St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-01-26
BRAVO. JUDGE GAYNoR.

Very interesting indeed is a sur
vey of the legal developments at
tending these labor troubles within
the last two years. In the case of
the interstate commerce act and the
antitrust act, each of them passed
for the purpose Of restraining cor
pOratiOnS, we have seen them multi
fed as to their purpose, but turned
by judicial decisions into imple-
ments to restrain the employees of
those corporations. Then out of the
great strike OF "a came first the
sweeping injunction of Judge Jen-
kinS denying to the men the right
even to persuade their co-employes
to desist from labor, followed by the
decision Of Judge Caldwell, that the
receivers of roads operating under
the supervision of the court must
consult the court before reducing
wages.
Then followed the decision of Judge
Harlan, establishing the right Of
men to strike and to persuade their
cO-employes to join them in the
strike, reversing Judge Jenkins.
Next in order came the noted letter
from Attorney General Olney, the
much-reviled corporation attorney,
establishing, in spite of it's having
been ignored by the court to whom
it was addressed the position that
railroad officers have no right to
make the abandonment of member
ship in railway organizations a con-
dition Of employment. Then came
the report of the strike commission,
which set on edge the teeth of the
Railway Managers associa ton, fol-
lowed later by the proposed bills of
Labor Commissioner Wright and At
torney General Olney looking toward
a peaceful settlement of trouble and
prevention Of strikes.
Verify, we have moved very fast
and very far in this period of crust
breaking And now comes Judge
GaynOr, the man who won national
fame by prosecuting McKane for his
election frauds in Gravesend, which
won him place on the bench, who
has laid down new principle Of law,
or, rather, declared that to be law
which was the pre-eXiSting common
sense, that corporations have no
right to involve themselves in such
difficulties with the men as will pre-
vent them fulfilling, even for one
hour, the duties they have assumed
for the public This is the position
the GLOBE has taken in it's discus
sion of these questions, and we are
gratified to have it Endorsed by so
eminent an authority.
If the occasion had given Judge
Gaynor the opportunity, we have
no doubt that he would have been
equally explicit in his judgment
that, under the same law, employees
themselves are as much bound to
give continuous service to the public
as are their employers. Duties and
rights are always reciprocal, but su-
DeriOr to the rights of the men to
strike is their duty to the public,
which is only less in degree than is
that of their employers. The public
at last see daylight. Heretofore it
has been the Forgotten Man in these
conflicts between these two forces.
Each, employer and employed, has
treated the public as if it had no
right which they were in any man
ner bound to respect. The employers
have treated their men as if their
occupation were a purely private
one, in which the public had NO con-
Germ, and the men have precipitated
strikes when their demands were de-
MED, entirely Indifferent TO the rights
of the public and their duties to it.
Justice Gaynor announces law
which has its foundations in COM
mon sense. There is no question but
his opinion will be upheld wherever
a similar question may arise, and
| these quasi-public corporations will
hereafter be more careful how they
permit differences between them
| selves and men to run on to an
open rupture which prevents them
| from performing their duties to the
public. The decision of Justice Gay
| nor marks a distinct advance in the
| delineation of those vague lines
which mark the relation of corpora
tons serving the public to the public.