The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1912-03-14
APPEAL TO PUBLIC
TO ACQUIT GOMPERS
Though Admitting His Weak
nesses, Head Of Civic Commission
Does Not Believe Him Guilty of
Intentional Wrongdoing.
MCNAMARA Case.

WHICH ne also urESQ the acceptance OF
the doctrine that the interests of en-
ployers and employees are reconcile
BILE. and not, as some believe, always
antagonistic.
or Samuel Gompers Mr.. Low said
that cit is due TO him more than to
any other man in the United States
that the rank and file of the labor
movement. as represented in the /
American Federation of Labor, have
been held to the ideal for which the /
National Civic Federation itself stands
that while the interests of labor and |
OF capital are not identical, they are /
usually reconcilable."
Mr.. Low denounced the-Textremists
among the employers,~Egho refused to
deal with labor unions. and also the
extremists in Ynfons who regard en-
ployers as wholly inimical to them and |
aScorolngIy/ Fuse untustihed means 10
obtai1rfnFir ends. He cited as an ex- |
RWS1e the experience of the iron work /
ers' union. which encountered some |
employers who opposed the union in /
its turn overstepping the bounds OF /
both the right and reason in the case |
OF the Mcnamara dynamite outrages. |
ITO those who know nothing of the |
inside OF the Industrial problems of |
our times" he said, the Mcnamara |
incident and the conspiracy of which |
AZ is alleged TO have been a part, look
like a determined resort to violence
not only on the part of the iron work
ers' union. but perhaps even on the
Labor. This latter feeling is due part
ly to the attitude taken by the officers
of the American Federation of Labor
when the McNamaraS were first ar
rested; and partly to the continued in
situations against Mr.. Gompers which
was carried on under the phrase that
officials are seeking men higher up"
The general public, with little infor-
nation at it's command, is not to be
blamed for reaching such a cOnclu-
sion"
Mr.. Low said that the officers of
- American Federation of Labor do
necessarily know any more about
ecret proceedings of any of the
rs, which are its component parts,
% does the President of the United
les about what the Governor of
one particular State is doing. and,
erefore. should not be hastily con-
mined for their wrongdoings.
The Mcnamara Case.
1T is impossible to deny that Mr..
Gompers. as president of the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor" he said,
the McNRmaras were arrested, not in
assuming their innocence-for they
were entitled to that assumption until
they were proven to be guilty-but
in failing also to remember that they
might be guilty and in attacking as
an enemy of organized labor every
one who thought they were guilty.
After this mistake had been made the
posed of wholly by the criminal law
was thrust into what came near being
class struggle between labor and
capital involving the whole country.
believe that, except for the fortu-
nate confessions of the McNamaras.
no possible verdict could have been
reached which would not have left in
the hearts of multitudes, on one side
or the other, the seed OF bitterness.
II the McNamaras had been convict
ed, multitudes Of working men would
have always felt that the courts had
yielded to a capitalistic pressure. If
: they had been acquitted the desper-
ate element in the labor unions would
have felt that they could continue TO
indulge in such methods without fear
of consequence.
From such a stupendous disaster
Mr.. Burns and those who have work
ed with him have saved the country.
They have done even more, for they
have revealed to the American Fed
GRAFTON of Labor and to its officers
and to the country that the resort to
" violence in the labor world is thing
that can no longer be assumed to be
impossible. If the federation. in the
future. wishes to command public
sympathy and confidence it must be
prompt to disown all violence con-
nected with the struggles of labor.
NGompers' Fine Record.
Twenty eight times Mr.. Gompers
has been NEGLECTED president of the
American Federation of Labor. This
exceptional honor has been done him
not because of his abstract opinions
in regard to the proper rules of labor
and capital, but because under his eff
fective leadership the conditions af-
fecting labor in the United States
have steadily improved. He is what
he is and he has done what he has.
by virtue of the fact that, with entire
singleness of purpose during ali these
years, he has studied for the inter-
ests OF the laboring men as he has
seen them.
1.-The public may reasonably be
asked to hold It's mind in suspense
as to all charges or insinuations in
criticism OF Mr.. Gompers and his as
eociates in the direction of the Amer
lean Fen grafton of Labor until events
demonstrate whether or not they have
the guilty knowledge which Is limited
at but OF which as yet there Is no
scintills of evidence. A man who has
done what Mr.. Gompers has done
may justly ask of his countrymen q
suspension of Judgment"
Mr. Low called attention to the OPP
Rosition made against the Civic Fed
GRAFTON. first, by capitalists. who de-
nounce what they call "hobnobbing
with laborers"; second, by independ-
ont labor organizations, such as the
Eocialistic Industrial Workers OF the
World for affiliating with the Ameri-
can Federation OF Labor, on the
ground that 1t Is not vigorous enough
In its methods to be truly representa-
tive OF the laboring men, and. third
fy. by some members of the American
Federation of Labor for having asso-
Citations with the large employers.
This, he said, In all three instances.
- because of the erroneous theory
that labor and capital are born enc
znieA
Way OF Adjustment
@Tn q word" he said. there ap-
pears to be in the industrial condi-
lions OF our day conflict between the
various employers to remain in alb
eolute control Of their business and
working men who are striving for
actual control OF all the conditions
affecting labor. particularly through
the closed shop policy.
'"rhe philosophic way to adjust such
antagonistic theories is illustrated in
physics by the operation Of the CEN
tripetal and centrifugal forces, as