Here are some of the more important passages as taken from the recordsof the court stenographer: "May it please the Court, and Gentlemen of the Jury: "For the first time in my life I appear before a jury in a court of lawto answer to an indictment for crime. I am not a lawyer. I know littleabout court procedure, about the rules of evidence or legal practice. Iknow only that you gentlemen are to hear the evidence brought againstme, that the Court is to instruct you in the law, and that you are thento determine by your verdict whether I shall be branded with criminalguilt and be consigned, perhaps to the end of my life, in a felon'scell. "Gentlemen, I do not fear to face you in this hour of accusation, nor doI shrink from the consequences of my utterances or my acts. Standingbefore you, charged as I am with crime, I can look the Court in theface, I can look you in the face, I can look the world in the face, forin my conscience, in my soul, there is festering no accusation of guilt. "Gentlemen, you have heard the report of my speech at Canton on June16th, and I submit that there is not a word in that speech to warrantthese charges. I admit having delivered the speech. I admit the accuracyof the speech in all of its main features as reported in thisproceeding. There were two distinct reports. They vary somewhat, butthey are agreed upon all of the material statements embodied in thatspeech. "In what I had to say there, my purpose was to educate the people tounderstand something about the social system in which we live, and toprepare them to change this system by perfectly peaceable and orderlymeans into what I, as a Socialist, conceive to be a real democracy. "From what you heard in the address of counsel for the prosecution, youmight naturally infer that I am an advocate of force and violence. Itis not true. I have never advocated violence in any form. I alwaysbelieved in education, in intelligence, in enlightenment, and I havealways made my appeal to the reason and to the conscience of the people. "I admit being opposed to the present form of government. I admit beingopposed to the present social system. I am doing what little I can, andhave been for many years, to bring about a change that shall do awaywith the rule of the great body of the people by a relatively smallclass and establish in this country an industrial social democracy. "In the course of the speech that resulted in this indictment, I amcharged with having expressed sympathy for Kate Richards O'Hare, forRose Pastor Stokes, for Ruthenberg, Wagenknecht and Baker. I did expressmy perfect sympathy with these comrades of mine. I have known them formany years. I have every reason to believe in their integrity, everyreason to look upon them with respect, with confidence, and withapproval. "I have been accused of expressing sympathy for the Bolsheviki ofRussia. I plead guilty to the charge. I have read a great deal about theBolsheviki of Russia that is not true. I happen to know of my ownknowledge that they have been grossly misrepresented by the press ofthis country. Who are these much-maligned revolutionists of Russia? Foryears they had been the victims of a brutal Czar. They and theirantecedents were sent to Siberia, lashed with a knout, if they evendreamed of freedom. At last the hour struck for a great change. Therevolution came. The Czar was overthrown and his infamous régime ended. What followed? The common people of Russia came into power, thepeasants, the toilers, the soldiers, and they proceeded as best theycould to establish a government of the people. "It may be that the much-despised Bolsheviki may fail at last, but letme say to you that they have written a chapter of glorious history. Itwill stand to their eternal credit. Their leaders are now denounced ascriminals and outlaws. Let me remind you that there was a time whenGeorge Washington, who is now revered as the father of his country, wasdenounced as a disloyalist, when Sam Adams, who is known to us as thefather of the American Revolution, was condemned as an incendiary, andPatrick Henry, who delivered that inspired and inspiring oration thataroused the colonists, was condemned as a traitor. "They were misunderstood at the time. They stood true to themselves, andthey won an immortality of gratitude and glory. "When great changes occur in history, when great principles areinvolved, as a rule the majority are wrong. The minority are right. Inevery age there have been a few heroic souls who have been in advance oftheir time, who have been misunderstood, maligned, persecuted, sometimesput to death. Long after their martyrdom monuments were erected to themand garlands were woven for their graves. "I have been accused of having obstructed the war. I admit it. Gentlemen, I abhor war. I would oppose the war if I stood alone. When Ithink of a cold, glittering steel bayonet being plunged in the white, quivering flesh of a human being, I recoil with horror. I have oftenwondered if I could take the life of my fellow men, even to save my own. "Men talk about holy wars. There are none. Let me remind you that it wasBenjamin Franklin who said, 'There was never a good war or a bad peace. ' "Napoleon Bonaparte was a high authority upon the subject of war. Andwhen in his last days he was chained to the rock of St. Helena, when hefelt the skeleton hand of death reaching for him, he cried out inhorror, 'War is the trade of savages and barbarians. ' "I have read some history. I know that it is ruling classes that makewar upon one another, and not the people. In all of the history of thisworld the people have never yet declared a war. Not one. I do notbelieve that really civilized nations would murder one another. I wouldrefuse to kill a human being on my own account. Why should I at thecommand of anyone else or at the command of any power on earth? "Twenty centuries ago one appeared upon earth whom we know as the Princeof Peace. He issued a command in which I believe. He said, 'Love oneanother. ' He did not say, 'Kill one another, ' but 'Love one another. ' Heespoused the cause of the suffering poor--just as Rose Pastor Stokesdid, just as Kate Richards O'Hare did--and the poor heard him gladly. Itwas not long before he aroused the ill-will and the hatred of theusurers, the money-changers, the profiteers, the high priests, thelawyers, the judges, the merchants, the bankers--in a word, the rulingclass. They said of him just what the ruling class says of the Socialisttoday. 