In September and October 1895 Irish and Thomas V. Cator , who argued in favor of free silver , toured California with a series of debates on the question . The next year Irish attended the Democratic National Convention in Chicago but repudiated the national ticket headed by Bryan , whom he called a " raw man , who has achieved nothing in public or private life to fit him for the Presidency — a man who has won his reputation delivering orations at county fairs and Populist picnics . " He called the Democratic platform " a league with larceny and a covenant with murder . " In October 1882 , Irish , by then the " principal owner " of the '' Oakland Times , '' was attacked by a union printer who attempted to stab him while he was addressing a meeting . The man 's anger was said to " have been caused by Mr. Irish employing in his newspaper office ' rats ' and non-union printers . " In a 1906 address to the Starr King Fraternity of the First Unitarian Church of Oakland , Irish assailed " arrogant labor unions " for a rise in juvenile crime because they were " opposed to the apprenticeship of the American boy . " " I now take the opportunity to say publicly that I never employ any one but a " scab , " he added , " and in that way enter my protest against a system that is driving our young men into lives of idleness . " In reacting to the 1910 bombing of the '' Los Angeles Times , '' which killed 21 '' Times '' employees and where union activists were suspected , Irish wrote to '' Times '' publisher Harrison Gray Otis : Organized labor has come to be a synonym for organized crime . Its principles are at war with American institutions and its practices are at war with the rights of man . You have suffered , and your men have fallen , as much in the cause of liberty as if you had been leading them on the battlefield . All honor to your high courage and to their memory . In 1913 Irish publicly protested a proposal to exempt unions from the Clayton Antitrust Act then being debated in the Senate
Democratic National Convention in Chicago
1896 Democratic National Convention
John P. Irish