New-York tribune., 1911-12-18

PUT BLAME ON CAPITAL
Speakers Lay Union Abuses at
Doors of Employers.
PREACHER ATTACKS STEEL
Declares He Would Rather Be q
Mcnamara than the Head
of Trust.

From the pulpit and lecture platform
sharp attacks upon employers for their at
titude toward labor were heard In this CITY
yesterday. References were made to the
McNamaras. and many Of the abuses OF
labor unions were laid TO the employers.
A large congregation assembled in the
Church Of the Messiah to hear the Rev.
John Haynes Holmes preach on THE New
Problem Of Peace" After going into the
history of the present war between capital
and labor, the speaker said, in part:
The employers are ultimately responsible
for the present situation. They have denled
to Iaboring mon any voice in the manage
mcnt Of industry. they have failed 10 rec.
ognize the voice of the people at the balot
box. | lay emphasis upon this war between
classes not only because II IS the most mo
mentous fact of our age. but because II eN-
plains many methods of the unions Whlch
have been denounced such as the boNcot''
the strike and the closed shop. Almost tUe
same thing can he said about the employ
ment of violence, as in the case OF the NC
am not here to excuse or Justify these
criminals or their crimes. Neither am !
here TO denounce or condemn them: IN
this matter there are two sides. ana one
side-namely, that of labor-has been Who'll
~ neglected in the discussion of the last
two weeks. When Mr.. Roosevelt declares
in regard 10 the McNamaras that Murder
is murder" ne says what is both untru"
and unjust Murder is not murder. on the
contrary. the courts of law are caretul 10
distinguish between murder IN the hrst,
second and third degrees, and they even GO
SO tar as to distinguish manSlauSnter rs
| a separate crime.
such distinction must be made in viewing
the crimes of the McNamaras In trylhB
| to understand the crimes of these men we
must ask two questions First, what cir
| cumstances were there that made It possl-
| BILE for them to think that they were Justl-
! fed i'm doing what they did rms again
| opens up the whole wetched history or the
! Steel Trust in its relation to labor Year
! after year The steel Trust has attempted TO
| destroy the unions I'm which its employees
| were organized Year after year this trust
has degraded its employees to the lowest
possible DEPTHS Of economic degradatlon'
! The steel Trust has for years conducted
shameful war upon its employees and the
crimes Of the McNamaras are the result.
Violence breeds violence. hatred breeds
hatred and war breeds war. The hostlle
attitude Of the National Erectors Associa-
lion toward the structural ironworkers
made retaliation in terms OF dynamite an
As between the Steel Trust and the Nc
Ndmaras, | say to YOU that the criminal
corporation Is greater menace 10 the Norla
than the criminal bomb thrower and II !,
personally, had 10 choose between being
the leader Of the steel Trust and one Of the
McNamaras ! would most certainly choose
the latter.
With "Anarchical Tendencies i'm tho
United States" as the subject Of his ad-
dress. Dr. Felix Adler, in speaking yester-
day at the weekly meeting Of the Society
for Ethical Culture. referred to employers
who strive for nothing higher than the
amassing of greater riches for themselves
He took occasion TO denounce vigorously
the efforts that had been made TO condone
the offences of the Mcnamara brothers,
now in prison for dynamite outragcs, on
the ground Of social causes, saving that
no matter what might have been the mo-
i've for the crimes. the latter remained
crimes just the same.
He added:
There are two kinds o! anarchy. the be-
nigT ant and the malignant. III" former IL
of a philosophical character. ana seeks INC
abolition of police and courts ana the car
Tying on of affairs by voluntary assocla-
ton and voluntary agreement. II ls pdSsu'
however. on the most eKaEseratei opu,
rnisn i'm regard TO mankind. lmUractical az
il appedrS II is, however often Soushl
through the sweetest and most hndj
methods.
In fhe malignant form Of anarchy simi-
lar ends are sought i'm the smashing of
existing conditions 10y various methods ol
violence In IL We lind crime pure ana
simple No matter what the principle OF
social cause that is in the mind of the man
who sets off bomb to gan his ends
thereby causing death 90 his fellow beings.
the certain means he uses makes his work
crime. He is not fighter IN the SOClal
war. as many would like to have MS be
ieve. In war there il the chance for the
attacking party TO defend himself But the
bomb placed Stealthily in the building where
tWeHty-One men are peacefully at work,
and where tWenty-Ono cOrpScS are TO De
d. FgV ia.
defend themselves. That is not war, but
is murder.
DR.. Adler went on to say that we have
the actual killing Of people right at the
doors Of capital "The number Of lives
blotted out in mines and on railroads by
the criminal carelessness of capital is far
greater than the number Of deaths from
the placing Of dynamite bombs" he de-
clared There are thousands killed and
wounded by the wealthy classes as com
pared with the twenty-onc bodies in Los
Angeles. We should not, Of course, too
fully associate the two sorts Of conditions.
There is the difference that there is In the
latter case the sheer intent 10 do that
which NAV mean murder, while the other
cases are Of Indifference.
"These crimes fiji the daily papers and
the problem presented is grave in coun-
,rv where everybody reads. The labor
man seeing all these crimes directed
against him. has been driven 10 unite with
his fellow labor men. II only part OF
Them ioin the movement they cannot WIN.
And AS we see that II is the anarchlcal
tendency Of capital that has brought about
tbe crimes by labor men, let it be now the
nd of emDloves to drive that tendency