'He is preaching dangerous doctrine. He is inciting the commonrabble. He is a menace to peace and order. ' And they had him arraigned, tried, convicted, condemned, and they had his quivering body spiked tothe gates of Jerusalem. "This has been the tragic history of the race. In the ancient worldSocrates sought to teach some new truths to the people, and they madehim drink the fatal hemlock. It has been true all along the track of theages. The men and women who have been in advance, who have had newideas, new ideals, who have had the courage to attack the establishedorder of things, have all had to pay the same penalty. "A century and a half ago, when the American colonists were stillforeign subjects, and when there were a few men who had faith in thecommon people and believed that they could rule themselves without aking, in that day to speak against the kings was treason. If you readBancroft or any other standard historian, you will find that a greatmajority of the colonists believed in the king and actually believedthat he had a divine right to rule over them. They had been taught tobelieve that to say a word against the king, to question his so-calleddivine right, was sinful. There were ministers who opened their biblesto prove that it was the patriotic duty of the people to loyally serveand support the king. But there were a few men in that day who said, 'Wedon't need a king. We can govern ourselves. ' And they began an agitationthat has been immortalized in history. "Washington, Adams, Paine--these were the rebels of their day. At firstthey were opposed by the people and denounced by the press. You canremember that it was Franklin who said to his compeers, 'We have now tohang together or we'll hang separately bye and bye. ' And if theRevolution had failed, the revolutionary fathers would have beenexecuted as felons. But it did not fail. Revolutions have a habit ofsucceeding, when the time comes for them. The revolutionary forefatherswere opposed to the form of government in their day. They weredenounced, they were condemned. But they had the moral courage to standerect and defy all the storms of detraction; and that is why they are inhistory, and that is why the great respectable majority of their daysleep in forgotten graves. The world does not know they ever lived. "At a later time there began another mighty agitation in this country. It was against an institution that was deemed a very respectable one inits time, the institution of chattel slavery, that became all-powerful, that controlled the president, both branches of congress, the supremecourt, the press, to a very large extent the pulpit. All of theorganized forces of society, all the powers of government, upheldchattel slavery in that day. And again a few appeared. One of them wasElijah Lovejoy. Elijah Lovejoy was as much despised in his day as arethe leaders of the I. W. W. In our day. Elijah Lovejoy was murdered incold blood in Alton, Illinois, in 1837, simply because he was opposed tochattel slavery--just as I am opposed to wage slavery. When you go downthe Mississippi River and look up at Alton, you see a magnificent whiteshaft erected there in memory of a man who was true to himself and hisconvictions of right and duty unto death. "It was my good fortune to personally know Wendell Phillips. I heard thestory of his persecution, in part at least, from his own eloquent lipsjust a little while before they were silenced in death. "William Lloyd Garrison, Garret Smith, Thaddeus Stevens--these leadersof the abolition movement, who were regarded as monsters of depravity, were true to the faith and stood their ground. They are all in history. You are teaching your children to revere their memories, while all oftheir detractors are in oblivion. "Chattel slavery disappeared. We are not yet free. We are engaged inanother mighty agitation today. It is as wide as the world. It is therise of the toiling and producing masses who are gradually becomingconscious of their interest, their power, as a class, who are organizingindustrially and politically, who are slowly but surely developing theeconomic and political power that is to set them free. They are still inthe minority, but they have learned how to wait, and to bide theirtime. "It is because I happen to be in this minority that I stand in yourpresence today, charged with crime. It is because I believe as therevolutionary fathers believed in their day, that a change was due inthe interests of the people, that the time had come for a better form ofgovernment, an improved system, a higher social order, a nobler humanityand a grander civilization. This minority that is so much misunderstoodand so bitterly maligned, is in alliance with the forces of evolution, and as certain as I stand before you this afternoon, it is but aquestion of time until this minority will become the conquering majorityand inaugurate the greatest change in all of the history of the world. You may hasten the change; you may retard it; you can no more prevent itthan you can prevent the coming of the sunrise on the morrow. "My friend, the assistant prosecutor, doesn't like what I had to say inmy speech about internationalism. What is there objectionable tointernationalism? If we had internationalism there would be no war. Ibelieve in patriotism. I have never uttered a word against the flag. Ilove the flag as a symbol of freedom. I object only when that flag isprostituted to base purposes, to sordid ends, by those who, in the nameof patriotism, would keep the people in subjection. "I believe, however, in a wider patriotism. Thomas Paine said, 'Mycountry is the world. To do good is my religion. ' Garrison said, 'Mycountry is the world and all mankind are my countrymen. ' That is theessence of internationalism. I believe in it with all my heart. Ibelieve that nations have been pitted against nations long enough inhatred, in strife, in warfare. I believe there ought to be a bond ofunity between all of these nations. I believe that the human raceconsists of one great family. I love the people of this country, but Idon't hate the people of any country on earth--not even the Germans. Irefuse to hate a human being because he happens to be born in some othercountry. Why should I? To me it does not make any difference where hewas born or what the color of his skin may be. Like myself he is theimage of his creator. He is a human being endowed with the samefaculties, he has the same aspirations, he is entitled to the samerights, and I would infinitely rather serve him and love him than tohate him and kill him. "We hear a great deal about human brotherhood--a beautiful and inspiringtheme. It is preached from a countless number of pulpits. It is vain forus to preach of human brotherhood while we tolerate this social systemin which we are a mass of warring units, in which millions of workershave to fight one another for jobs, and millions of business men andprofessional men have to fight one another for trade, for practice--inwhich we have individual interests and each is striving to care forhimself alone without reference to his fellow men. Human brotherhood isyet to be realized in this world. It never can be under thecapitalist-competitive system in which we live. "Yes; I was opposed to the war. I am perfectly willing, on that count, to be branded as a disloyalist, and