Untitled

3l8
VIOLENCE AND THE LABOR MOVEMENT
detectives, and inquire so little into their actual deeds, if
they were not convinced that violence at the time of a
strike materially aids the employer. Yet, despite evidence
to the contrary,
it
may, I think, be said with truth
that the lawlessness attending strikes is not, as a rule,
the result of deliberate planning on the part of the men
or of the masters.
There are, of course, numerous exceptions, and if we
find the McNamaras on the one side, we also find some unscrupulous
employers on the other. To the latter, violence
becomes of the greatest service, in that it enables them
to say with apparent truth that they are not fighting
reasonable, law-abiding workmen, but assassins and incendiaries.
No course is easier for the employer who does
not seek to deal honestly with his men, and none more
secure for that employer whose position is
wholly indefensible
on the subject of hours and wages, than to sidetrack
all these issues by hypocritically declaring
refuses to deal with men who are led by criminals.
that he
And
it is quite beyond question that some such employers
have deliberately urged their "detectives" to create
trouble. Positive evidence is at hand that a few such
employers have themselves directed the work of incendiaries,
thugs, and rioters. With such amazing evidence
as we have recently had concerning the systematically
lawless work of the Manufacturers' Association, it is
impossible to free the employers of all personal responsibility
for the outrages committed by their criminal agents.
There are many different ways in which violence benefits
the employer, and it may even be said that in all cases it
is only to the interest of the employer. As a matter of
fact, with the systems of insurance now existing, any
injury to the property of the employer means no loss to
him whatever. The only possible loss that he can suffer