The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-07-25
Strikers Sent to Jail.
By the Associated Press.)

Parkersburg. w. Va, July 24.-Judge
Jackson rendered mis- decision in the
Mother oJnes" contempt cases this
morning The conclusion reached was
that all the defendants had violated the
injunction and were guilty of contempt
of court Sentence I'm case of Mother
Jones was postponed; also as in the
cases of the four foreigners who cannot
speak Enlish. Thomas Haggerty was
given ninety days in jail and the other
five defendants sixty days
Opinion supported the right of the
courts to use injunction and the right of
laborers to work when they wish to DO
so without interference from organized
labor or any other source.
Judge Jackson, in his decision, said:
What is an injunctiouP Is it the ex-
ercise of an arbitrary power by the
courts of this country. or is it power
that has been recognized from a very
early date as one of the branches of ad-
ministrative justice? 1 answer this
question by affirming that the ordinary
use of the writ of injunction is-to pre-
vent wrongs and injuries to persons and
their property, or to reinstate the right
of persons to their property when they
have been deprived of It, 1t is the most
efficient, if not the only remedy, to stay
irreparable injury and to punish those
who disobey the order of a court grant
ing the writ
1T is mistaken idea to suppose that
. the courts of this country abuse this
writ. In my long experience on the
bench l cannot recall single occasion
when at a court, whether Federal, in
State, ever abused in what is known as
strike questions.
Il do not question the right of the en-
ployes of this company to quit work at
any time they desire to do so, unless
there is a contract relation between them
and the employer, which should control
their right to quit. At the same time /
do not recognize the right of an employ
er to coerce the employees to continue
their work when they desire to quit
while l recognize the right for all
laborers to combine for the purpose of
protecting all their lawful rights, | do
not recognize the right of 1aborers to
conspire together to compel employees
who are not dissatisfied with their work
IN the mines to lay down their picks and
quit their work without a Just or proper
reason thereof, merely to crafty a pro-
fcsslonal set of 'agitators, organizers and
Walking delegates who roam all over tbe
country as agents for some combination
who are vampires that live and fatten IN
the honest labor of the coal miners Of the
country and who are busy bodies, croat
ing dissatisfaction among a class of neo-
pie VINO are quiet, Well-disnosed and
VINO do not want to be disturbed nv tba
unceas1ng agitation of this class of noo-
pie. Poo
he strong arm OF the court of eoui+,,
is invoked in this case, not to s,,nnress
Fhe right of the free speech, but to re-
strain and inhibit these defendon+e
whose only purpose is to bring about
S'rlkeS' by trying to coerce people who
are not dissatisfied with the terms of
thelr employment, which results in in
nlet1ng injury and damage to their em.
[loyers as we'll as the employees,
me right of a citizen to labor for
wages that he is satisfied with Is
rlght protected by law and is entitled TO
the same protection as free speech and
should be better protested than the abuse
ol Tree speech in which the organizers
ana agitators indulge in trying to pro-
duce strikes"
The court then referred to "Mother"
Jones speech near the KinnIckldnnick
mines, saying her utterances were the
outgrowth Of the sentiments of those who
believe in communism snd anarchy.
The evidence showed that Mother"
Jones had called the miners slaves: suid
she lid not care anything for injunctions,
that 1t was a duty to urge the men at
work to lay down their tools, and advise