if it is a crime under the Americanlaw punishable by imprisonment for being opposed to human bloodshed, Iam perfectly willing to be clothed in the stripes of a convict and toend my days in a prison cell. "The War of the Revolution was opposed. The Tory press denounced itsleaders as criminals and outlaws. And that is what they were, under thedivine right of a king to rule men. "The War of 1812 was opposed and condemned; the Mexican War wasbitterly condemned by Abraham Lincoln, by Charles Sumner, by DanielWebster and by Henry Clay. That war took place under the Polkadministration. These men denounced the President; they condemned hisadministration; and they said that the war was a crime against humanity. They were not indicted; they were not tried for crime. They are honoredtoday by all of their countrymen. The War of the Rebellion was opposedand condemned. In 1864 the Democratic Party met in convention at Chicagoand passed a resolution condemning the war as a failure. What would yousay if the Socialist Party were to meet in convention today and condemnthe present war as a failure? You charge us with being disloyalists andtraitors. Were the Democrats of 1864 disloyalists and traitors becausethey condemned the war as a failure? "I believe in the Constitution of the United States. Isn't it strangethat we Socialists stand almost alone today in defending theConstitution of the United States? The revolutionary fathers who hadbeen oppressed under king rule understood that free speech and the rightof free assemblage by the people were the fundamental principles ofdemocratic government. The very first amendment to the Constitutionreads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment ofreligion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging thefreedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceablyto assemble, and to petition the government for a redress ofgrievances. " That is perfectly plain English. It can be understood by achild. I believe that the revolutionary fathers meant just what is herestated--that Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speechor of the press, or of the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. "That is the right that I exercised at Canton on the 16th day of lastJune; and for the exercise of that right, I now have to answer to thisindictment. I believe in the right of free speech, in war as well as inpeace. I would not, under any circumstances, gag the lips of mybitterest enemy. I would under no circumstances suppress free speech. Itis far more dangerous to attempt to gag the people than to allow them tospeak freely of what is in their hearts. I do not go as far as WendellPhillips did. Wendell Phillips said that the glory of free men is thatthey trample unjust laws under their feet. That is how they repeal them. If a human being submits to having his lips sealed, to be in silencereduced to vassalage, he may have all else, but he is still lacking inall that dignifies and glorifies real manhood. "Now, notwithstanding this fundamental provision in the national law, Socialists' meetings have been broken up all over this country. Socialist speakers have been arrested by hundreds and flung into jail, where many of them are lying now. In some cases not even a charge waslodged against them--guilty of no crime except the crime of attemptingto exercise the right guaranteed to them by the Constitution of theUnited States. "I have told you that I am no lawyer, but it seems to me that I knowenough to know that if Congress enacts any law that conflicts with thisprovision in the Constitution, that law is void. If the Espionage lawfinally stands, then the Constitution of the United States is dead. Ifthat law is not the negation of every fundamental principle establishedby the Constitution, then certainly I am unable to read or to understandthe English language. "War does not come by chance. War is not the result of accident. Thereis a definite cause for war, especially a modern war. The war that beganin Europe can readily be accounted for. For the last forty years, underthis international capitalist system, this exploiting system, thesevarious nations of Europe have been preparing for the inevitable. Andwhy? In all these nations the great industries are owned by a relativelysmall class. They are operated for the profit of that class. And greatabundance is produced by the workers, but their wages will only buy backa small part of their product. What is the result? They have a vastsurplus on hand; they have got to export it; they have got to find aforeign market for it. As a result of this, these nations are pittedagainst each other. They begin to arm themselves to open, to maintainthe market and quickly dispose of their surplus. There is but the onemarket. All these nations are competitors for it, and sooner or laterevery war of trade becomes a war of blood. "Now, where there is exploitation there must be some form of militarismto support it. Wherever you find exploitation you find some form ofmilitary force. In a smaller way you find it in this country. It wasthere long before war was declared. For instance, when the miners out inColorado entered upon a strike about four years ago, the state militia, that is under the control of the Standard Oil Company, marched upon acamp, where the miners and their wives and children were in tents. Andby the way, a report of this strike was issued by the United StatesCommission on Industrial Relations. When the soldiers approached thecamp at Ludlow, where these miners, with their wives and children, were, the miners, to prove that they were patriotic, placed flags above theirtents, and when the state militia, that is paid by Rockefeller andcontrolled by Rockefeller, swooped down upon that camp, the first thingthey did was to shoot those United States flags into tatters. Not oneof them was indicted or tried because he was a traitor to his country. Pregnant women were killed, and a number of innocent children slain. This in the United States of America, --the fruit of exploitation. Theminers wanted a little more of what they had been producing. But theStandard Oil Company wasn't rich enough. It insisted that all they wereentitled to was just enough to keep them in working order. There isslavery for you. And when at last they protested, when they weretormented by hunger, when they saw their children in tatters, they wereshot down as if they had been so many vagabond dogs. "And while I am upon this point, let me say just another word. Workingmen who organize, and who sometimes commit overt acts, are very oftencondemned by those who have no conception of the conditions under whichthey live. How many men are there, for instance, who know anything oftheir own knowledge about how men work in a lumber camp--a logging camp, a turpentine camp? In this report of the United States Commission onIndustrial Relations, you