Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1911-12-05
DYNAMITING ASSASSINS WHO
ESCAPE THE GALLONS.

cause of the McNamaras their own.
President Gompers, of the Federation
of Labor, John Mitchell, and other
leaders CT national note were too
quick to clamor against the authorit-
les of Los Angeles, too eager to cry
persecution, too willing to charge
that capital had fixed" a case against
the accused. There was too manifest
tendency among them to stand by
the McNaaaras almost regardless OF
the evidence, TOO much anxiety 10 ne-
cloud the issue, too much desire to
raise enormous defence funds. Now
that the guilt Of the men is acknowl-
edged. and admission forced from
their own unwilling lips by the indis-
putable proof in the prosecutions
hands. the labor leaders who sought
to try the case outside Of the courts
and to cry down the prosecution be
fore the trial. find themselves in a
position that the word awkward
hardly expresses.
Why the state should allow the men
to plead guilty with tacit under
standing that their lives Will be spar
ed it is difficult at this distance 10
understand. A crime, 50 frightfully
henious as the dynamiting OF build
ing in which many men were at work.
and w which a sco'e or more los
their lives. undoubtedly requires a
eXari.ie that will deter other mis-
creonts r.. ~ like efforts hereafter. A
prison penalty, likely to be modified
by some political governor in the
near future, is no vindication Of the
majesty Of the law, and no deterrent
to evil doors embarking on a similar
course of destruction of property and
lives. The intimation that political
conditions in California had much to
do with the states action is repelIant
to the better judgment of the Amer
lean people. Politics has no right to
mix up in a case of 50 grave a nature
as this. That it has apparently done
$50 does not speak we'll for public
spirit in the far-away Western COM
monwealth.
While two men have pleaded guilty
to the dynamiting of the Times build
ing, the public will never believe that
there weIa not many others impli-
Gated in this and other outrages of
this character. These two men must
have had confederates, they must
have been literally supplied with
funds to rent buildings, to travel ex-
tensively, 70 buy and plant dynamite
under buildings and bridges all over
the country. Evidently the Tndianap-
Oils headquarters of their union was
a nest of anarchists of this tvpe It
may be that the Federal government.
through its ability to prosecute for
transporting explosives in violation
OF the statutes, will be able to land
some of the others in the peniten
tiary. But that will be but a sorry
punishment, after all, for the series
OF outrages Of this kind that have oc-
Cured over a term of years, with
untold loss of property and lives ra-
Asulting.
No one, Of course, with any sense,
VIII seek to place the responsibility
on organized labor as class. 1t SIM
ply means that one union fell into
the hands of a desperate lot of offic-
ials who were willing to kill and de-
stroy to carry their aims. The incl
dent shows how the more conserya-
tive element, who form the vast ma
Jorlty OF every union, should scan the
character and acts of men before en-
trusting them with high official posi-
ton, and hold them strictly account
able for every movement made in the
name of labor. The vast mass of I'M
ION men are law-abiding, peaceable
home-loving, good citizens. anxious
only to improve the condition of la
Dor through the strength that comes
from united efforts. That such scoun-
drels sthe McNamaras and the nm
known assassins associated with
them in their career of evil should be
permitted to bring such blot on the
cause Of unionism is certainly to be
| regretted. No one conversant with
the facts can deny that only through
organization has labor been enabled
10 extract from the fruits of it's work
reasonable share as it's compensa-
tloh, 'that only through organization
mas 1t improved the conditions sur
rounding its work, that only by organ
lzation have industrial evils been
iessened and in many instances abol-
lShed. The greater the pity, then,
that such men as the type of these
dynamiters should ever have been
permitted to WELD the power of A
labor organization in such dibol-
lcal way. Let all hope that this
country has seen the last of their III;