The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1911-12-08

building and the murder of twenty
one men, has been established.Bu'
the public was not prepared for the
confession Of the accused, However
it was a last resort with them,
chance to save their miserable necks
| from the hangman's moose and hey
took it. Nevertheless the people
will regret that the full and saveer
penalty of the law is spared them
No punishment would be too good
for fends who have been guilty OF
the crimes to which they confess
1t is really union labor that will
suffer most as the result of the eX'
posture. 1t places the leaders Of the
union in an ugly light before the
people Ever since the arrest Of the
criminals the lenders have shouted
persecution and have undertaken to
raise a huge fund of hundreds of
thousands of dollars to be used in
defeating Justice Whenever union
labor officially sanctions dynamiing
and murder and contributes huge
corruption fund to save the perpre-
traitors we think we see the end of
union labor in America. We do not
believe that the Justice loving, law
abiding citizens Of America, whatever
maybe their views touching the rela-
lions of capital and labor, will ever
give sanction to any organization that
condones assassination and wholesale
destruction of property.
The attitude of the labor leaders
throughout the whole controversy has
ben discreditable. They wildly rush
ed to the defense of the criminals
because they were members Of the
Union. They did not raise huge
fund to defend them because Of their
innocence. Every intelligent and
fair-minded person who had read the
facts detailed in the press knew the
men we're guilty But they were de-
Tended because they were members
of an order or society. That spirit
is un-American and is subversive OF
every principle upon which this gov
eminent is founded
What would labor leaders and I'M
ion men have said If, when Cumnins
was accused OF the theft of $4,000
from the Carnegie Trust Company of
New York, the bankers of the coun-
try had rushed to his defense, sub
scribed from their plethoric purses
an immense defense fund to save him
from the legal consequences OF his
thievery? The principle is exactly
the same. The cases are entirely
analogous. Yet if the bankers, rep
resenting capital, had taken the
course here suggested, not only would
they have incurred the severest con-
demnation Of the union labor men of
the entire nation but they would
have brought down upon their neads
the indignant protest of the entire
people.
The man who rushes to the defense
of a crimina, and seeks to defeat the
law, to save the guilty, merely be-
cause both are members of the same
church or organization or society, IS
lacking in those elements which are
essential to the making of a good citi-
zen. The politician who condemns
the corruption of the opposition, but
is blind to the crimes of his own
party associates is of the same class.
Both are lacking in Americantsm,
both have failed to get the true spirit
of the institutions of their country.
Let us hope that Union labor will
learn lesson from the Los Angeles
case. Hereafter the leaders of that
should devote less tlme
and attention to the defense of Grim
mails and more to the legitimate pur-
poses of their order. The people
will be slow to believe that Mitchell
and Gompers and others were as in
nocent of the guilt of the dynamiters
course in this case has been sever
est blow that union labor has received
these many years and it will be long
years before it will recover from the
effects. Only by the reputation OF
officers who have shown sympathy
for the murderers can the cause of
union labor be once again commend
ed to right thinking people.