New-York tribune., 1911-12-28

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The result in the Washington Place
fire prosecution IS one of those dis
heartening failures Of justice which are
ali too common in this country. Seven
score lives were destroyed in a few mo-
mentS. All the circumstances showed
neglect to obey and neglect TO enforce
the laws which are made for the pro-
lection of workers lives. Yet by the
verdict of the jury no one Is responsible
for that wholesale slaughter The
Tribune has no disposition TO question
its finding. The law says that If a rea-
SOnable doubt exists persons accused Of
crime must be acquitted. The Jury
heard all of the evidence in this case
by seeing all the witnesses on the stand
it had an opportunity to determine
whether they were telling the truth or
not. and ii was in the best position TO
Judge if any reasonable doubt existed as
to the locking of the door upon the
fastening of which the prosecution s
Whole case hung.
OF all the various individuals who
should have known that the hundreds
of shirtwaiSt workers in Harris n
Blanck'S place worked in peril of their
lives -proprietOrS Of the factory. city
and state inspectors, superintendents
and those who passed On plans ana
licenses. all the personnel engaged in
the empty farce of protecting lives in
workshops of the whole list OF
those whose responsibility seemed more
or less obvious. the public prosecutor
chose the proprietors aS the ones whose
responsibility might most surely be
demonstrated. The charges against
them have not been established TO the
satisfaction of jury. There is little hope
that the bringing home Of personal guilt
to any one of the many who took deS-
perate chances with the lives of those
workers i'm Washington Place may teach
a Salutary lesson of official or private
responsibility. The monstrOus con-
clusion of the law is that the slaughter
was no ones fault, that it couldn't be
helped. or perhaps even that, in the
fine legal phrase which is big enough to
cover a multitude Of defects of justice,
il was IAN act of God. This conclusion
is revolving to the moral sense of the
community.
But why is It that justice in a case
like this so often fails that the people
are grown cynical and expect nothing
else? When hundreds die i'm factory.
theatre or steamboat, under circum-
stances that are an indictment Of every
one responsible for their existence, Off
cially or privately, either no one is
brought TO Justice or, as I'm the case Of
the General SlOCum, the law is perforce
satisfied to punish some underling
whose authority is shadOwy and unreal
and whose conviction is so beside the
mark that the public feels like apOlOgiZ-
ing for IL ever after? In the case just
ended the prosecuting officer was eff
cient. His record is one of success. 1t
must he assumed that he has done mis-
utmost with the law as it rs 10 find and
punish those on whom the guilt of the
slaughter rests. is the fault with Il
system that makes all convictions diff
cult by excessive safeguards afforded 10
the accused? Does the law further fail
in fixing a proper responsibility on own
ers and employers? If respect for law
is 10 grow and not diminish, these de-
feats of Justice, humiliating TO society
and repugnant to the individual con-
science, must stop.