The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1893-04-18
ADJOURNMENT OF THE SENATE.

NO disposition WIS mace eltIicF VI VIC
matter or OF the question, us to the adj
mission of the three appointed senators
from Montana, Washington and Wyoming.
The recent action OF Commissioners
Blount i'll Withdrawing the United states
flag from the government building in Hon
olulu was the groundwork of IL resolution
offered by Mr.. Lodge directing the secretary
of state TO inform the senate by whose au-
thority the flag was lowered. In addition
TO this information, Mr.. Butler wants the
senate TO be informed ut the same time by
whose authority it was hoisted
The resolution and amendment went over
without action. objection to immediate con-
sideratiou being made by Mr.. German.
Tie president having informed a com
mittee of the senate that he would have
no further communication for the senate,
an executive session was held between and
6 O'Clock, at which all obstacles to Il final
adjournment were Smoothed away, ana
after the doors were reOpened and some
little matter of the committee investigation
adjusted, he senae adjourned sine die.
THE LABOR DECISIONS
Of Judges Speer and Taft Under Discussion
by Senator's
Washington, April 10.--The decisions of
Judges Taft and Kicks in Ohio and Speer
in Georgia III relation to the rights and du-
ties of railroad employees came up in the
senate today III connection with resolution
instructing the committee on interstate
iects, ana quite Il long and interesting debate
resulted, which had not closed when The
senate adjourned The remarks of Sena-
tors German and Voorhees, as to the effect
of those decisions being to convert railroad
employees into serf1 and galley slavsE, were
criticised by MIR. IlAtt as incorporate and
merely tending 10 excite the passions OF
laboriug men.
Mr. Butler reported from the committee
on interstate commerce resolution author
iyIn n y g.
not the methods prevailing i'll the transport
alton OF freight and passengers on the greut
railway lines Of the country and the cundi-
tons and necessities Of travellers and ship
perS and transportation companies justify
or require Il repeal or modification Of section
five of the interstate commerce act, which
prohibits pooling under any circumstances.
Also to inquire whether the system of clos
iDg and sealing cara engaged in the trans
port alton Of merchandise from one state to
another. through foreign territory and from
such foreign territory into the United States
needs 10 be modified: whether I'LL railroads
engaged il such traffic S6ould be either re-
Qulred 10 conform 10 all conditions of the
intcrstat" commerce act or prohibited FROM
continuing in such transportation: also
whether any modifatious should he made
i'll the law concerning the relations between
common carriers and their employees.
Mr. PETER thought that Judge Rclls's
recent decision. which had been Il good deal
criticised by labor organizations. would be
approved by them when they came to under
stand better it's scope and view in all its full
ness. 1t was the first great judicial declara-
ton or principle concerning the relations be
tween employers and employees. II was Il
declaration that the railroad employees were
as much common carrier rs the railroad
ri: SidcDt or tie railroad company Judge
Eicil~ decision. Mr.. PETER believed. would
lead to the iipai adjustment OF all difficult
ties between employers and employees Of
carving corporations.
Mr.. German took the lead in this dis
cuSSion. He said that one matter to be
inquired into was the recent decisions of
United States Judges. and whether in view
of the Interstate commerce law and of The
antitrust law, judges had Il right to deter
mine not only what Il railroad employe
should do but what he should not do
Those decisions were the first great stems
on the part Of the judiciary to make scrfs
OF the men VINO were employed by rail-
road corporations. The recent judicial de-
csion that railroad employees might be re-
strained by order of the court, might be
fined and imprisoned il they resigned their
positions, was n most extraordinary de-
cIsiou and one that had to be met at the
very threshold of the next congress- Lit
ought TO be inquired into carefully by men
who had but one motive and that was 10
see, while protecting the interests of ColrI-
uerce, that no injustice was done to iu-
dlydualS and thar the courts Of the United
States should not be armed with powers as
arbitrary as those of the car of Russia.
Mr.. Ilati said that he mad not seen in
the decisions referred to anything that look
ed like usurpuliun of power by the courts,
or that looked like degrading The working
men OF the country to the condition of sells.
lie believed that the employees of railroads
had no more right to engage IN discrimina-
tons of commerce than their employers
lad. And he did not believe that there
was anything either in the interstate COM
merce act or III the antitrust law that WAS
not an affirmation of we'll considered and
well established common law.
MIR, Vest said that Judge Speer i'll his
decision had only affirmed what every law
yer knew to be the common law. He had
decided that any contract or regulation i'll
restraint of the commerce Of the United
States was absolutely void; that any enG-
neer had right to give up his employment,
but that when the association Of locomotive
engineers or any other association Or cor
porati0n undertook 10 make Il rule and 10
enforce it in restraint of commerce that rule
was absolutely void. If any judge had de-
clared such a doctrine as the senator from
Maryland, Mr.. German, spoke of. it would
be reversed by the supreme court of the
United States without one dissenting opin-
ion against its reversal. Such Il doctrine
would be mOstrous.
MIR. Voorhees, said that the most danger
Gus question that the country was facing
today was the entertainments of the corpor-
ate power of colossal wealth against those
who were helplessly i'll its power and whom
it wanted to have chained 10 their labor
as completely as a galley slave was chain
ed to his oar. This power claimed that
the railroad employe was enlisted as a pri-
waite soldier, and if he left his post ne was
to be punished rs deserter He had, there
fore, felt it his duty 70 Introduce res0lu-
tion directing an inquiry as To what action
might be necessary for tie better protec-
ton OF the laborlng people of the United
States in their natural and inaienoble rights
and for their greater security from the en-
crOachment Of corporate power. Nobody
pretended, Mr.. Voorhees, added, that a rail
road engineer could leave bis engine, en-
dangering Il train of cars ami endangerlng
the lives of its passengers. But that was
not all that was contemplated in the inter-
safe commerce law. That law said in plain
terms that he could not. alone. and in an
orderly way, sever his connection from Il
corporations; that he was enlisted to stay,
and WIS To be punished as deserter if he
did not stay. lie thought that the COM
mttee on Interstate commerce could not be
better employed than in investigating this
dangerous question.
Mr. Platt said it was not wise 70 at
tack the judiciary of the United States.
1t was not wise to charge the judiciary
with desiring TO uSulp power. 1t was not
wise to intimate That judges Were cars.
1t was not wise to talk about the DISPOSE
ton of the judiciary to reduce laborers 10
the condition of serfs; to talk about laborers
IL, 10, bai no q