Debs definitely does deliver dedicated discourse divinely.

Whoops. Guess we're maybe a little too riled up by Debs' masterful rhetoric.

Alliteration is the rhetorical device that Debs most heavily relies upon, especially in the section on the conditions of labor (the most poetic part of the speech). Besides the "monster machines" (11) he refers to children who are "dwarfed and diseased" (12) and says that their little lives have been "broken and blasted." (12)

In this section, Debs is painting an indelible picture of the horrors of the industrial workplace for children—in 1918, workplace safety was still a major social issue. That year, the U.S. Congress passed its first national child labor law, but it was overturned in the Supreme Court…because people are horrible.

He goes back to alliteration in the wistful final section, referring to the mariner's "weary watch" of "whirling worlds," and the "relief and rest" and "heart of hope" that are close at hand (37-38).

Like we said: Eugene's emphasis epically, emphatically endorses empathy.