Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-24

and Haywood stand as representatives Of
those who habitually appear as guilty of
Indictment to. or apology for, bloodshed and
violence. He added that he was pro-
foundry Indifferent to the condemnation Of
him for his criticisms of the undesirable
types of citizens regardless Of the power
Of either labor or capital.
The Presidents Letter.
The letter In full follows:
APRIL %, 1907
Dear Sir: have received your letter of
the 10Th instant. in which you enclose the
draft of the formal letter which Is to fol-
low. ! have been notified that several dele
cations, bearing similar requests, are on
the way hither. In the letter you. on be-
half of the Cook county Moyer-Haywood
conference, protest against certain Ian
guage l used in a recent letter which you
assert to be designed to influence the
course of justice In the case of the trial
for murder of Messrs. Meyer and Haywood.
1 entirely agree with you that it is i'm
proper to endeavor to influence the course
of justice, whether by threats or in any
similar manner. For this reason l have
regretted most deeply the action of such
organization as your own In undertaking
to accomplish this very result In the very
case of which you speak. For instance,
your letter is headed Cook County Meyer
Haywood Pettibone Conference with the
headlines-'Death-can not-will not-and
shall not claim our brothers" This shows
that you and YOUR associates are not de-
handing fair trial or working for fair
trial, but are announcing in advance that
the verdict shall only be one way, and that
you will not tolerate any other verdict.
Such action Is fragrant in its improperly,
and l Join heartily in condemnlng 1t.
A Simple Absurdity.
But 1t is a simple absurdity to sup
pose that because any man is on trial
for given offense he Is therefore to be
freed from all criticism upon his general
conduct and manner of life. In my let
ter to which you object, 1 referred to
certain prominent financier Mr.. Harri-
man, on the one hand, and to Messrs.
Meyer, Haywood and Debs on the other,
as being equally undesirable citizens. 1t
is as foolish to assert that this was de-
signed to influence the trial of Meyer
and Haywood to assert that 1T was
designed to influence the suits that have
been brought against Mr. Hartman. I
neither expressed nor indicated any opin-
ion as to whether Messrs. Meyer and
Governor Steunenberg. If they are
guilty they certainly ought to be pun
ished. If they are not guilty they GER
tainly ought not to be punished.
But no possible outcome either of the
trial or the suits can affect my Judg-
ment as to the undesirability of the
type Of citizenship Of those whom men
toned. Messrs. Meyer, Haywood and
men who have done as much to discredit
the labor movement as the worst specu-
lative financiers or most INSCRIPTIONS
employers of labor and debauchers of
legislatures have done to discredit honest
capitalists and fair-dealing business men.
They stand as the repr esentatives of
those men who by their public utter
ances and manifestOes, by the utterances
of the papers they control or inspire,
and by the words and deeds of those as
ISOLATED with or subordinated to them,
habitually appear as guilty OF Indictment
to or apology for bloodShed and violence.
citizenship. then there can never be any
undesirable citizens. The men whom 1
denounce represent the men who have
abandoned that legitimate movement for
the uplifting OF labor with which / have
the most hearty sympathy; they have
adopted practices which cut them off
from those who lead this Legitimate
movement In every way l shall sup
port the law-abtding and upright repre-
sentatiVes of labor; and in no way can
L better support them than by drawing
the sharpest possible line between them,
on the one hand, and, on the other hand
those preachers of violence who are
themselves the worst foes of the honest
laboring man.
The Presidents Regret.
Let me repeat my deep regret that any
body of men should SO far forget their
duty to the country as to endeavor by the
formulation Of societies and in other ways
to influence the course of Justice in this
matter l have received many such letters
as yours. Accompanying them were news
paper clippings announcing demonstrations
parades and mass meetings designed to
show that the representatives of labor,
without regard to the facts, demand the ac-
quittal of Messrs. Haywood and Meyer
Such meetings cam of course. be designed
only to coerce court or jury in rendering
verdict, and they therefore deserve all
the condemnation which you in your letters
say should be awarded to those who en-
deavor improperly to influence the course
of justice
You would of course be entirely within
your rights If you merely announced that
you thought Messrs. Meyer and Haywood
were desirable citizens" though In such
case 1 should take frank issue with you
and should say that, wholly without regard
to whether or not they are guilty of the
crime for which they are now being tried
they represent as thoroughly undesirable a
type of citizenship as can be found in this
country; type which, in the letter to
which you so unreasonably take exception,
I showed not to be confined to any one
class, but to exist among some representa-