Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-03-27
RICK ANTICIPATED.
A New Orleans Judge Hits Or
ganized Labor.
HE RINGS IN THE ANTITRUST LAW,

Hi RlNGS In IHE ANTITRUST LAW,
And Applies 1t in a Way That VIII Be
Odfous to Strikers-Saiient Points of an
Important Decision BY Judge Billings
The Street Railway Strike Falls to
Pieces-Opinion of Ingersoll and Henry
George-Situation at Toledo-Attempt
to Get a Twist on Telegraphers.
NEW ORLEANS, March 27-A decision
that will create stir in labor circles and
show that in the legal mind the anti-mo-
nopoly and anti-combine laws are odiously
comprehensive has been delivered in this
city by Judge f. C. Billings, in the United
States court. A suit was brought against
the Workingmen's Amalgamated council,
of this city, during the strike last Novem-
Der when the strikers had business paral
yzed for awhile. Before arguments were
made the strike ended and nearly every
body thought the suit would end also. But
Judge Billings thought differently. He
holds that he should pass upon the ques-
tions involved, which came up under the
law to protect trade and commerce
against unlawful restraint and monopoly"
which it is alleged in the complaint the
strikers violated and an injunction was
prayed for.
How 1t Is Viewed by the Judge.
Judge Billings says that labor unions
are not unlawful, but that they frequently
make unlawful combinations. ''The case
is this: The combination setting out to
secure and compel the employment of none
but union men in given business, as a
means to effect the compulsion finally en-
force a discontinuance of labor in all kinds
or
goods and merchandise which were in
transfer through the city of New Orleans
from state to state and from foreign coun-
tries. When the case is thus stated-and
it must be so stated to embody the facts
here proved-I do not think there can be
any question: but that such a combination
was in restraint of commerce"
Intimidation and Violence.
The judge then recited the facts of the
strike as they are we'll known-how all
kinds of labor was involved and business
paralyzed-and said: "In some branches of
business the effect was to replace the union
men by other workmen. This was resisted
by intimidation from vast throngs of union
men assembling in the streets, and in some
instances by violence. The result was that
by the doings of these defendants not a
bale of goods constituting the commerce of
the country could be moved. The question
is: DO these facts establish a case within
the statutef 1t seems to me this question
is tantamount to the question: Gould
there be a case under the statute?'"
What Congress Meant to DO.
The intention of congress in passing the
law is dealt with thus: 1.-The theory of the
defense is that this case does not fall with
in the purview of the statute; that the
statute prohibited monopolies and combi-
nations which, using words in a general
sense, were of capitalists and not of labor
ers. / think congressional debates show
that the statute had its origin in the evils
of massed capital; but when the congress
came to formulating the prohibition,
which is the yardstick of the injunction, it
expressed these words: Every contract or
combination in the form of trust or other
wise in restraint of trade or commerce
among the several states, or with foreign
nations, is hereby declared to be illegal
The subject had so broadened the minds
of the legislators that the source of the
evil was not regarded as material and the
evil in its entirety is dealt with"
Rights of Others Involved.
"The evil as well as the unlawfulness of
the act of the defendants consist in this,
that until certain demands of theirs were
complied with they sought to prevent. and
did prevent, everybody from moving the
commerce of the city. What is meant by
restraint of trade is well defined by c. J.
Savage in the People VS.. Fisher IA, Wen
dell, p. is. He says: The mechanic is not
obliged by law TO labor for any particular
price. He may say that he will not make
coarse boots for less than 81 per pair, but
he has no right to say that no other me-
chanic shall make them for less. Should
the journeymen bakers refuse to work I'M
less for enormous wages, which the master
bankers could not afford to pay. and should
they compel all journeymen in city to
stop work the whole population must be
without bread.
Where the Statute Was Violated.
so of journeymen tailors or mechanics
of any description. Such combinations
would be productive of arrangement and
confusion, which certainl ymust be,injurious
to trade 1t is the successful effort of the
com bination of the defendants to intimi-
date and overawe others who We're at work
conducting or carrying on the commerce
of the country in which the court finds
their error and their violation of the stat
ute One of the intended results of their
combined action was the forced stagnation
of all the cammerce which flowed through
New Orleans
The Street Car Strike FizzIes.
The street car strike on the Carrollton
line fizzled completely yesterday and the
cars are running without interruption.
The union men saw that they were being
shut out and the strike was declared off
When the men applied for their old Jobs
only those who had formerly been mule
drivers were take back
LABOR MATTERS AT TOLEDO.
Everything Quiet and No Leaders Yet Ar