Imperial Valley press., 1911-12-04
GOSPEL Of INDUSTRIAL PEACE
APPLIED TO MCNAMARA CASE
TNNxfaM 4

Lincoln Steffens, the magazine
writer who a few years ago stirred
the country by his expose Of graft in
the government of many cities, started
the movement which led to the con-
fession of the Mcnamara brothers as
a signal for the return of the indus
trial life of the American people from
a course of class hatred to a policy of
peace. In the following article he
tells of the steps taken.-Ed Press. ]
Labor and capital both stand con-
victed here today, the one of direct
crime, the other of inciting crime. In
nocent workingmen and innocent bust
ness men may protest this interpre-
tation Of the conclusion of the Nc
Namara and all other labor PROPOSE
tions in this county yesterday after
noon. But l was participant from
the beginning nearly two weeks ago
in the negotiations which led up to
that result, and l knew, not only the
facts and considerations which weigh
ed with both parties, but l caught also
the spirit of it. And that was fine.
Los Angeles has done something
which, if the people here and in the
country at large will understand it
versy between labor and capital on a
new and a clearer basis forever. This
city had labor down; she could have
reaped vengeance on its agents, and
the leaders and (excepting Job Harri-
mani the attorneys of labor know it..
But the commanding men in this COM
munity didn't do that They let labor
up. And one reason why these cap
italists did that was because they
knew that they also were at fault
And, having done this thing, in this
spirit, they propose now to go on and
do more. They will cross the class
line. They promised me, some twenty
of them, that they would meet with
some of the labor leaders here and
consider afresh the problem of labor.
Nothing may come of it, neither side
expects too much. But each side has
promised not only to listen, but to try
to understand the other.
In other words, the war between
capital and labor is recognized as a
war The compromise of the murder
-, 40 k0
derstooG - an acknowledgment that
J. B. and ]. J. Mcnamara are, as Dis
tict Attorney Fredericks said few
days ago, mot criminals, but fanatics. "
would use other words; have talked
with these men in their Jail, and l
think know them and something of
what they think. They think they
are serving cause; that they are
fighting in war. And they are. And
the states action toward them is, in
effect, as 1 am trying to show, the
first step toward a treaty of peace.
The only limitation I must put upon
this summary OF the matter is this:
All the agreements made are without
the ken of the court. Judge Bordwell
was not a parry to the negotiations,
nor is he bound by the agreement
made He is considering the cases
purely as crime, and from another
point OF view. But there is an agree
ment between the attorney for the
state and for these men, and il the
Judge decides to exceed it, the cases
will go on as before. But l think the
Judges conclusion will be in a spirit
of the community he represents.
1t is necessary to say this for an
other reason. Coming in the midst OF
hot political campaign and without
any explanation, the first news was a
shock, especially to the working peo-
pie and the friends of the Socialist
candidates. It is amazing how many
of them there were who really be
lieved that these men were innocent
Some of these people lost their heads
the reporters who went out around
the town said many men wept, and
wild rumors were flying everywhere
1t is wrong to put out piece of news
as unexpected as this without an ex-
planation. 1t looked for while as il
Los Angeles had gone mad, and GER
tainly some of the good effects which
was expected from this event was
lost by the way it was thrown to the
public
Nothing but all the facts about the
negotiations and the agreement can
clear this matter now and make it dc
its right work, and both sides of the
controversy have left it to me to pre-
sent those facts. The beginning OF
the story was at Miramar, the ranch
of e. w. Scripps, near San Diego, or
Sunday, Nov 10. 1 went down there