Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-08-31
st. Louis Labor Conference Urges
This Provision of Constitution.
NUMBER OF RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED
Government by Injunction the
Object Of Severe Criticism.
TIME FOR DEBATE LIMITED

| NAAN VI ldDCT leaders were SLOW
IN assembling this morning, and it was
| nearly an hour after the time set for the
meeting before the body was called to or
| der. The delay was due to the committee
on resolutions. which sent word that it
was not readv to report The committee
has been in session almost. continuously
sir ce o clock yesterday afternoon, and at
O'Clock this morning they had not COM
| pieteo the plan of action The commit
| tee az midnight had practically agreed
| upon recommending government owner
| snip OF the mineral land rights. But" as
| one OF them remarked then, there is no
telling what they will do with that idea
before morning."
| One of the members of the committee
favors committee with plenary power to
| appoint a general labor committee of one
1Iom each state, and to call a national con-
Fentlon IN a western state in case the
miners and operators fail to come together
and settle their differences
Inc delegates are growing impatient and
are anxious to get away.
Committee Makes It's Report.
1t was 10 o'clock when the committee on
resolutions filed into the hall, and the del
egates We're called to order to hear its re-
port. Mr.. Berger, in presenting the resolu-
tions, spoke of the great task th., COM
mittee mad before it. He said the report
about to be submitted was the best TIE
committee could do under the circum-
stances.
The platform presented reads: THE
fear of the more watchful fathers of the
republic has been justified The Judiciary
has become supreme. We witness a po-
htlcal phenomenon absolutely new in the
history of the world, republic PROSTATE
at the feet of judges appointed to admin
lister the laws. They acknowledge no su-
DeriOr earth. their
recall Miltons warning to his countrymen:
Who bids man rule over him above law,
may hid as well a savage beast
Under the cunning form of inJunctionS,
courts have assumed to enact criminal
laws, and after thus drawing to them
selves the power. CT legislation, have re-
pealed the bill of rights. and for violations
of those court-made laws have denied the
accused the right Of trial by jury.
Free Speech IL Crime.
1.-THE exercise of the commonest rights
| of free men-the right of assembly, the
right of free speech, the right of travelling
the public highways-have by legislation.
under the form CT injunctions, been made
crime. and armed forces lisperse as mobs
people daring in company to exercise these
rights. AT its last term the Supreme Court
of the United States decided that the thir-
teenth amendment, forbiddng involuntary
servitudc, is not violated by arresting a
seaman. imprisoning him until his vessel is
ready to leave port, and then forcibly put
ting him on board to serve out the term of
his contract; decision under which the
old fugitive slave laws may yet be revived
and striking laborers be seized and re-
turned to the services of their masters.
Having drawn to themselves all the
powers of the federal government until
Congress and Presidents may act only by
judicial permission, the federal judges have
begun the subjugation of sovereign states,
so that, unless a check is soon put upon
| no government but the absolute despotism
of federal judges will exist anywhere over
any portion of American soil.
The pending strike Of coal miners, starved
to feebeness by their scant wages and
by arduous and dangerous toll, the pending
strike for the right to be fed enough to
make labor possible, has been prolific of
judicial usurpation. showing The willing
ness of judicial deSpotS to resort to the
most shameless defiance Of decency, as
well as of law and humanity, in order to
enable heartless avarice to drive it's hungry
serfs back to the mines to faint and die
at their drudgery, and there remains to-
day not one guaranteed right of American
citizens the exercise of which an injunc-
tion has not somewhere made crime
started by these subversions of constitu-
tional liberty. We have met to counsel
together and have come to the following
conclusions, that
Liberty Called n Sham
Whereas, the present strike of the coal
miners has again demonstrated the fact
that our so-called liberty is not freedom
but Is a stupendous sham. under which
millions are degenerating while hundreds
OF thousands-men, women and children
are starving in novels and on the public
highway.
Whereas, this condition has become per-
manent for large and ever-increasing
number of our population, as long as we
permit comparatively sr1all class of legal
lZed eXploiters to monopoiZe the means
of production and distribution for their
private benefit-a fact again obvious in
the case of miners;
Whereas, appeals to congress and to the
courts for relief are fruitless, since the
legislative we'll as the executive and
judicial powers are under the control of
the capitalist class, SO that it has come
to pass in this free country" that while
cattle and swine have right to the public
highway. Americans, so-called freemen.
have not.
Whereas, our capitalistic class as is
agaln SHOWN In the present strike. is
armed, and mas not only policemen, mar
shals, sheriffs and deputies but also reg
ular army and militia, in order to enforce
government by Injunction. suppressinp
lawful assemblage. free speech and the
right to the public highway. while on the
other hand the laboring men of the coun-
try are unarmed and defenceless, contrary
to the words and spirit of the Constitution
of the United States. Therefore. be it
Give Wages of Good Friday.
Resolved, No. /, That we hereby set
apart Friday, the Sd day of September.
1897, as good Friday" for the cause of
suffering labor in America and contribute
the earnings of that day to the support of
our struggling brothers. the miners. and
appeal to every union man and everv
friend of labor throughout the country to
do likewise.
Resolved 2, If the strike of the n,,ners
is not settled by September 20, 1897. and
announcement made to that effect by the
president Of the United Mine Workers q
general convention be held at Chicago on
Monday, September q. 1907, by the repre-
sentatives of all unions, sections branches
lodges and kindred organizations of labor
ing men and friends Of their cause for the
purpose of considering further measures
in the interests of the striking miners and
labor in general.
Resolved 8. That we consider the use of
the ballot as the best and safest means
for the ameliorations Of the hardships under
which the laboring class suffers
Resolved 4, That the public ownership of
railroads and telegraphs is one of the most
necessary reforms for cur body politic
Resolved 8. That We most emphaticaIly