New-York tribune., 1914-11-26
Murder, Legal and Illegal, as an
Aid TO Business.


All indications are that Barnett Baf was mur-
dered as the elimination Of a business teud' \
stern. unconpromisne fighter, in helping TO break
~, +bo so-caled poultry trust he had made bitter
enemies. His life had been threatened; his hrm
had been boycottcd; branch establishment was
blown up by a bomb; his son assaulted by thugs
, bor,b was droppcd at his summer home which
fortunately. failed to explode; neighbor had
been mysteriously murdered-by mistake ban
olvavs insisted. for him. Nevertheless he de-
ciared: Il have not lost my nerve yet. Will
fight TO finish" Who doubts that the hnsh
came in bullets from hired assassins' revolvers!
II is not pleasant to think that cowardly mur-
der is q method Of business competition. When
the victim was Rosenthal. and the business
men" were ordinary lawbreaking gamblers and
police. it was not tax on the conventions to be-
reye it possible. But does competition higher
up sometimes have similar results? The idea Is
repugnant, but just how much occasion is there
for the yirtuous to wax indignant over 1t? Are
gamblers and East Side dealers the only classes
Of business men that can be accused Of including
individuals willing TO sacrifice others for gain?
East Side gangdom has recently furnished
many examples of the lawlessness of business
men-horse poisonings, incendiary fires, assaults,
the hiring Of gangs 20 "beat up strikers and
the like. These are smau-fry people who resort
to such crude ways of discouraging competition.
Further up in the scale come the men who run
fre-trap factories, with mythical means Of
escape. How far different from plain red
handed murder is that brand Of money-making?
Then there is the business man who adulterates
foods to obtain excessive profits, or deliberately
sells bad food products or spoiled commodities.
There is the "baby-kller" milk dealer, for ex-
ample. Also there is the manufacturer who
hires unsdled women and girls because he can
get them cheap. and works them into tubercu-
losis; and his brother who takes children and
drives them in violation of the labor laws, all to
be able to undersen more scrupulous firms and
make fat profits. Are these less murderers,
ethicaly. than the men who hire thugs to pot
dreaded competitors? There is pretty general
lay agreement that the Siegels Of the financial
world are no less thieves than the shoplifter
or pickpocket, whatever the Penal Code definition
Of their crime may be. That line of reasoning
applies TO other crimes than money stealing.
The public viii be highly indignant at Bats
murder and will c.amor for the arrest and con-
viction Of his murderers. Such indignation is
right and proper. His murderers should be ar
rested and convicted-not only the thugs who
fired the shots, but whoever it was who sup
piled the money which hired them for their vile
Job Such punishment is needed TO discourage
business competition by way Of gunner and
bullets. it is only unfortunate that, while all
this Indignation is aroused, some Of it could not
be turned with good effect on the bigger business
crooks and hypocrites who steal from and kill
their hundreds-but do it deity within the law.