The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1911-12-09
THE MCNAMARA CASE, AND LABoR's
POSITION

THE MCNAMARA CASE, AND LABoR's
POSITION.
The shock was terrific We had made the fight
of the McNamaras, the fight of labor. We had
nursed the delusion that their arrest part OF
mighty conspiracy to fasen upon labor crimes that
we did not suppose any intelligent workingmen
were capable of committing
We cannot blame the unacQuainted for failing
to understand why union labor stood by the Nc
Namara brothers until they shown to be guilty
They were unfamiliar with that long and bitterly
contested industrial which has been strenuously
waged in southern California for fifteen years.
They knew nothing Of the arrogance Of General
OTIS the owner Of the Los Angeles Times; of the
tyranny Of the Los Angeles Merchants and Manu-
facturers' association, of the Russian-ike edicts
against unions of labor promulgated by the police
department of that city.
They had not followed up the series of con-
spiracies against the American labor movement by
the National Association of Manufacturers headed
at different times by Parry, Van Cleave and Kirby
and augmented by number of lesser lights in
affiliated labor crushing organizations of employers.
They evidently forgot or they had not learned
of the vast armies of professional strike breakers
kept in reserve in the great industrial centers Of
America and recruited from the lowest hell holes
of degradation and crime for the purpose of not
only defeating every just effort of labor to better
it's condition, but to slug and kill active unonists
on the slightest provocation, and frequently just
If they could have but seen this situation from
the workingman's view point, they would have
joined with labor in offering their full measure of
srccor ard relief to the accused men,
1t is ridiculous to say that organized labor as
an institution countenances wilful injury to life or
property Neither is it just to hold that any reason
able number Of the officials in organizations of
labor stand for the commission Of such crimes as
were acknowledged by the Mcnamara brothers.
1t would be just as correct to hold that all
ministers criminals when the depravity of one
leads HIM to murder an innocent girl, or that all
Judges dishonest when one of them betrays his
trust, and accepts bride.
The general attitude of organized labor the
country since the confession Of the NcNamaras
indicates that labor feels keenly the despicable
aeeds committed by them. We have simply been
"gold bricked."
NO doubt greater will be exercised in the
future by such unions the bridge and structural
iron workers in the choice of it's officers AS rule
labor IS careful in selecting its officials It wants
honest men. It wants able men, It wants clean
and courageous men, but it, like great corporations,
is frequently deceived in men,
SO we cannot be blamed for making mistake
so liable to happen with Others
y Ii there are "men higher up'' then the Nc
& Namaras who have contributed by advice or other
wise to their crimes want to know who thew are
and it is to be hoped if there really are any that
John j. Mcnamara will help to make some repara-
4 ton for the cause he has shamefully injured bv
/ letting the whole truth be known
But for Walter Drew and Detective Burns to
say there are "men higher up'' and in the same
sentence to cast reflections upon the leadership of
Samuel Gompers, which by innuendo indicates that
he is one of them is damnably ghoulish, and such
vague and damaging expressions ought to be re-
sented by every in neutrality-suspicious. or
laborer- who knows anything about that tGrand
Old Mans" beautiful character, and his unselish
contribution to the social uplift of the American
people.