The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-10-07
JUDGE H|GHTON'S VIEWS
On UNION LABOR ISSUE
Have Walking Delegates the Right to Derange
the Business and Disturb the Peace?---The
Right to Control Ones Own Business.

4
A Protest Against Striking Union
Leaders is the title of a paper writ
ten by Hon. Henry E. Highton, for
merly of San Francisco and now of
| Honolulu, u2on the San Francisco
strikes of 1901. 1t was originally con-
but had the unusual distinction of
being republished in full in several Of
the great dailies and weeklies in New
| York, Philadelphia and other Ameri-
can cities. 1t is as applicable to some
| of the present conditions in the United
| States as it was two years ago, and
/ it is so just both to employers and
employees that the Advertiser directs
| the attention of it's readers to a brief
synopsis of its contents.
| Judge Highton has given much
| study, both as lawyer and a citizen,
| to economic and industrial questions,
| and has won some great popular vic
tories in the courts. To recapitulate
the instances in which he has stood
up and sometimes taken desperate
chances. in support of popular rights.
in no instance assailing the rights of
capital but maintaining a rigid Ameri-
can balance, under the Constitution
and the laws, would be impracticable.
The defeat of the Bulkhead bill, which
front of San Francisco under the con-
troll of a French monopoly, is one in
stance, covering 1859, 1860 and 1861.
The return of a million and half of
tax money to the City Treasury of San
! Francisco in 1874, is another. Sandy
Austin, the treasurer, had deposited
this money with a private bank;
Judge Stanley called attention to the
fact, and was denounced by the Cham
Der of Commerce. On this occasion,
Mr. Hlghton antagonized the Chamber
and great monied influence, as we'll as
distinguished lawyers.
| The collapse of Dennis Kearney,
| through a successful defense when
| Judge Highton's client, John Hayes,
| threw him off the stage at a public
meeting over which he tried to force
| himself as presiding officer, is still
another.
The defeat of the railroads on the
conspiracy charge against Mussel
| Slough settlers, when they organized
| for mutual protection, is still another.
They were convicted on the charge of
| actual resistance to the U. S. Marshal.
| which was the lesser charge, but ac-
| quilted on the conspiracy allegation,
which was the railroad point.
The defeat of Huntington's. railroad
funding bill was still another.
The support of the sailors of the
country, when Ed. Rosenberg was
somewhat in evidence, was still an
other.
| THE LABOR QUESTION.
| Mr.. Highton commences his article,
| by defining his position thus:
| Perhaps the views of an ordinary
| american citizen upon the present
strikes. a lifelong friend of both labor
and capital. in their legitimate aspects,
| and especially of labor, and who is
| also unconnected with any body of men
| involved in the controversy, may not
be inappropriate.
| I- ..va he
| faults of capitalistic organizations
whenever they use the power of mon
ey unjustly to increase hours or lower
wages or in any way tyrannize over
an American community" and adds:
But the immediate and paramount
question just now is the right and pow
er of a few labor unions, without any
actual grievance. to derange the bust
ness and disturb the peace of the
country"
He points out that the great public,
the vast population of the United
! States. had been almost entirely dis
regarded and the controversy treated
as though it concerned only the in
| finitesimal minorities nominally con-
cerned, and he proceeds to argue the
question from the standpoint of the
I American people, under the constitu-
ton and laws. He emphatically con-
dennis the breaking of contracts by
some of the unions, on the ground that
the obligations of their members were
| superior TO their pledges to their en-
ployers, and especially because the
d. unions were unincorporated and ire
sponsible and the corporations with
| which they had agreed good for the
fulfillment of all their enga gements
The binding force of a contract and
the right of a man to control his own
business" says Mr.. Highton, are fun
damental propositions in Christianity
and in the world, And, calling at
tention to the fact that no one denies
r,,I