e and beyond this frightful scene. I think of the
mothers who are bowed in the shadow of their last great grief--whose
hearts are breaking. And I say to myself: 'I am going to do the little
that lies in my power to wipe from this earth that terrible scourge of
war.'

"If I believed in war I could not be kept out of the first line
trenches. I would not be patriotic at long range. I would be honest
enough, if I believed in bloodshed, to shed my own. But I do not believe
that the shedding of blood bears any actual testimony to patriotism, to
love of country, to civilization. On the contrary, I believe that
warfare in all of its forms is an impeachment of our social order, and a
rebuke 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 this
witness chair. I wish to admit everything that has been charged against
me except what is embraced in the indictment from which I have read to
you. I cannot take back a word. I cannot repudiate a sentence. I stand
before you guilty of having made this speech. I stand before you
prepared to accept the consequences of what there is embraced in that
speech. I do not know, I cannot tell, what your verdict may be; nor does
it matter much, so far as I am concerned.

"Gentlemen, I am the smallest part of this trial. I have lived long
enough to appreciate my own personal insignificance in relation to a
great issue, that involves the welfare of the whole people. What you may
choose to do to me will be of small consequence after all. I am not on
trial here. There is an infinitely greater issue that is being tried
today in this court, though you may not be conscious of it. American
institutions are on trial here before a court of American citizens. The
future will tell."

5. DEBS TALKS TO THE JUDGE

The jury found Eugene Debs guilty and on Saturday morning the judge
pronounced sentence. Before the sentence was given, Debs had another
opportunity to tell someone about Socialism--this time it was the judge.

Debs never loses a chance. When the clerk asked him whether he had
anything 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 of
earth. I said then, I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am
in it; while there is a