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Tom Mooney's Innocence Believed by Labor Men

Article by Caroline A. Lowe Bespeaks Well of Mooney

The conviction of Thos. J. Mooney, labor leader, of San Francisco, who was convicted of murder in the first degree by a jury in the Superior Court, February 9, because of a bomb explosion during a preparedness parade, in which ten lives were lost, has aroused wide attention in the East as to the character of the accused men.

An interesting article from the pen of Caroline A. Lowe, a noted sociologist, gives a graphic account along those lines. It is as follows:

Oakland, Cal. It was at the close of the noon recess in Judge Griffin's court and the prospective jurors were gathered in groups, conversing in low tones, I was reading the afternoon paper, and one group sat back of me whose conversation I could not help overhearing.

When the officer brought in the prisoners, one of the men remarked: "It's a cinch they're not booze fighters, if we can judge at all by their appearance." "I've been thinking the same thing," responded another. "In fact, they look to me like a pretty decent set of fellows. I've been sizing them up for the past three days, and I'll be damned if there's one in the bunch that looks like a wild-eyed dynamiter to me."

I smiled to myself, for the same thought had struck me most forcibly several times during these three trying days.

Any four honest young workingmen whom you might meet in the street look as much like criminals as do the men accused of this terrible crime of wholesale slaughter. One of them, Billings, is a mere boy-a boy with blue eyes and light hair, very slight in stature, though he carries himself so well that the first impression leads

you to think him much larger than he really is. It is easy to understand that he would make every effort to keep his mother in ignorance of the fact that he has been convicted of such a crime.

His Mother Spared

I am told that up to the present time he has managed to keep this knowledge from his mother. Israel Weinberg is another one of the prisoners, and possessed of all the warmth and impetuosity of his race. Each day when court adjourns and the friends of the boys gather around, his face is illuminated with a smile that is positively joyous in its delight at meeting them after the confinement for six months in jail. I happened to witness a touching little scene on the first day of the trial, when his little wife hurried up to greet him and, apparently forgetful of all about them, he eagerly clasped both of her hands in his, and, as he whispered and laughed, he patted her hands all the while and crowded as much as possible into the few moments allowed them before the officer should lead him back into confinement.

Edward Nolan's face is that of a student and a thinker-clear-cut and intellectual. Nothing seems too trivial to escape his notice, and many times during the day he leans forward quickly to speak to Mooney-or to one of the attorneys. A bond of close sympathy and understanding seems to exist between these two labor leaders, and both of them are on the job every minute of the time, taking an active part in the conduct of the case that may mean life or death to all five of these young people.

With Attorney Cockran on his left and Attorney McNutt on his right,

Tom Mooney sits facing his prosecutors and the talesmen as the questions are asked and answered which determine who shall constitute the jury to try his case. To one who has even the slightest understanding of the bitterness of the fight now on between capital and labor, it is easy to see why Tom Mooney sits in the prisoners' chair. He typifies the struggle. His entire make-up, his broad shoulders, square jaws, deep-set eyes under heavy black eyebrows-is that of a man of force and determination. His attorneys consult him frequently and appear to rely upon his judgment regarding the fitness of a talesman to serve on the jury. It was an interesting sight the other day to see the noted New York attorney, Bourke Cockran, seated in the prisoners' dock, with all five of the accused crowded about him, their heads close together, deliberating over the question as to which men should be excused under the peremptory challenge of the defense and which should be retained. Over half an hour they whispered together while the crowded court room waited. There seems to be nothing of the autocrat about Attorney Cockran, and his ready wit is a source of enjoyment to all-with the exception, of course, of the discomfited District Attorney and his assistants.

Any person who has ever met Mrs. Rena Hermann-Mooney could not, even by the wildest stretch of the imagination, conceive of her as a murderess. And yet it is of complicity in this crime that she is accused and for which she may soon be brought to trial. She is a typical, sunny-faced American girl, unaffected and unafraid. No hint of wrongdoing of any character attaches itself to her. As she talks to you, she looks into your eyes in frank sincerity-a sincerity that calls forth from every honest heart an answering confidence and respect.

All day she sits in the court room near her husband, whose trial is now in progress. She scans closely the face of each talesman as he is being

questioned, and, pen and note-book in hand, she jots down all memoranda that she thinks may be useful to the defense. The loyalty and devotion that exist between her and her husband has been proved more than once during the past week, when he has called her into a conference with his attorneys, apparently asking for ner opinion or advice.

As the talesmen declared so emphatically, these accused certainly look like a "pretty decent set." If they were stood in line with every other occupant of the court room and passed upon for self-evident honesty and integrity and lack of all criminal propensities, there is many a man who would be called upon to step out of the line before these boys-and some of them might be found to be among the number who represent the prosecution.

THE UNION MAN AND

A MEMBER OF A UNION.

The member of a union is the man that pays his dues only when he is forced to. Usually comes to meetings only when he has an axe to be ground. He is the man that will always say that the union has never given him anything, as he would get good wages if there never was a union in existence. And he cannot see what the officers are doing with all the money.

The union man is a very different person. He attends his meetings regularly, takes part in the debate that is in the interest of the union, never permits himself to be suspended, always ready to extend a friendly hand or act to any brother that may be in distress. You can find him in a union shop because he is a union man at heart. And to-day the great labor movement is carried on by the union men and not by the so-called members of a union.