will find the statement proved that peonageexisted in the state of Texas. Out of these conditions springs such athing as the I. W. W. --when men receive a pittance for their pay, whenthey work like galley slaves for a wage that barely suffices to keeptheir protesting souls within their tattered bodies. When they canendure the condition no longer, and they make some sort of ademonstration, or perhaps commit acts of violence, how quickly are theycondemned by those who do not know anything about the conditions underwhich they work. "Five gentlemen of distinction, among them Professor John Graham Brooks, of Harvard University, said that a word that so fills the world as theI. W. W. Must have something in it. It must be investigated. And theydid investigate it, each along their own lines; and I wish it werepossible for every man and woman in this country to read the result oftheir investigation. They tell you why and how the I. W. W. Wasinstituted. They tell you, moreover, that the great corporations, suchas the Standard Oil Company, such as the Coal Trust, and the LumberTrust, have, through their agents, committed more crimes against the I. W. W. Than the I. W. W. Have ever committed against them. "I was asked not long ago if I was in favor of shooting our soldiers inthe back. I said, 'No. I would not shoot them in the back. I wouldn'tshoot them at all. I would not have them shot. ' Much has been made of astatement that I declared that men were fit for something better thanslavery and cannon fodder. I made the statement. I make no attempt todeny it. I meant exactly what I said. Men are fit for something betterthan slavery and cannon fodder; and the time will come, though I shallnot live to see it, when slavery will be wiped from the earth, and whenmen will marvel that there ever was a time when men who calledthemselves civilized rushed upon each other like wild beasts andmurdered one another, by methods so cruel and barbarous that they defythe power of language to describe. I can hear the shrieks of thesoldiers of Europe in my dreams. I have imagination enough to see abattlefield. I can see it strewn with the wrecks of human beings, whobut yesterday were in the flush and glory of their young manhood. I cansee them at eventide, scattered about in remnants, their limbs torn fromtheir bodies, their eyes gouged out. Yes, I can see them, and I can hearthem. I look above and beyond this frightful scene. I think of themothers who are bowed in the shadow of their last great grief--whosehearts are breaking. And I say to myself: 'I am going to do the littlethat lies in my power to wipe from this earth that terrible scourge ofwar. ' "If I believed in war I could not be kept out of the first linetrenches. I would not be patriotic at long range. I would be honestenough, if I believed in bloodshed, to shed my own. But I do not believethat the shedding of blood bears any actual testimony to patriotism, tolove of country, to civilization. On the contrary, I believe thatwarfare in all of its forms is an impeachment of our social order, and arebuke to our vaunted Christian civilization. "And now, gentlemen of the jury, I am not going to detain you too long. I wish to admit everything that has been said respecting me from thiswitness chair. I wish to admit everything that has been charged againstme except what is embraced in the indictment from which I have read toyou. I cannot take back a word. I cannot repudiate a sentence. I standbefore you guilty of having made this speech. I stand before youprepared to accept the consequences of what there is embraced in thatspeech. I do not know, I cannot tell, what your verdict may be; nor doesit matter much, so far as I am concerned. "Gentlemen, I am the smallest part of this trial. I have lived longenough to appreciate my own personal insignificance in relation to agreat issue, that involves the welfare of the whole people. What you maychoose to do to me will be of small consequence after all. I am not ontrial here. There is an infinitely greater issue that is being triedtoday in this court, though you may not be conscious of it. Americaninstitutions are on trial here before a court of American citizens. Thefuture will tell. " 5. DEBS TALKS TO THE JUDGE The jury found Eugene Debs guilty and on Saturday morning the judgepronounced sentence. Before the sentence was given, Debs had anotheropportunity to tell someone about Socialism--this time it was the judge. Debs never loses a chance. When the clerk asked him whether he hadanything to say he made another Socialist speech. Said he: "Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest ofearth. I said then, I say now, that while there is a lower class, I amin it; while there is a criminal element, I am of it; while there is asoul in prison, I am not free. . . . "If the law under which I have been convicted is a good law, then thereis no reason why sentence should not be pronounced upon me. I listenedto all that was said in this court in support and justification of thislaw, but my mind remains unchanged. I look upon it as a despoticenactment in flagrant conflict with democratic principles and with thespirit of free institutions. "Your Honor, I have stated in this court that I am opposed to the formof our present Government; that I am opposed to the social system inwhich we live; that I believed in the change of both--but by perfectlypeaceable and orderly means. "Let me call your attention to the fact this morning that in this systemfive per cent. Of our people own and control two-thirds of our wealth, sixty-five per cent. Of the people, embracing the working class whoproduce all wealth, have but five per cent. To show for it. "Standing here this morning, I recall my boyhood. At fourteen, I went towork in the railroad shops; at sixteen, I was firing a freight engine ona railroad. I remember all the hardships, all the privations, of thatearlier day, and from that time until now, my heart has been with theworking class. I could have been in Congress long ago. I have preferredto go to prison. The choice has been deliberately made. I could not havedone otherwise. I have no regret. "In the struggle--the unceasing struggle--between the toilers andproducers and their exploiters, I have tried, as best I might, to servethose among whom I was born, with whom I expect to share my lot untilthe end of my days. "I am thinking this morning of the men in the mills and factories; I amthinking of the women who, for a paltry wage, are compelled to work outtheir lives; of the little children who, in this system, are robbed oftheir childhood, and in their early, tender years, are seized in theremorseless grasp of mammon, and forced into the industrial dungeons, there to feed the machines while they themselves are being starved bodyand soul. I can see them dwarfed, diseased, stunted, their little livesbroken, and their hopes blasted, because