Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-12-08
Says Prosecution Knew.

says PROSECUTION anew.
Were all these men speaking from
blind partsanship or from honest convic-
ton? Were they utterly mistaken? The
answer has now been supplied by the
prosecution. While the gas theory was
being hooted at by enemies Of the unions,
while even SO late as last Friday night
an editor Of the New York Times was
indicting contemptuous slur at John
be adduced to show that an explosion of
gas destroyed the Los Angeles Times
building! the prosecution knew that gas
was an agency In the explosion and a
great factor In the destruction which en-
sued.
Nv. J. Burns In press interview Sat-
urday last said: Why. McManigal told US
in his first confession that Mcnamara
| turned open the stopcocks of the gas
mains Of the building when he set the
bomb. We knew all the time that q part
of the explosion was due to gas Now,
the possible terrific force Of a gas ex-
plosion. even in the open air. was shown
| in the wreckage caused by the accident
at the Grand Central Station. New York.
December 10. 1910 while the Los Angeles
disaster was being discussed throughout
the country.
THE fact of a gas explosion led all
| organized workers. Nearly all of them
| were convinced that it was an established
| fact. The most cautious reasoners among
| them regarded the possibilities Of the fact
| to the contrary could be produced. They
were willing to suspend conclusive judg-
ment while waiting evidence.
THE public also wanted such facts re-
garding the circumstances of the explo-
| sion as could be accepted as evidence Of
| the way 1t came about. What was given
| to the public, first and foremost? On the
instant, at the hearing OF the explosion.
nAt- .y.A~ ronic
ton of trades unionists. accusing them of
| having caused the disaster and he has
| ever since declared 1t was the result Of
| dynamite. BY this course he diverted the
| mon should have proceeded. through legal
methods alone, to search for the truth.
| Put Unions on Defensive.
"He threw the unions on their defense,
| outraged them, insulted their officials,
raised animosities that could have beer
/ avoided. He was at once backed up by
i the small circle Of bitter enemies of
| trades unionism, whose fulminations were
j largely made up of transparent false
hoods leveied at trades unions in gen.
' eral and at the leaders of trades unions.
Despite all clamor, 1t must be remem-
| bered that, with few exceptions, the in
| ternational trades unions, more than 12O
in number. are and have usually been in
normal business relations with the en-
ployers Of their members Many Of them
have for years arranged their differences
and their working conditions with en-
ployers through trade agreements or other
methods resulting in minimum of loss
through suspension Of work. Violence in
cases Of dispute are not common to them.
Trades unionists have been made aware.
by experience. that stories Of disorder by
unionists during strikes or lockouts have
been systematically exaggerated.
Therefore, aware of the necessity Of
trade union organization. of the incalcu-
liable amount Of good in varius forms
done by and through their unions every
year. Of the long and bitter campaign
carried on by Otis, Kirby, Post and
others to destroy trade unionism, and of
the preserving intention of these plotters
and their detectives to ignore the appar-
/ ent cause Of the Times disaster. and to
i turn that terrible event solely to account
as q means Of discrediting trades union
ism. the unions energetically stated their
side Of the case to the American public
as they saw 1t at that time.
! Russian Style Of Arrest.