The union man criticises when criticism is justified and fights for what he thinks is right. The so-called member of a union kicks at all things, but never fights for anything.

State High Court Favors Freedom of Action by Workers

St. Paul, Minn.-The State Supreme Court has vitalized American principles of freedom of action and has jarred the anti-boycott association in two decisions that accord workers the right to refuse to work for non-union employers, to ask others to assist them, to carry on a boycott, and to carry a banner advertising an unfair place of business.

In the case of the George L. Grant Construction Company versus the St. Paul Building Trades Council the court sustains the refusal of Judge Dickson, of the Ramsey County District Court, to issue an injuction against these unionists, who were charged with "injuring the business" of the non-union concern by refusing to work for it and by announcing it is unfair to organized labor.

In supporting Judge Dickson's position the court said:

"Defendants have the right to work for whom they please. It is best that we give both employer and employee a broad field of action. As said by Judge Cooley: 'It is a part of every man's civil rights that he be left at liberty to refuse business relations with any person whomsoever, whether the refusal rests upon reason or is the result of whim, caprice, prejudice or malice. With his reasons neither the public nor third persons have any legal concern.'

"The interference with the trade relations of one with whom you have no trade relations yourself is presumptively unlawful, but conditions may be such as to furnish justification for such conduct. A person may justify such interference if he is in pursuit of some lawful object.

"A person in furtherance of his own interests may take such action as circumstances may require, and so long as he does not act maliciously toward

or unreasonably or unnecessarily interfere with rights of his neighbor, he cannot be charged with actionable wrong, whatever may be the result of his conduct in pursuing his own welfare."

In the case of the Minneapolis Moving Picture Operators' Union versus Albert Steffes, proprietor of a picture theater, the court upholds the refusal of a lower court to enjoin the workers from carrying a banner stating that Steffes' place is unfair to organized labor.

In supporting this rule by the lower court, the State Supreme Court says:

"The term 'unfair,' as used by organized labor, has come to have a mcaning well undertood. It means that the person so designated is unfriendly to organized labor or that he refuses to recognize its rules and regulations. It charges no moral shortcoming and no want of business capacity or integrity. As applied to a theater it signifies nothing as to the merits of its performances. As a rule one man has no right to interfere in the business affairs of another, but if his act in so doing is in pursuit of a just purpose, and so long as he does not act maliciously and does not unreasonably or unecessarily interfere with the rights of his neighbor, he cannot be charged with actionable wrong.

"If the banner itself is lawful we are unable to see how the mere display of it by a pedestrian upon a public street is unlawful."

DISCRIMINATION. Cynthia-I wish I had a new doll. Her Mother-But your old doll is as good as ever.

Cynthia-So am I as good as ever. But the doctor brought you a new baby.-Pearson's Weekly.

Table of Equation of Pipes

Standard Steam and Gas Pipes

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2.90
9.30 3.20
21.0 7.25 2.26
39.4 13.6 4.23
65.4 22.6 7.03

4.88 15.8 31.7 52.9 96.9 205 377 620 918 2.05 6.97 14.0 23.3 42.5 90.4 166 273 405 3.45 6.82 11.4 20.9 44.1 81.1 133 198 1.26 3.34 6.13 13.0 23.8 39.2 58.1

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1.67 3.06 6.47 11.9 19.6

29.0

40.8

55.8

78.5

95.1

119

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1.87 3.11 1.66 49.8 15.5 6.87 3.67 2.21 28.3 12.5 6.70 4.03

1.83 3.87

7.12 11.7

17.4

24.4

33.4

47.0

56.9

71.5

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This table gives the number of pipes of one size required to equal in delivery other larger pipes of same length and under same conditions. The upper portion above the diagonal line pertains to "Standard" steam and gas pipes, while the lower portion is for pipes of the actual internal diameter given. The figure given in the table opposite the intersection of any two sizes is the number of the smaller sized pipes required to equal or of the larger. Thus, it requires 29 standard 2 inch pipes to equal one standard 7 inch pipe

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In doing this the Legislature recognized that every child is

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no matter how poor, is the proper, natural guardian of her children.

Even the best conducted institutions are institutions, and remain so in all their austere coldness to the children who enter them as victims of circumstances.

Furthermore, even the best conducted institutions are expensive, and carry a big salary list and enormous overhead charges.

The cheapest institution of them all is the institution we call home. The most economic manager is mother.

Other institutions show that from 26 to 37 per cent. of their income goes to pay overhead charges, and another 17 to 21 per cent. are chargeable to management, leaving only from 53 to as little as 42 per cent. for the actual care of the dependent inmates.

But the institution we call home has no overhead charges because its capital of mother love is of the unselfish, non-participating, non-dividend bearing kind. And as manager, mother is the only person in the world who always manages to get 100 cents worth for every dollar she spends.

The idea of keeping dependent children in the care of their mothers, instead of removing them to institutions, is therefore an economic as well as a humane plan.

Lack of proper appropriations for carrying the idea into general effect has prevented the plan from getting a full and fair trial in this State. Institution interests opposed the new idea. But even in its limited trial in Pennsylvania, the mothers' pension plan has amply vindicated itself. Its most interested opponents have no other criticism to make of the plan than the general assertion that "it is not desired." They attempt to prove this by the number of cases reported under the operation of the law during the last two years. But this is a misleading argument, of course. It is true that the applications for

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