(Labor and Reform Press Please Copy.) LOS ANGELES, CAL. Editor Bridgemen's Magazine: I take this opportunity of acknowledging the receipt of a great number of letters and.telegrams of good cheer and offers of assistance, not only from members of my own organization, but from friends and sympathizers, as well as from members of other organizations. It is practically impossible for me to answer them all in person, much as I would like to do so, and the senders will have to take the word for the deed. I am sincerely thankful to the persons who were so thoughtful as to write words of cheer and offers of assistance, and take this method of informing them that I heartily appreciate their interest in behalf of my brother and myself. Fraternally and sincerely, J. J. MCNAMARA. Members of Local No. 43, St. Louis, Mo., pulling pile for the Universal Construction Company on River Despers. J. H. Murphy, foreman. Jake Burkett, steward. Entered as second class matter January 16, 1907, at the postoffice at Indianapolis, Indiana, under act of Congress of March 3, 1879 CALL FOR DEFENSE FUND. The American Federation of Labor, through its Executive Council, has issued a call to "all labor, to all friends of labor," for contributions in defense of the men charged with complicity in the destruction of the Los Angeles Times building. The call is herewith reprinted, as follows: A Defense Against Persecution. Washington, D. C., May 6, 1911. To the Officers and Members of Organized Labor and Friends-Greeting: Everyone has been made aware by the published accounts in the newspapers of the terrible accusations made against a number of labor men in connection with the explosions in Los Angeles, in which twenty-one lives were lost. All have learned, too, of the secret spiriting away or kidnaping of the accused men from their home States, without opportunity of a word in court in their own defense, handcuffed and in irons taken across the continent to answer in Los Angeles the charges made against them. No member of organized labor can have sympathy with crime. Indeed, organized labor is opposed to, and is a standing protest against, violence and crime committed by any one or by any force or authority. No one could but have felt and still feel the horror of the destruction of human life and of property, but we can none the less feel the great outrage which has been committed against the accused men. The detective agency engaged in presenting these charges against the men of labor is well known to have no hesitancy or scruples in manufacturing evidence and charges against others. That agency has long been known to have spies in factories and organizations to misdirect the grievances of workmen into prematurely provoked conflicts with employers, and thereby defeat the ends to secure redress; to report to corporations the names of men who are the most intelligent and active among discontented workers and thereby prevent a well-defined purpose to secure the redress of grievances; to bring about the discharge, the victimization and blacklisting of men. A detective agency such as this is itself accused before the bar of public opinion, and any accusations which its rep resentatives may make must be regarded with suspicion by every fair-thinking American citizen. Behind the prosecution stands this detective agency, with the "National Erectors' Association" of employers, a part of the National Association of Manufacturers, a part of the great corporations of the country, with their millions, aye, billions, of wealth and power. In addition is the vindictive spirit of persecution of the Manufacturers and Merchants' Association of Los Angeles, with the bitter invective of the editor and propri. etor of the Los Angeles Times, General Otis. It is therefore not difficult to appreciate the fact that with all his untold wealth and power and influence, allied with many hostile newspapers, the accused men will have the most formidable power and influences with which to contend. How a fair trial under such circumstances can be accorded to them is difficult to understand. Therefore, it will be readily appreciated how necessary ample means are for the ade quate defense of the men before the courts. The men must be properly defended, aye, by the best counsel obtainable, and the kidnapers must be taught a lesson that the lives and the persons of labor men are just as sacred as are the lives and liberty of any other man in our country, regardless of his wealth, his possessions, or his standing. No one could imagine that a number of millionaires would have been extradited from their home State and given up to a detective agency to be taken to another State to answer grave charges of crime, without first having an opportunity of appearing by counsel and without their having a hearing in court. The consensus of opinion among representative men of organized labor has been expressed that the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor should have charge of the receiving and disbursing of funds for the defense of the men incarcerated in Los Angeles, Cal., and for the prosecution of those who were guilty of taking the men of labor out of their home States, across the continent to California, without their having been afforded the opportunities for defense and the protection of the law. Therefore it has been determined that ample opportunities for defense of the accused |