in this high noon of ourtwentieth century civilization, money is still so much more importantthan human life. Gold is god and rules in the affairs of men. The littlegirls, and there are a million of them in this country--this, the mostfavored land beneath the bending skies, a land in which we have vastareas of rich and fertile soil, material resources in inexhaustibleabundance, the most marvelous productive machinery on earth, millions ofeager workers ready to apply their labor to that machinery to produce anabundance for every man, woman and child--and if there are still manymillions of our people who are the victims of poverty, whose life is aceaseless struggle all the way from youth to age, until at last deathcomes to their rescue and stills the aching heart, and lulls the victimto dreamless sleep, it is not the fault of the Almighty, it can't becharged to nature; it is due entirely to an outgrown social system thatought to be abolished, not only in the interest of the working class, but in a higher interest of all humanity. "I think of these little children--the girls that are in the textilemills of all description in the East, in the cotton factories of theSouth--I think of them at work in a vitiated atmosphere. I think of themat work when they ought to be at play or at school; I think that whenthey do grow up, if they live long enough to approach the marriagestate, they are unfit for it. Their nerves are worn out, their tissue isexhausted, their vitality is spent. They have been fed to industry. Their lives have been coined into gold. Their offspring are born tired. That is why there are so many failures in our modern life. "Your Honor, the five per cent. Of the people that I have made referenceto, constitute that element that absolutely rules our country. Theyprivately own all our public necessities. They wear no crowns; theywield no sceptres, they sit upon no thrones; and yet they are oureconomic masters and our political rulers. They control this Governmentand all of its institutions. They control the courts. "The five per cent. Of our people who own and control all of the sourcesof wealth, all of the nation's industries, all of the means of ourcommon life--it is they who declare war; it is they who make peace; itis they who control our industry. And so long as this is true, we canmake no just claim to being a democratic government--a self-governingpeople. "I believe, your Honor, in common with all Socialists, that this nationought to own and control its industries. I believe, as all Socialistsdo, that all things that are jointly needed and used ought to be jointlyowned--that industry, the basis of life, instead of being the privateproperty of the few and operated for their enrichment, ought to be thecommon property of all, democratically administered in the interest ofall. "John D. Rockefeller has today an income of sixty million dollars ayear, five million dollars a month, two hundred thousand dollars a day. He does not produce a penny of it. I make no attack upon Mr. Rockefellerpersonally. I do not in the least dislike him. If he were in need, andit were in my power to serve him, I should serve him as gladly as Iwould any other human being, I have no quarrel with Mr. Rockefellerpersonally, nor with any other capitalist. I am simply opposing a socialorder in which it is possible for one man who does absolutely nothingthat is useful, to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars, while millions of men and women who work all of the days of their livessecure barely enough for existence. "This order of things cannot always endure. I have registered my protestagainst it. I recognize the feebleness of my effort, but fortunately Iam not alone. There are multiplied thousands of others who, like myself, have come to realize that before we may truly enjoy the blessings ofcivilized life, we must reorganize society upon a mutual andco-operative basis; and to this end we have organized a great economicand political movement that is spread over the face of all the earth. "There are today upwards of sixty million Socialists, loyal, devoted, adherents to this cause, regardless of nationality, race, creed, coloror sex. They are all making common cause. They are all spreading thepropaganda of the new social order. They are waiting, watching andworking through all the weary hours of the day and night. They are stillin the minority. They have learned how to be patient and abide theirtime. They feel--they know indeed--that the time is coming in spite ofall opposition, all persecution, when this emancipating gospel willspread among all the peoples, and when this minority will become thetriumphant majority and, sweeping into power, inaugurate the greatestchange in history. "In that day we will have the universal commonwealth--not thedestruction of the nation, but, on the contrary, the harmoniousco-operation of every nation on earth. In that day war will curse thisearth no more. "Your Honor, I ask no mercy. I plead for no immunity. I realize thatfinally the right must prevail. I never more clearly comprehended thannow the great struggle between the powers of greed on the one hand andupon the other the rising hosts of freedom. "I can see the dawn of a better day of humanity. The people areawakening. In due course of time they will come to their own. "When the mariner, sailing over tropic seas, looks for relief from hisweary watch, he turns his eyes toward the southern cross, burningluridly above the tempest-vexed ocean. As the midnight approaches, thesouthern cross begins to bend, and the whirling worlds change theirplaces, and with starry fingerpoints the Almighty marks the passage oftime upon the dial of the universe, and though no bell may beat the gladtidings, the look-out knows that the midnight is passing--that reliefand rest are close at hand. "Let the people take heart and hope everywhere, for the cross isbending, the midnight is passing, and joy cometh with the morning. . . . "Your Honor, I thank you, and I thank all of this court for theircourtesy, for their kindness, which I shall remember always. "I am prepared to receive your sentence. " Whereupon the judge sentenced Eugene Debs to ten years in the WestVirginia Penitentiary--the penitentiary at Atlanta being too crowded toreceive him. 6. THE APPEAL An appeal was taken to the Supreme Court of the United States and wasargued on the ground that the Espionage Act was unconstitutional. No actwas charged against Debs, except the Canton speech. In that speech hehad simply stated what he had said a thousand times before, but theCourt held that under the Espionage Act a man who made a speech, theprobable result of which was to create mutiny or to hinder recruitingand enlistment--was guilty, providing that he did it knowingly andwilfully. The jury had to decide, first, that he had done something theprobable result of which was to create mutiny