Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-09-24
The |. w. w. Cases In Kansas
From the Kansas City Times.

The trial of the members Of the l. w. w.,
arrested in Kansas during the war or the
charge of conspiracy against the government,
will be called for trial in the United States
district court at Wichita next week. The case
has attained nationwide discussion and is Of
peculiar interest.
To begin with the men were arrested two
years ago in the oil fields Of the state on the
suspicion that they were gathering there for
the purpose Of destroying oil properties and
hindering the government in its war with Ger
many. The governments case against the men
will be that the |. w. w. sought by the use of
the strike and by sabotage to completely tie
up the lumber, copper and oil industries in
succeeded in their efforts to greatly hinder the
timber and copper industries. Then they moved
upon the oil fields.
Notwithstanding the fact that the men were
arrested two years ago, they have not yet had
trial. The majority of them have been kept
down upon the heads of the government Off
Gals, and especially upon the head of Fred
Robertson, United States district attorney the
condemnation of the uplifters throughout the
country who count it as a fundamental princi-
pie Of the great reform to sympathize with all
revolutionists against law and order. They have
written volumes in the publications of the
reds and in the soulful magazines about Mr..
Robertson's "vindictiveness" in keeping the /.
w. WIS in Jail so long a time without trial.
the government officials in charge of the case
have made every effort to bring the men to
trial at every term Of court since their arrest.
The crime of conspiracy is rare one in
Criminal court records. 1t is we'll known among
lawyers that it is the most difficult crime to
prove In order to convict it is necessary not
only to prove the act of the conspiracy, but the
time and place of the actual conspiracy to
commit the act. In order to draw an indict-
ment in conspiracy it requires that every hair
splitting technically of law be observed. For
i'll the drawing of such an indictment, always
the man charged with the offense is given every
benefit of doubt, as he is in the trial of the case.
Three times the l. w. w. attorneys have
appealed to the technicalities of the law against
the indictments and three times the court-the
tured as being holy terror to revolutionists-
has given the benefit Of the doubt to the pris-
oners and quashed the indictment.
Now, the failure Of the indictment to COM
ply with the dotting of every legal 'i" and the
crossing of every legal It" of the lettering of
the crime charged against the offender so far
as his guilt or innocence is concerned. The
quashing of an indictment because it fails to
spell name correctly, or fixes date on the
18th of given month when it should have
fixed the date on the 18th of the same month,
does not mean that the court has ruled that
crime was no tcommitted by the man whose
name was mis-spelled, at some date in the
month named.
The United States attorney, having in his
possession what he regards as sufficient proof
that a grave crime was committed and beiev-
ing that he has the men under arrest who
committed the crime is left to the choice of
turning the men loose, after each indictment is
set aside or drawing a new indictment. The
| United States attorney believes, of course that
his indictments are legal in every way He
does not agree with the views of the court as
to the weakness of the Indictment But the
court is the law in such cases, and the district
attorney must submit to the ruling. He must
either let his prisoners 60 free or. he must
hold them upon new indictment. Mr. Robert
son simply decided to hold the men. He has
attempted each time to cover up the technical
provisions of the law. He has had his wit
nesses present at each term Of court. He has
been ready for trial on every date set aside for
the hearing. He has not asked for con-
tinuance. There has been nothing vndictive in
his conduct toward the prisoners.
The upllfters whose sympathy for the revo-
lutionsts prompts them to set Mr.. Robertson
apart as demon" would, of course, have
turned the prisoners loose. Even more, they
would not have arrested them in tthe first place
for such a triaing matter as a charge of con-
spiracy against the government The uplifters
OF this school regard conspiracy against the
| government as an essential plant in the plat
form of the brotherhood of man. But Mr..
Robertson is of the old-fashioned sort who be-
| ieves that the punishment of conspiracy against
1.-THE government is the best way to promote the
brotherhood of man.