The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-04-05
WIN THE FIGHT.
Continued from First Page-l

ules of pay for train dispatchers and OPP
orators were entirely unnecessary :
And yet the conference held under
the order of the circuit judges, the posi-
ton assumed by the receivers in their
petition to the court, was found to be I'M
tenable and was abandoned, and rules
and regulations governing telegraphers'
wages adopted"
Employees of the Court.
Judge Caldwell then goes on to say
that when court of equity takes upon
itself the conduct and operation of
great line OF railroad, the men en-
gagged in conducting the business and
operating the road become the employees
of the court, and are subject to its orders
in all matters relating to the discharge
of their duties and entitled TO its protec-
ton.
AN essential and Indispensable requi-
site to the safe and successful operation
of the road is the employment of sober
intelligent, experienced and capable men
for that purpose When road comes I'M
der the management of a court on which
the employees are conceded to possess all
the qualifications-and that concession is
made in the fullest manner here-the
court will not upon light, or trivial
grounds, dispense with their services or
reduce their wages.
"And when the schedule, or wages in
force at the time the court assumes the
management of the road is the result of a
mutual agreement between the company
and the employees which has been in
force for three years, the court will pre-
sumo the schedule is reasonable and
just, and any one disputiug that pre-
sumption will be required to overthrow
it by satisfactory proof.
''This, the court contends, has not been
done by the receivers Although they
had all recommended that a cut be
made, it is the courts belief that the
receivers made the request ignorantly
o= only of l. <1o1 roll
road man. and their opinions upon the
subject of wage schedules is confessedly
of little value.
The court shares in their anxiety to
have an economical administration of
this trust, to the end that those who own
the property and have liens upon it may
get out of it what is fairly their due.
Wages Must Not BE Reduced.
'But to accomplish this desirable re-
suit the wages of the men must not be
reduced below reasonable and just
compensation for their services They
must be paid fair wages though no divi-
dends are paid on the stock and no in
terest paid onthe bonds.
sit is a part of the public his
tory of the country. of which this
that for the first $36.OUO,O00 of stock
issued this company received less
than two cents on the dollar and that the
profit of construction represented by
outstanding COQOS was
There would seem to be no equity in
reducing the wages of the employees be-
low what is reasonable and just in order
to pay dividends on stock and interest on
bonds of this character. The recon-
mendation of the receivers to adopt their
schedules cannot be accepted by the
court for another reason: That schedule
was adopted without affording to the
men or their representatives any oppor-
tunity to be heard. This was in
violation of the agreement existing be
tN cen the company and the men, by the
terms of which no change of the schedule
was to be made without notice to the
men and granting them a hearing. This
was fundamental error.
Receivers Broke Contract First.
"The receivers were the first to break
the contract between the court and its
employees, but if the converse had been
the case, the court could not have di-
rected, or enjOined the men to continue
in its service. Specific performance of
a contract to render personal service can
not be enforced by Injunction, by pains
and penalties, or by other means The
period of compulsory personal service
save as a punishment for crime, has
| passed in this country
1T is not unlawful for employees to as
sOclate. consult and confer together with
a view to maintain or increase wages. by
| lawful and peaceful means any more
than it was unlawful for the receivers to
counsel and confer together for the DUR
pose of reducing their wages. A corpo-
ration is organized capital; organized la
Dor is organized capital: what it is law
full for one to do it is lawful for the other
to do.
"a system Of rules and regulations by
which the company has been able to
bring into its service and retain for tweu-
ty-five years, in some instances, the class
of men who have appeared before the
court at this hearing, is certainly COM
mendable, and it meets the entire appro-
val of this court.
In the opinion of the court the allow
ances made by the schedules now in
| force are just and equitable. The en-
ployes, under the present system. share
the burdens of diminished business.
"When property is in the custody of
receivers the law declares it to be a con-
tempt of the court appointing them. for
any person to Interfere with the property
or with the men in their employ. No in
| junction order can make such unlawful
| interference any more of contempt
than the law makes it without such order
/ Such orders have an injurious tendency,
because they intend to create the i'm
| preston among men that il is not an of
tense TO interfere with property in pos
session of receivers or with the men in
| their employ unless they have been es-
pecially enjoined from so doing.
This is dangerous delusion, to the
extent that special injunction can go
! in this class of cases, the law itself i'm
poses an injunction For this reason no
| Injunction will be entered in this case.''
Hopes Reason May Prevail
In conclusion Judge Caldwell saws:
"We may indulge in giving expression
to hope that in future differences about
wages between courts and their en-
1 ployes at least. and we yvouId faip
hope, between all employers and en-
ployes. resort may be had TO reason and
not to passion, to the law and not to vio-