The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-09
President McDonald's Address.

President McDonald's Address.
When this report was adopted, Pres
! ident Mcdonald arose to make his first
annual address, and he was listened to
with great attention.
President McDonald's address was
lengthy. His reference to the purpose
of the organization and his stringent
comments upon government by in
junction" were as follows. and his ref
erence to cooperative societies was as
follows:
'.Brothers-In compliance with the
action of the executive board and the
usual custom, 1 herewith submit for
your calm, serious and earnest and
favorable consideration, a partial re-
port of the work performed during the
year just expired, together with such
suggestions and recommendations that
limited experience in administering the
affairs of this union have suggested to
my mind, as being worthy of your
careful consideration and immediate at
tention. After a year has elapsed, we
meet in convention today, with "a MEM
bership that fully vindicates the action
of the conference held in this city a
year ago, which definitely and abSo-
lutely demonstrated the necessity of
the organizing of this union, the action
of the Salt Lake conference has been
generally endorsed and accepted by
every active man in the labor move
ment in the west, as being prudential
and beneficial move to the working
people of the Rockies. it is the means of
getting the laboring and industrial
classes of the west in closer touch with
each other. Establishing a quicker and
better system of communication be-
tween the labor organizations of the
west, this has the tendency to create,
- \ f,-.r ill.,
relation in the future, and create a
deeper and keener sympathy among the
toilers of the western country, and es
tablish more perfect and thorough Or
ganiZation of the laboring and indus
trial people of the VESTS interests.
'sThe marvellous and almost universal
success of the cooperative societies of
Great Britain and other countries points
out the probable way. 1t should at
least lead to an investigation of this
method of organization as a means for
the emancipation of labor. 1t is neither
necessary at this time, nor advisable,
to enter into a detailed account of these
associations and their successes and
failures. There is scarcely branch of
industry they have not entered in
Great Britain. These societies have
grown to a membership representing
one-seventh of the British population.
with wholesale and retail stores in
nearly every large city, with bank of
their own with $4,000, 900 of deposits,
and doing business of 5000. 900
year. with large manufacturing estab-
lishments at home and ships on every
sea. The story of their establishment,
their failures and successes, reads like
romance. They have become captains
of industry, indeed. One example will
suffice: AT one point they have a boot
add shoe facto ", a clothing factory. a
corset factory, Il builders association, a
store AMI Il farm, in addition II max
ing a success of these, they pay full
union wages, with ; per cent bonus.
''Of late years in the United States we
have read and seen much in the fed
junction, so very much, indeed, that We
do not feel that it is necessary to dwell
on the subject at great length here.
First, let US inquire what is an in
junction in law Webster'S Dictionary
defines injunction Qaw), "a writ or pro-
cess granted by a court of equity and,
in some cases, under statutes, by a
court of law, whereby party is re-
quired to do or to refrain from doing
certain acts according to the exigency
of the writ Bouvier's Law Dictionary,
vol. l, page 634. injunction, remedies,
chancery practice. says: An injunc-
ton is prohibitory writ, specially
prayed for by a bill. in which the plain
tiff's title is set forth. restraining a
person from committing or doing an
act (other than criminal acts, which
appear TO be against equity and con-
science OF late years the judges of the
federal courts have made much law on
the subject of injunction. To be brief,
under our system of laws. this writ is
nearly always supposed to be invoked in
an equity suit, where facts sufficient to
show the judge that the petitioners
have no adequate or speedy remedy at
law
"Of late years this writ has been
most shamefully abused by the federal
courts. Railroads, mine and mill-own-
ers, sue out this writ against their en-
ployees on the slightest occasion, until
it has grown into an abuse which cries
to heaven for correction. We believe
that all workingmen will agree with me
in this. What is the remedy? How
can we apply the corrective? l will
tell you. In our form of government
all of those federal judges come down
to us, and do not come up, from the
people. They labor to show contempt
for the masses and try to court favor
with the plutocrats of the United
States. Hence, in a gross abuse of this
ancient writ of injunction, those fed
eral judges pollute the law of injunc-
ton, and always side with the employ
ers against the working men and women
of this nation. The peaceful remedy is
to amend the constitution and make all