The Washington herald., 1911-12-08

zine, August, 1911
I J. J. Mcnamara had not been of suffi-
cient prominence among labor men to be
1 the subject of discussion as a leading
| figure, but what was generally known
OF him was to his credit. He was seen
at conventions as man OF pleasing ap-
pearance and of mild manner. He was
| spoken of as self-educated and a faith
| full secretary of his organization. His
speech and his writings for his magazine
/ were reputed to be conservative. When
placed under arrest and throughout his
imprisonment his bearing was undemon-
strative. His letters and kilograms to
officials of the American Federation OF
Labor and the Atlanta convention were
concise and without suspicious charac-
| teristics. In no wise, to common OBJ
servance, had he shown abnormal traits.
Did organized labor properly express its
condemnation of violence on hearing of
the Los Angeles disaster? 1t did by in
terviews. addresses, and publication. The
hundreds of union labor papers, in their
issues succeeding the event. contained
what. taken together, would make
volumes, declarative of the sentiments
of their editors and of the rank and file
of union membership on the subject All
recognized the case as one OF mystery
the feeling shown being that of horror
at the possibility OF any union man being
implicated in it. Unions framed resolu-
tions in meetings, declaring that trade
unionism was not TO be advanced by
murderOus acts. Union labor officials,
and many others. were quoted to similar
effect The president of the American
Federation of Labor. the day after the
disaster occurred. as published by the
st Louis Star. said:
Gompers' Early Statement.
Labor does not stand for such out
RACES nor contemplate such crime. I
cannot believe that a union man has
done it, and | deeply hope no one who
was connected with the labor movement
will be found to have done ii. 1t is in
conceivable that a union man should have
done this thing. And yet, if il Is found
that "A union man has done it. unionism
cannot hn blamed by fair-minded men
for the deed OF a man devoid OF any
human telling as the perpetrator of this
horrible catastrophe must have been. IL
was the act of a mailman. No one with
an ounce OF sympathy in his makeup
could do aught but. contemplate such a
crime with the deepest adherence.
These facts were further fully pre-
scented i'm tho June. 1911, issue of the
American Federationist. in a seventeen
page article entitled the Mcnamara
Case" in which the leading facts up TO
that time were reviewed. Speaking be
fore tho 81. Louis Central Labor Union
on Sunday. October = 1910, the day after
tho disaster. President GompcrS ass"rt-
ell he would Immediately turn the dy-
ufmiters over TO the proper authorities
if he could lay hands on them. The
Globe Democrat also quoted him as say
ing: Il only wish ] knew the actual per-
pctrators. and If / did, take my word
for IL. ! would turn them over TO JUS
ticc.'' The universal condemnation OF a
in
to Il" d fact so far beyond question. so
ca silly ascertainable from accessible rec
ordS. that no man with any regard for
his reputation for veraCity could deny
it. Yet the New York Times. in an edi-
tUral last Saturday. printed this SEN
touc": From tho day when James r.
M"Namara's bomb blew his twenty-one
victims into eternity down TO the pres
oui time no authoritative voice in the
ranks Of labor has been raised 10 ex
press tho hope that the InurderRrs
would be brought TO justice. even should
they prove to be- union men
Rclativ" to other phases of the Nc
Namara case. the article in the June
American Federationlst contains these
passages:
Attacks Detective Burns.
1t may be said that from that time
Cthe Kidnapping to the present Detect
i've Burns. Attorney Drew, Editor Otis,
{. ". Post. and the active agents OF
the extremists in the Manufacturers
Association in general have all played
to perfection the hysterical characters
to which we are accustomed in the
pages of cheap fiction and on the boards
of the Bowery class of theaters.'
- Nothing more surprised US in
the series OF audaclous acts committed by
Detective Burns than his saying to .
reporter for the World. May :, 1911.
Samuel Gompers, president Of the
American Federation of Labor, knows
by this time that there was no frame
UP and that the arrests of the McNa-
maras and McManigal were not the re-
suit OF a plant Why? Because Gompers
has been conducting an investigation of
his own at Indianapolis that has convinc-
ed him that there was no frame-up and
no plants. "
These assertions of Burns were entire
~ without foundation. Nothing was
brought to our knowledge in Indianapolis
or elsewhere that could be used as evil
dence against the prisoners. or to show
that the Structural Iron Workers Union
has been conducting n dynamite cam
paign against the Erectors' Association
Since the McNamaras' confession Burns
has been Teiterating this charge. The on
Il investigation in which Mr. Com
the meeting of the prominent trade
unionists held last May 1912. called by
officials Of the eight international unions
which have headquarters in that city,
and the meeting of the officials of a
large number Of trade unions called by
au ,hority OF the executive council of the
American Federation of Labor and held
at Indianapolis, June %. 1911. What Pres
ident GomperS lear therr was precise
~ what every one attending the confer
ence learned. and that was nothing that
helped TO solve the mystery of the Los
Angeles disaster, or of criminality Of
any kind.
Kidnapping Was Uu-American.
Indeed, the unlawful and un-American
kidnapping of Mcnamara forTned-one of
the chief factors Of fixing in the minds
Of the working people OF our country
that he was innocent They reasoned, !
as they had the right TO reason. that II
there existed evidence of McNamara's |!
guilt of the crime charged. every pro- !
lection would and should have been &C.