or to hinder recruitingand enlistment, and then if he had done it, that it was done withintent, knowingly and wilfully. The jury had found Debs guilty underthese circumstances. Debs was an American, and as an American he relied upon a certainguarantee contained in the First Amendment to the Constitution:"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, orprohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom ofspeech or of the press, or the right of the people peacefully toassemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. "Debs, as an American citizen, relied upon that guarantee, and hislawyers, in making the appeal, relied upon that guarantee. Over and against that guarantee was the Espionage Act passed originallyin 1917--June 15th--and amended June 16, 1918. The language of the original act was as follows: (Title I, Sec. 3. ) "Whoever, when the United States is at war, shall (1)wilfully make or convey false reports or false statements with intent tointerfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forcesof the United States or to promote the success of its enemies, andwhoever, when the United States is at war, (2) shall wilfully cause orattempt to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal ofduty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or shall (3)wilfully obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service of the UnitedStates, to the injury of the service or of the United States, shall bepunished by a fine of not more than $10, 000 or imprisonment for not morethan twenty years, or both. " The Amended Act was far more drastic: "Whoever, when the United States is at war, shall wilfully make orconvey false reports or false statements with intent to interfere withthe operation or success of the military or naval forces of the UnitedStates, or to promote the success of its enemies, or shall wilfully makeor convey false reports or false statements, or say or do anythingexcept by way of bona fide and not disloyal advice to an investor orinvestors, with intent to obstruct the sale by the United States ofbonds or other securities of the United States or the making of loans byor to the United States, and whoever, when the United States is at war, shall wilfully cause, or attempt to cause, or incite or attempt toincite, insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty, in themilitary or naval forces of the United States, or shall wilfullyobstruct or attempt to obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service ofthe United States, and whoever, when the United States is at war, shallwilfully utter, print, write or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous or abusive language about the form of government of theUnited States, or the Constitution of the United States, or the militaryor naval forces of the United States, or the flag of the United States, or the uniform of the Army or Navy of the United States, or any languageintended to bring the form of government of the United States, or theConstitution of the United States, or the military or naval forces ofthe United States, or the flag of the United States, or the uniform ofthe Army or Navy of the United States into contempt, scorn, contumely, or disrepute, or shall wilfully utter, print, write or publish anylanguage intended to incite, provoke or encourage resistance to theUnited States or to promote the cause of its enemies, or shall wilfullydisplay the flag of any foreign enemy, or shall wilfully, by utterance, writing, printing, publication or language spoken, urge, incite oradvocate any curtailment of production in this country of any thing orthings, product or products, necessary or essential to the prosecutionof the war in which the United States may be engaged, with intent bysuch curtailment to cripple or hinder the United States in theprosecution of the war, and whoever shall wilfully advocate, teach, defend, or suggest the doing of any of the acts or things in thissection enumerated, and whoever shall, by word or act, support or favorthe cause of any country with which the United States is at war or byword or act oppose the cause of the United States therein, shall bepunished by a fine of not more than $10, 000 or imprisonment for not morethan twenty years, or both. " . . . There you have both pieces of legislation. On the one hand, theConstitution provides immunity, and on the other hand, the Espionage Actprovides a penalty for the expression of opinion. The Supreme Court on the 10th of March handed down its decision. Thedecision was read by Justice Holmes and concurred in by the entirecourt. 7. THE SUPREME COURT DECISION The substance of the decision is contained in the following sentences: "The main theme of the speech was Socialism, its growth and a prophecyof its ultimate success. With that we have nothing to do, but if a partor the manifest intent of the more general utterances was to encouragethose present to obstruct recruiting service, and if in passages suchencouragement was directly given, the immunity of the general theme maynot be enough to protect the speech. " Justice Holmes concludes, after a review of the case, that the immunity, under the First Amendment, did not protect the speech. In that argument, he referred to a decision which had been handed down on the 3rd of Marchknown as the Schenck Case--another Espionage Act case--in which thispoint concerning the immunity under the First Amendment was stated atlength by Justice Holmes in this language: "We admit that in many places and in ordinary times, the defendantswould have been within their constitutional rights. But the character ofevery act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done. . . . Thequestion in every case is whether the words used are used in suchcircumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and presentdanger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congresshas a right to prevent. " That is the Debs decision. That is the method in which the Supreme Courthandled the popular liberties guaranteed under the First Amendment. TheCourt might have thrown the Espionage Act out under the First Amendmentas it threw out the Child Labor Law. The Court might have ruled this actunconstitutional. The Court did not decide that Congress had no right topass the Espionage Act. The Court did decide that since Congress hadpassed the Espionage Act, Debs had no right to make his speech. What arethe implications of this position of the Supreme Court? "Congress shallmake no law abridging the freedom of speech, " says the Constitution. Congress passed a law abridging the freedom of speech, and the SupremeCourt holds that the Courts, in interpreting the Constitution, must bearin mind the law that Congress has passed. We had thought that theConstitutional guarantee was superior to any law that Congress mightpass, but the Court specifically holds in the Schenck