The Washington times., 1911-05-06
.LABORS ERROR IN
DYNAMITE CASE As
ROOSEVELT TS[ES|T
Former President Discusses
Ethics of Charges in Out
look Editorial.

Former President Roosevelt discusses
the charges against labor leaders In
! conecntion with the dynamiting OF the
Los Angeles Times in a signed edi-
| torial In the current issue Of the OUT
look. under the heading Murder Is
Murder" as follows:
There Is one feature Of the develop
ments as regards the arrest Of certain
! alleged labor men in connection with
the dynamite outrage pcrpetrated
against the Los Angeles Times to which
especial attention should be called. II
the explosion was not an accident. but
the deliberate act OF any man or men.
it was an outrage of dastardly iniquity.
for 1t was one OF those crimes in which
the murderer, in order to crafty his
spite against an Individual, not merely
wrecks that individuals property. but
with callous indifference takes the lives
of scores of innocent people as an incl
dent to the achievement Of his sinister
and criminal purpose. The men respon-
| sible for dynamiting the Los Angeles
Times building are responsible not only
for the wreck Of the newspaper ofnces.
but for the loss of many lives.
With Impartial Severity.
The arrest was made in consequences Of
Testimony secured by Mr.. Burns, who
has been Mr.. Heney's right-hand man
in bringing to justice grafters who vio-
lated the laws of the United States in
Oregon and grafters who violated the
laws of California in San Francisco. He
has proceeded with impartial severity
against the most influential politicians
| and the richest business men. 1t hap
| pens that the men whom he has now
arrested are members OF a labor or
ganizatiou; Just as men whom he for
merly arrested were members OF the
Republican or Democratic parties or OF
great and wealthy corporations.
1t would have been q wicked thing IN
the former cases with which Mr.. Bur1s
had to do for leading Republicans or
Democrats to combine to break him
down and support the accused merely
because the accused belonged TO thelr
political party, and. it would have been
wicked thing for big capitalists and
| big business men to make common
cause with the capitalists against whom
he proceeded merely because they were
capitalists. Wherever any politician OF
either party or any capitalist did actual
| ly take this position, whether in the
| case CT the men prosecuted by MI.
| Burns or in any other case, the OUTLOOK
unhesitatingly and severely denouncsd
them. In exactly the same spirit stats
the convictions OF the Outlook in ex-
pressing its hearty reprobatton OF the
conduct of those labor leaders who.
without waiting to know anything Of
publicly TO the defense of the alleged
| dynamiters whom Mr.. Burns has now
arrested, and who talk about the arrest
as being part of conspiracy against
labor unions.
Censures Creation of Sympathy.
No worse service can be rendered by
labor union leaders to the cause Of
unionism than that which they render
when they seek to identify the cause
Of unionism with the cause of any
man guilty of a murderous attack of
this nature. l have no idea whether
the men arrested on Mr.. Burns state
leaders in question have no idea
whether or not they are. They are
| entitled to an absolutely fair trial
| II they have no money to provide
be entirely proper for any body Of
men to furnish them the requisite
| funds, simply as an incident in secur-
| ing them a fair trial. But 1t is gross
ly improper TO try to create public
| opinion in favor Of the arrested men
| simply because the crime Of which
they are accused is one committed
against a capitalist or a corporation,
and because the men who are charged
with committing ii are members of a
| labor union. This Is an iniquity as
gross as it would have been IL when,
three years ago. the Sugar trust was
| indicted for swindling operations in
| the New York custom house, the
forces of organized capital had been
put behind the indicted men on the
ground that the attack on capitalists
guilty of crime meant an attack on
| all capital.
Undoubtedly there have been in the
| past repeated cases where representa-
tives of capital have thus endeavored
to prevent successful assault on
abuses committed in the interest OF
capital; and in every such case, no
matter how wealthy or influential the
offender, the Outlook believes that he
should be condemned. 1t now takes
the same attitude, when the question
unionism with alleged murder, that
1t has always taken when the uues-
ton was one of Identifying the cause
of capital with alleged corruption,
and 1t appeals to the honest and law
abiding laboring man exactly as IL
appeals to the honest and law-abidinr
business man; for both are, first OF
all, American citizens, whose attitude
morality and good citizenship must
be Identical
Organized Labor Not the Issue.
The question of organized labor or or
ganized capital. or of the relations ot
either with the community at large, has
nothing whatever to do with this ISSUE
All we are now concerned with is the
grave and vital question of fact whether
or not the accused men have been gull
ty of murder, and of murder under cir
cumstances of peculiar foulness and
atrocity. Whether we do or do not ap-
prove of the policy of the Los Angeles
Tfmes-and the Outlook very heartily
disapproves of its policy on certain mat
ters-has nothing whatever to do with
the question. The stern repression OF
nurderous violence-above all, Of mur-
derous violence under circumstances of
such cowardly infamy as always accom-
pany the use of dynamite-must, of nee
ca silly be a prime need of any civilization
calling itself such. Whether the man
attacked Is a capitalist or a Socialist, a
wage-worker or professional man, has
nothing whatever to do with the uues-
ton; and whether the man attacking
him does or does not belong to any or
ganization, whether of labor or capital.
whether social or religious, has nothing
to do with the question. The one and
only question Is as to the guilt or inno-
cence of the men accused. Any man
who seeks to have them convicted II
they are innocent Is guilty of a crime
against the state. and any man who
seeks to have them acquitted. IL SSyby,
is also guilty of a crime against the
state THE0DOPE pnO2EV7I