Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1922-09-07
With Our State
Contemporaries
THE SAME OLD ERRORl

Frank Harrington, President OF
the Illinois Mine Workers, is forget
ting! And he errs when he forgets!
On August 30, when an Illinois
Grand Jury belatedly returns an in
dctment for murder i'm connection
with the Herrn atrocities, Earring
ton rushes into print with a pledge
of "every means at Union command
TO help defend any and all members
who may be indicted in connection
with the Herrn trouble" He says
he is sure that forces have combined
to convict our members"
On June %, when the horror of
Herrin butchery lay intimately upon
the American conscience, Harrington
issued n splendid claw and order
appeal to his followers. "Acts of dis
order and violence only stir the
public against US" said he, "and
where we must have strong frinds
Acts Of destruction may appease in
famed and angered minds, but can
not win any permanent success, and
if victory depends on violence our
cause is hopelessly lost"
There is very definite connection
between June % and August 80; and
the same compulsion which faced
Harrington then, continues to face
/ him now. The hour for criminal
retribution is not one whit less inn
portant than was the hour when
crime occurred. The responsibility for
impressive justice increases, if any
thing, with the delay in its admins
tration.
We would expect Harrington to
say that his organization will insist
that any Of its indicted members gets
fair trial. The vindication of law
does not require the railroading of
innocent martyrs for the mere pur-
pose of an effective judicial specta-
Gle. We would expect Harrington to
say he will see thar any indicted
members Of the Union will be qua
ranteed adequate defense to the end
that justice shall not miscarry. On
June %, he should be equally posi-
tive in his correlary declaration that
if the crime Of murder-(and his
Herrin business was murder of the
most heinous sort)-ls proved a
gainst any of his misguided follow
ers, the Miners Union joins in the
hope and the demand that the eX-
treme penalty of outraged Law will
fall unfaiingly where it deserves.
He should say on August 30, exactly
as he said on June 20, that "acts of
destruction" are menace to the
union as well as to the Union. No
commission Of reiterated condemnation
Of "acts Of disorder and violence"
should permit other 'inflamed and
angered minds"-in this or any other
industrial rebellion-to believe that
unionsm really condones lawlessness
and will Exhaust every means at its
command" to immunize those who
are guilty of it.
No legitimate comraderie can de-
mand this class immunity. The law
/ is the law. The fact that a defend
ant may be Baptist or an Epsco-
palian or Congregationalist, does
not license all Of his sect to PREJUDICE
him innocent, and TO presume that he
would not be facing the judgment
bar except as some sort Of wicked
conspiracy" had combined" in his
criminal pursuit. SO, too, with La
Dor Unions. They have erred before
in excessive zeal for those Of their
number called to court accounting
for their acts. The Mcnamara dyn-
amiters in Los Angeles were an ex-
cellent and typical example. The
Herrin Massacre will be the suprem-
est example of all-if the latest
Harrington proclamation is a proph-
ecy of the policy that is to be pur-
sued.
eve will defend the innocent to
the last ounce of our resources-and
we will insist upon a presumption OF
innocence until proofs convince q
jury to the contrary" That would
be legitimate and healthy and wholly
American. But why neglect to add
the all important postscript so essen
tial to unionism ain places where il
must have strong friends? Why
omit the essential alternative? ave
join in the Nations revulsion against
this awful Herrin atrocity; we join il
the Nations demand that it be prob
ed to the source of responsibility
and when guilt is fixed, according t.
law, we join in the Nations demand
for the exacton of full penalty--re
gardlees of whether that penalt!
falls upon a union miner, non-unior
strike-breaker, or mine operator!'
Grand Rapids Herald.