Case that if "thewords are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as tocreate a clear and present danger that they will bring about thesubstantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent, " then the FirstAmendment affords no protection. Congress is made the arbiter. Congress now decides what may be said andwhat may not be said. This means that the Constitution does not guarantee personal liberty. Speech is free, if you keep within the laws passed by Congress, nototherwise. "Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, "declares the Constitution. Speech is free, says the Court, if you obeythe laws passed by Congress. What is the result? If the United Statesenters the League of Nations as a constituent part of it, and if theLeague of Nations carries on a series of minor wars, this country willbe at war perhaps for fifty years, and during that time free speech willbe banned under this decision of the Supreme Court; during that timethe Espionage Act will operate; there will be no free speech in theUnited States. Congress--under this decision--might pass a law making it a crime toadvocate the establishment of industrial democracy in the United States, and from the time that law was passed, any man who advocated industrialdemocracy in the United States would have no immunity under the FirstAmendment. Congress might pass a law making it a crime to demand that the Courts ofthe United States be abolished, and from that time no person couldadvocate the abolition of the United States Courts without violating thelaw. Congress might make it a criminal offense to criticize the President andfrom that day forward no person could criticize the President withoutviolating the law. This decision makes Congress, not the Constitution, the arbiter of thelimits of freedom of expression; therefore, we must conclude thatneither the Courts of the United States, nor the Constitution of theUnited States can be relied upon to guarantee the American people theright of free speech. Thus freedom of discussion is ended. Democracy inthe United States is dead. The Supreme Court on the 10th of March, inthe Debs' case, wrote its epitaph. A little thought will reveal the seriousness of the situation. A littlereflection will show the position in which the American people findthemselves, with regard to personal liberties, since the tenth of March, 1919. 8. THE CLASS STRUGGLE AGAIN! Classes have come and classes have gone down through the pages ofhistory. Whenever the position of a ruling class has been threatened, the ruling class has crucified the truth-tellers. Compared with the necessity of protecting ruling class privileges andprerogatives, the right of a man to express his mind goes for nothing. That is the lesson of history and that is what we are witnessing today. Men who have stirred up the people; men who have raised their voices inprotest; men who thought straight; men who have loved their fellow mentoo much; men who have had conviction and courage and purpose; men whowere willing to stick by their ideals--such men have suffered in everyage. Eugene V. Debs has stirred up the people all his life. Since he was aboy firing a locomotive engine, he has been an agitator. He has alwaysstood for justice, for liberty and brotherhood. He has loved his fellowmen; he has been gentle and sincere; he has been devoted to what heregards as the greatest cause in the world. On this war he has stoodlike granite, unwavering and unflinching, voicing the protest of themasses who had no voice with which to speak. He has uttered what theybelieved. The preachers who deserted their flocks; the teachers who betrayed theirtrust; the editors who took their 30 pieces of silver in these last fewyears--they are free; they are honored; they are respected. But this manwho thought straight; who loved his fellows, who spoke his convictions;who was true to his ideals--this man is permitted to go to jail by theSupreme Court of the United States. I have seen the Supreme Court and I have seen Eugene V. Debs. From theSupreme Court I got neither love nor inspiration; from Debs I got both. In his generation in the United States, there is not a greater man thanEugene V. Debs--not because of what he has done, but because of what heis, and when the history of this generation is written, that fact willbe recorded. The masters in all ages have put men like Debs in jail because it is thetruth-teller that the masters fear most. They fear the Truth; they fearthe Light; they fear Justice; and the man who turns on the Light andspeaks the Truth and cries out for Justice--is their greatest enemy. Sothey have always tried this process of putting ideas into jail. 9. PUTTING IDEAS IN JAIL Years ago, when the Mexican War was being fought, an American namedHenry D. Thoreau refused to pay his war tax. He did not believe in thewar and he refused to support the Government that prosecuted the war. Sothey put Thoreau in jail. Later he wrote about his experience: "As I stood considering the walls of solid stone, two or three feetthick, and the door of wood and iron, a foot thick, and the iron gratingwhich strained the light, I could not help being struck with thefoolishness of that institution which treated me as if I were mere fleshand blood and bones, to be locked up. . . . "I felt as if I alone of all my townsmen had paid my tax. . . . "I could not but smile to see how industriously they locked the door onmy meditations, which followed them out again without let or hindrance, and they were really all that was dangerous. As they could not reach me, they had resolved to punish my body; just as boys, if they cannot comeat some person against whom they have a spite, will abuse his dog. "I saw that the State was half-witted, that it was timid as a lonewoman with her silver spoons, and that it did not know its friends fromits foes, and I lost all my remaining respect for it, and pitied it. "Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for ajust man is also a prison. The proper place today, the only place whichMassachusetts has provided for her freer and less desponding spirits, isin her prisons, to be put out and locked out of the State by her ownact, as they have already put themselves out by their principles. It isthere that the fugitive slave, and the Mexican prisoner on parole, andthe Indian come to plead the wrongs of his race, should find them; onthat separate but more free and honorable ground, where the State placesthose who are not with her but against her--the only house in a slaveState on which a free man can abide with honor. "If any think that their influence would be lost there, and their voicesno longer afflict the ear of the State, that they would not be as anenemy within its walls, they do not know by how much truth is strongerthan error, nor how much more eloquently and effectively he can combatinjustice who has experienced a little