Testimony to the United States Strike Commission of Eugene V. Debs, Chicago — Aug

Testimony to the United States Strike Commission of Eugene V. Debs, Chicago — Aug. 20 & 25, 1894 Published in Report on the Chicago Strike of June-July, 1894, by the United States Strike Commission, Appointed by the President July 26, 1894, Under the Provisions of Section 6 of Chapters 1063 of the Laws of the United States Passed October 1, 1888, with Appendices Containing Testimony, Proceedings, and Recommendations. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1895; pp. 129-180. TESTIMONY OF EUGENE V. DEBS. August 20, 1894, Eugene V. Debs, being first duly sworn, testi- fied as follows: Commissioner Wright: State your name, age, residence, and occupa- tion. Eugene V. Debs: Eugene V. Debs, 38; Terre Haute, Indiana; am at present President of the American Railway Union and editor of the Locomotive Firemen’s Magazine. Commissioner Wright: How long have you been President of the American Railway Union? Debs: Ever since it was instituted, June 20, 1893. Commissioner Wright: Are you a railroad man or understood so to be? Debs: Yes, sir. I was actively engaged in the railroad service at the time I became a member of the railway employees’ organization. Commissioner Wright: In what branch of the railway service? Debs: I served as a painter and locomotive fireman. Commissioner Wright: How long did you serve in those capacities? Debs: About four and one-half years. 1 Commissioner Wright: We would like to have you state, Mr. Debs, in your own way, in narrative form the history of the present strike, so far as you know it from your own knowledge; that is to say, what led to the strike or boycott, and what was done by the American Railway Union, or its directors or members, in their official capac- ity. In this statement please cover the ground as fully as you can, but as briefly as possible. Debs: In the early part of May last year I received at my home in Terre Haute, Indiana, a telegram from Vice-President Howard, of the American Railway Union, who is located here, notifying me that there was a probability of a strike on the part of the Pullman employees who were members of the union. I immediately wired him, authorizing him to act as President of the union, assuming the duties of my office on account of my inability to be there, but to do all in his power to prevent a strike. Commissioner Kernan: Have you got these telegrams, or copies of them? Debs: There is a clerk in the office now, in the absence of Mr. How- ard, looking up the telegram I sent him, and I will introduce it be- fore this commission. Commissioner Kernan: Does that refer generally to the documents which you are speaking of in the course of your testimony? Debs: Yes, sir. The American Railway Union had been involved in a strike on the Great Northern road in the latter part of April, and at a meeting of the officers of the union we concluded that many of our members might possibly be flushed with the triumph of that strike, and if we were not extremely careful we would be precipi- tated into other disturbances. We concluded it would be best, if it was possible, to keep out of any trouble whatever, for the time being at least, and I was particularly anxious at that time to avoid any strike if it was possible to do so. On the morning of May 11 I received a telegram from Mr. Howard informing me that the employees had struck. Shortly after that I came to the city of Chicago. I went to Pullman in person and made a personal investigation of the conditions existing there, in order to satisfy myself as to the justice or injustice of the action taken by the employees. I was obliged to go to St. Paul, and on my return I again stopped at Pullman and continued the investigation. I met the employees in person, both 2 men and women, and I became satisfied that the conditions under which the employees there were obliged to work fully justified them in the course they had taken. I found that the wages and the expenses of the employees were so adjusted that every dollar the employees earned found its way back into the Pullman coffers; that they were not only not getting wages enough to live on, but that they were daily getting deeper into the debt of the Pullman Company; that it was impossible for many of them to leave there at all, even if they were disposed to quit to try and better their condition. Many of them told me personally that the conditions were very objectionable to them, but there was no escape for them. Wages had been reduced, but the expenses re- mained the same, and no matter how offensive the conditions were they were compelled to submit to them. After I heard those state- ments I satisfied myself that they were true, and I made up my mind, as President of the American Railway Union, of which these employees were members, to do everything in my power that was within law and within justice to right the wrongs of those employees. In the meantime I found that every effort was being put forth on the part of the employees, as well as the representatives of the organization, to induce the Pullman Company to submit to arbitration. We had succeeded in settling the trouble on the Great North- ern by arbitration. We had absolute faith in the justice of our case. W r e were confident that any fair and impartial board of arbitra- tors would decide in favor of the employees. The Pullman Com- pany, through its officers, refused positively to entertain any proposition coming from any source looking to the arbitration of the difficulties. They maintained the position that there was nothing to arbitrate. While I am on this subject of arbitration I desire to say that after the trouble broke out we then proposed that they select two representatives and that two representatives be selected by the judges of the court, and they four select the fifth representative, to decide as to whether there was anything to arbitrate. Commissioner Wright: Was this after the strike of May 11? Debs: Yes; after the strike was inaugurated. We did not claim the right to name a representative; we waived that right entirely, virtu- ally permitting them to select three out of five representatives. We did not ask them to arbitrate, but we simply asked them to agree to 3 have the question examined into as to whether there was anything to arbitrate. They refused that proposition. On June 9 the delegates representing the American Railway Un- ion, 465 local unions and about 150,000 employees, in round numbers, met in first quadrennial convention in the city of Chi- cago. In due course of the proceedings the matter of the Pullman trouble came up for consideration. The convention resolved itself into a committee of the whole to hear reports of committees and to take such action as in their judgment was deemed best to protect the interests of the suffering employees. And just here I would like to have the gentlemen of the board understand that all of the meetings of the American Railway Union were publicly held, with open doors, the first time in the history of American railway employees’ organizations. Commissioner Worthington: Do you include the delegate meeting, too? Debs: Yes, all meetings, with but one exception; there was one execu- tive session, in which there were certain financial affairs of the order discussed, that the public were not interested in, but in this session there was absolutely nothing touching the strike discussed. But all the remaining sessions were held with open doors, and representatives of the newspapers of Chicago were present, and they were present when this Pullman matter was heard, considered, and acted upon. Now, very much has been said by the press and by others in regard to the conspiracy against the railroad companies and against the hauling of mails, and a conspiracy for the purpose of commit- ting offenses against the United States. I would like to call the at- tention of the gentlemen of the board to the fact that every meeting, with this one exception, from first to last, and from the open- ing to the close of the session, was held with open doors. Now, it is not at all probable, if any conspiracy was intended, if there had been any intention on the part of the delegates or officers to commit any offense against the United States, it is not at all probable that they would have done so with wide-open doors, and with representatives of the press attendant upon the meetings. The result of the consideration of the convention was the appointment of a committee, consisting in pari of Pullman employees that were delegates and in part of delegates who were not Pullman employees. That committee was authorized to call upon Mr. Wickes, the Vice-President of the company, and ask him if he would not agree 4 to arbitrate the difficulties existing between the company and the employees. Mr. Wickes notified the committee that he would meet no kind of a committee except a committee of his own employees. We then substituted Pullman employees for the remainder of the committee, so that the committee was composed wholly of employees of the Pullman Company.

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