Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-09-02

broken by him you have complete
remedy at law. You have no standing
in court of equity"
But" say Smith, Brown and Jones.
1T is not that SO much. Our employer
is violent man, surrounded by sal
aired men equally violent, and if we
approach him in relation to the matter
Of our compensation we fear that we
will be thrown down and so injured
that we may be unable to earn our
bread The only property we have is
in our muscular strength and we feel
that that property is in danger of loss
through what is VIGOROUSLY the violent
temper of our employers.
If the chancellor is patient he will
say: 1--WE have criminal laws. Their
operation is sufficient, think, to pre-
vent any contemplated violence; at
least we cannot assume that there will
be violence, and if there is the corpo-
ration, if it is a corporation, may be
punished, but the individuals who do
you violence are subject to punishment
under the State law. We have nothing
TO do in this tribunal with the enforce
ment of that law. You will still have
adequate remedy if you are battered,
tor suit will lie at common law
against your assailants and you will
recover in the ordinary courts of JUS
tice full compensation for the damages
inflicted upon you. You may even
have what we call exemplary damages
that is, damages allowed as a pun
ishment for the wrong committed with
deliberate violence or oppression and
greater in extent than the actual money
damage sustained by you in inability
to earn your daily wage.
my men, you have no standing in
a court of equity. Go your ways and
if the danger that you seem to appre-
bend really menaces you bear your
selves like men, confident that the laws
of your country are sufficient to pro-
tect you"
Thereupon, Smith, Brown and Jones,
little enlightened, depart, and in comes
a petitioner of an altogether different
class. Indeed, he is no less than the
employer of Smith, Brown and Jones
and the owner of the mines. He is
represented by a lawyer of character
~ oh full
q bill in chancery setting forth that
Smith, Brown and Jones are contem-
plating violence. They will not work
for the wage that he pays, greatly to
the impairment of his profits. Instead
Of going away quietly aobut their bus
mess they are talking loudly of their
alleged wrongs, to the great injury of
the petitioner. If they are not enjoined
their noisy and menacing statement of
alleged grievances in the mine of the
petitioner may result in warning from
the premises men who, not knowing
the methods obtaining at the mines,
may accept employment therein. A
writ of injunction is prayed to prevent
these miners from any appearance
about the premises of the petitioner
and any public statement in highway
leading to the mines of the grievances
that they allege they have suffered.
Hal" exclaims the chancellor, no
longer thinking of the remedies at COM
mon law, no longer dwelling upon the
damages the petitioner is afforded.
Prepare at once writ of injunction:"
Drawn by the learned counsel of the
petitioner, it is as drastic as it can be
made.
And so, Smith, Brown and Jones,
poor devils of half starved miners,
who ask nothing but wage enough to
live, find there is one law for them
and another for Smiths, Browns
and Jones's employer in the matter Of
the extraordinary writ of injunction
as interpreted by the average United
States Judge, up to date. And it ap-
pears that government by injunction
furnishes sauce for the goose which
is not sauce for the gander.
In discussing this abuse of the writ
of injunction by courts which should
be exceedingly chary in its employ
ment, the Chicago Chronicle rightly de-
clares that this abuse must lead newt
ably to the undermining of the funda-
mentals of civil liberty that have been
strenuously fought for and ought to
be maintained at any cost. The Chron-
icle says:
Thus it has been incorporated into the
constitution Of the United States that in
all criminal prosecutions the accused shall
enjoy the right of a speedy and public
trial by an impartial jury of the State and
district wherein the crime shall have been
committed, which district shall have been
previously ascertained by law. and to be
informed of the nature and cause of the
accusation, to be confronted with the wit
neSses against him. to have COMPULSORY
process for obtaining witnesses in his
favor and to have the assistance of coun-
sci for his defense. So strenuous are we
in the maintenance of the idea that no
arbitrary autocratic authority shall be ey-
erciSed to doom men TO imprisonment and
fine that it is so further enacted that in
suits at common law where the value in
controversy shall exceed $50 the right Of
trial by jury shall be preserved and no
fact tried by jury shall be otherwise re-
examined in any court of the limited
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