in his own person. "There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the Statecomes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats himaccordingly. " 10. THE SUPREME COURT COULD NOT SAVE SLAVERY Once before the Supreme Court of the United States tried to save adecaying social institution--the institution of Slavery. There was aslave named Dred Scott. He was owned by a resident of Missouri. He wastaken into Minnesota and into Illinois. Illinois was a free State by itsown laws. Minnesota was free by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Thenhis master took Dred Scott back to Missouri, and there Dred Scott triedto gain his freedom. The case was finally decided by the Supreme Courtof the United States in 1857. The Supreme Court held (two justices dissenting) that Scott could notsue in the lower courts because he was not a citizen and, therefore, wasnot entitled to any standing in the courts; that at the time of theformation of the Constitution, negroes descended from negro slaves werenot and could not be citizens in any of the States; and that there wasno power in the existing form of Government to make citizens of suchpersons. In the course of his decision, Judge Taney used the followinglanguage: "It is difficult, at this day, to realize the state of public opinionwhich prevailed in the civilized and enlightened portions of the worldat the time of the Declaration of Independence, and when theConstitution was framed and adopted in relation to that unfortunaterace. But the public history of every European nation displays it in amanner too plain to be mistaken. They had for more than a century beforebeen regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit toassociate with the white race, either in social or political relations;and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man wasbound to respect, and that the negro might justly and lawfully bereduced to slavery for his benefit. He has been bought and sold andtreated as an ordinary article of merchandise and traffic, whenever aprofit could be made by it. The opinion was at that time fixed anduniversal in the civilized portion of the white race. " The Chief Justice went farther than the point at issue warranted, andstated that the power of Congress to govern territory was subordinate toits obligation to protect private rights in property and that slaveswere property and as such were protected by the constitutionalguarantees; that Congress had no power to prohibit the citizens of anyState to carry into any territory slaves or any other property, and thatCongress had no power to impair the constitutional protection of suchproperty while thus held in a territory. The Dred Scott decision fastened Slavery forever upon the United States. Slavery lasted just six years. 11. MORE PATCH WORK! At the present time, Capitalism is tottering to its downfall. The worldis in chaos and revolution. The Supreme Court has handed down a decisionwhich ostensibly will assist in preserving established order, but theUnited States is a Capitalist nation and, as Mr. Wilson himself has soadmirably put it: "The masters of the Government of the United States are the combinedcapitalists and manufacturers of the United States. " ("New Freedom, "page 57. ) Capitalism is disappearing from Europe--Russia, Germany, Austria, Bohemia, Hungary--the list is growing from week to week. When thePresident came back on his little visit to America there was one newthing that he said, and only one new thing: "The men who are in conference in Paris realize as keenly as anyAmericans can realize that they are not the masters of their people. "(Boston, February 24th, 1919. ) "When I speak of the nations of the world, I do not speak of thegovernments of the world. I speak of the peoples who constitute thenations of the world. They are in the saddle, and they are going to seeto it that if present governments do not do their will, some othergovernment shall, and the secret is out and the present governments knowit. " (Boston, February 24th. ) "I want to utter this solemn warning, not in the way of a threat; theforces of the world do not threaten, they operate. The great tides ofthe world do not give notice that they are going to rise and run; theyrise in their majesticity and overwhelming might and they who stand inthe way are overwhelmed. Now the heart of the world is awake and theheart of the world must be satisfied. Do not let yourselves suppose fora moment that the uneasiness in the populations of Europe is dueentirely to economic causes and economic motives; something very muchdeeper underlies it all than that. They see that their governments havenever been able to defend them against intrigue or aggression, and thatthere is no force of foresight or of prudence in any modern cabinet tostop war. " (New York, March 4th, 1919. ) Then comes Mr. Wm. Allen White on the 11th of March with a similarstatement. On the next day comes Mr. Lansing with the statement thatunless something is done and done quickly, the capitalist system inEurope will be overthrown. The world is in chaos. The fabric ofcivilization is threatened. The health and happiness--the very life ofthe world--is threatened. And those who speak particularly of those things; those who are seekingto warn, to prepare the people; those who attempt to preach law andorder; who oppose war; who believe in peace--those who are attempting toserve the interests of humanity--go to jail for ten years. The highest authority in the United States has served notice on theAmerican people that from it they can hope for nothing in the way ofpreservation of their liberties. Their liberties are dead. Well maythose Americans who still have in their souls a spark of the old fire, turn back 143 years and read these words from the Declaration ofIndependence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are createdequal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienablerights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; thatwhenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it isthe right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a newgovernment, laying its foundations on such principles, and organizingits powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effecttheir safety and happiness. " * * * * * THE RAND SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE Local Department Correspondence Dept. Full-Time Department Research Department Library and Reading Room ALGERNON LEE, BERTHA H. MAILLY, Educational Director Executive Secretary Courses in Industrial and Political History, Civics, Economics, Labor Problems, Social Legislation, Socialist Theory, and Practical Organization Methods, Public Speaking, English, etc. , etc. Established in 1906 Write for Bulletin and full information. Enclosure of stamps for reply will be greatly appreciated. Address: 7 East 15th Street, New York.