out of the same acts, that all of these acts
were not individual acts at all, but they were a part of a great
industrial tragedy of a great evolution of society; that they are what
are called social crimes or social acts for which these men were
responsible in no degree. They were a part of a machine; they were
risking their lives; a part of a system; and, do what you will, others
will be ground out of it forever and forever, until the system shall
change and until there will be some equity and justice in the world.
(Loud applause).

The world is changing, and every person is doing his part in his own
way. It is not for you to criticize me or for me to criticize you, but
to judge men by their motives and to judge them by the side they are
on. Labor must stand for its own men. (Loud applause). It must stand
even for its own mistakes, and its own crimes if it is guilty of them.
(Applause). There is one question, and only one, to ask concerning a
man or concerning an act: "Was he on my side?" (Applause). You may
counsel him to do differently; yes. You may teach him moderation, and
believe in it; and all of us want to see peace and justice and harmony
come out of all of these contending forces, as it one day will come;
you may teach it and you may believe it, but the man who lets a
thought loose in the universe can never tell what the results of that
thought may be. It may bear fruit in a thousand ways of which we never
dream; but even though it does and it must the thought must go forth
to do its work and to change the face of the earth. The highest and
the holiest and the best thought may bring on strife and war. And John
Brown, a devoted man who believed in the liberty of the slaves, took
his gun in his hand and went to Virginia and raised his hand in
rebellion against the country. He was tried and convicted and hanged
for murder, and he was guilty of murder under the laws of man, but
under the laws of God he was a hero. The laws of justice and
righteousness look not to the act but they look at the motive that
moved the brain. Were they fighting on our side? Were they fighting
for justice and humanity and the weak and the poor and the oppressed,
as they saw it? If so, whoever they are and whatever, they demand our
sympathy and our support. (Applause).

John Brown by his act of heroism plunged the United States into a
civil war costing hundreds of thousands of lives, and billions of
property. But he was not responsible