The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-10-14
new PHASE in THE STRIKE
Demand Made That Government Pro.
coed Against Miners organiza-
tion Under Sherman Act.

& OldWdlC " 11uuSOu IkdllIOdu Gull
pany, and n of those present at thu
recent conference called by Presiden
Roosevelt at Washington, has sent tt
President Roosevelt a letter, demand
ing that the federal government pro
coed against the miners organiza
ton in the courts on the ground thai
it is a conspiracy to prevent inter
state commerce.
Mr.. Wilcox, it is said on author
ity, represents all the coal operators
in this action, and was selected as
their spokesman.
WiIcox's Letter.
The letter was made public in this
city together with a letter written
several months ago to the president
along the same lines. The letter
which is dated New York, is as fol
lows:
ITO the President of the United
States, Washington, d. C.-Sir:
Upon June 6 last l had the honor to
address a letter to yourself, calling
attention to the character Of the Unit
ed Mine Workers of America. The
illegality of that organization is fully
established by the authorities to
which l then referred, and it's meth
DDS have since been again condemned
by the circuit court of the United
States Omitted States VS. Weber, 14th
Fed. Rep. $50; United States VS.. Hag-
gerty, 116 Fed. Rep. 51O).
I'm the Weber case, too. the court
says:
:" 1t is hardly open to serious ques-
ton the ultimate purpose of the union
is not legal
Governments Power.
"Some question has, however, been
made whether the national govern
ment has power to take action against
it on that account, and therefore I
desire to respectfully submit some
considerations which seem to estab-
fish that it has such power. The
statute of July 2, 1890, generally
known as the Sherman act, provides
that every contract, combined in form
of a trust or otherwise or conspir-
acy in restraint of trade or commerce
among the several states OF with for
eign nations, is hereby declared to
be illegal
Commerce among the states be-
gins when the subjects there begin
to move to their place of destination
and ends when they are sold. The
question therefore is whether the
mine workers combination consti-
tutes a restraint upon such com
merce.
1.-THE view that it does not is bas-
ed Upon the contention that this COM
bination affects only production of
coal within the state and not ship
ments of coal from one state to an.
other. 1t is submitted that this dis
tinction is without foundation in the
law or facts.
An Important Subject.
The coal OF the country is the
most important subject of its inter-
state commerce. The United Mine
Workers consists CT a combination
OF persons employed in the produc-
ton of coal in many states of the
union. Its object and effect are to
control the terms upon which this sub
tject OF interstate commerce may be
produced at all, either for state or
interstate shipments.
Its direct and necessary effect is
that no coal shall be shipped any
where within the country, unless it
SO permits. This combination, there
fore, not merely restraints but destroys
interstate commerce, by preventing
the existence of the subject matter
of such commerce Of general public
interest and Importance. No more
terstate commerce could be imagined.
I 1.-THE Delaware & Hudson company
was chartered by the state of New |
York on April %, 1923, for the pur-
pose, as expressed in it's charter, of
furnishing to the state of New York
q supply of coal found in the state
of Pennsylvania. AS the result of
the mine workers organization the
commerce of this corpora
ton has been for the time being, in
great part destroyed. |
sObviously a combination which
had this direct effect upon an estab-
lished Interstate business is in every
sense a restraint thereon"
The Cases Of Note.
The letter then quotes decisions in
The knight cas- involving several
,ugar refneries in Pennsylvania, the