The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-12-02
THE MCNAMARA CONFESSION

I Inc concession OF the McNamara0
that they were responsible for the
wreck Of the Los Angeles Times
building in which the lives Of twen-
ty-two innocent people were lost came
as something OF a surprise. though
there has been little doubt in the
minds Of those who had analysed the
case impassionately that they were
guilty. There has been some doubt
in the public mind, however. as to the
ability of the state to prove the crime
close enough to convict. The confess
sion sets all these matters at rest.
1t is far too early to analyze the re-
suit. To say that the crime vas COM
mitted at the instance Of organized
labor as a whole would be a libel on
tens OF thousands of union members
who would be as much appalled, by
the thought OF wholesale murder as
the most bitter opponent Of union
ism. To believe for a moment that
John Mitchell or Samuel Gompers
were accessories before the fact
though merely acquiescing ones
would be preposterous. There has
been no time yet for determining the
real motive which prompted the aw-
full crime. 1t Is tru that General Otis.
the owner of the Times, was the Bit
ter enemy of union labor. He not
only refused to employ it, but used
his paper. his pen and his money to
drive h unions out Of existence. It
is possible to conceive hat the hatred
of union labor for him would be so
great that some weak-minded union
man r,fchf hoI{oV.A HSv~noNP <AN an
pointed avenger Of the unions wrongs
and by brooding on this theme, be-
come so insane that carrying out the
idea became the fullfllment Of his
mission. But there is no hint Of such
a mental condition in the McNamaras.
The act alone is the only evidence.
And the skill by which they covered
their tracks and defeated for months
the greatest criminal detectives that
money could secure, does not indicate
unbalanced minds.
Unfortunately for union labor 1t
will have to bear a large portion Of
the odium that will follow the con-
fession. It will be a club t break
the head Of unionism for many years.
1t will give the enemies of such I'M
ionism a greater force with which to
fight than they could have acquired
in years Of open warfare on organized
labor.
While it has its dark side. It is not
improbable that some good will ulti-
mately result. We as a people have
been prone to believe that labor can
do no wrong: that the man who
tolls is made of purer clay than he
for whom he tolls. Labor has had its
wrongs. its expressions and its injus-
tees. To defend the course of capt.
tai toward labor at all times would
be foolish. But labor has not been
inerrant. Both unions and individ-
uals have been wrong at times. The
injustice inflicted upon labor has ap.
pealed to public sympathy because It
has been the oppressed: and SYM
pathy long entertained becomes I'M
conscious judgement. The Mcnamara
confession will shatter some Of these
ideals and We shall likely take a n
view of the relation Of labor and cap.
ital. We may probably reach the
point where the two Join and become
interdependent; may finally reach the
idealistic place where each recog.
nizes the rights Of the other and
mutually seeks to rectify the wrong
that exist.
These things are in the distant fut-
ure, and labor will have to struggle
a long time to recover the ground it
lost. not by an act Of which It was
guilty, but by the confession Of two
men whose deed will be charged to
labor instead Of to them.