Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-07-16
who has been trained in republican


who has been trained in republican
! liberty.
4 When we come to realize that ths
same rules that govern the employe
and the combinations which he effects
to protect his rights and further his
interests apply to the employer ant
his combinations which he effects
whether to control production, corner
the market for his products to regu
late and control or stifle competition
we realize that there is little field left
for human activity, which writ may
not invade or in which may not Turk
the elements Of suit for civil dam
ages.
| One begins to wonder IL carrying
these principles, so fair on the face
to their logical conclusion. it may not
result in a despotism ruled by popular
will, as absolute as the autocracy OF
monarchs who are unfettered by con
stitutional limitations.
The thoughtful man may we'll ponder
whether the slavery be any greater
and the suffering any more intense
when he is cut off to fit the iron bed
stead, by the ukase of an absolute
monarch, or at the behest Of consti.
tutional socialism, which DEGREES that
all men shall be reduced to the same
measure.
The object of the modern labor
union, as have suggested, is to raise
the wage of the laborer, that is, to en-
nance the price Of the commodity, la
Dor, and, as as logical sequence, to
increase the cost of production, and
TO enhance thereby the price of every
product of labor, to the consumer.
TO accomplish these results, these
unions have resorted to various
agencies, whose conservatism or radi-
calism have been determined largely
by the men who have been promoted
to leadership.
All legal authorities agree that they
have the abstract right to combine, to
organize, to strike, that is, in the alb
sence of contract, to refuse Individual
~ or collectively, to work under con.
ditions, or at wages, to which they OBJ
ject.
"All agree that in so doing, they are
directly working for their own advan-
tage, and although injury may result
to the employer, yet it is damnum
absque injuris.
But oftenest the laborer finds that
these means are ineffective to accom-
plish the result, in that others are will
Ing 10 take his place at the rejected
wage, and they then resort to the
sympathetic strike, that is, those join
in the strike who are benefited, II at
all, only Indirectly.
"Boycotting, picketing, intimidation,
and often violence follow. Violence,
all agree, cannot under the law be toll
Grated. But how far boycotting, pick
citing, persuasion, so powerful in it's
moral effect, by reason of numbers as
to amount to intimidation; may be toll
Grated, is held to be question for ju.
dicial determination and may we'll tax
the wisdom of the bench and the legis-
lature.
1.-THE rules and limitations yet laid
down as to this phase Of the case be-
come shadowy and indistinct. Wheth.
er the advantage to be gained is prox-
innate or remote, whether the benefits
will so far outweigh the injury done
to others, as to relieve it from the i'm.
putation of legal malice, and to make
lit justifiable, are questions upon
which the minds of men will differ.
All these agencies injure some one
and tend to cripple and hamper the
business Of the person or corporation
against whom they are directed, and to
disarrange the affairs, and disturb the
comfort of the general public.
| "The same reasoning applies to the
com bipations Of employers;
"All agree that capital may be law
fully combined, that the small enter
prise may lawfully grow to be great
one, that the cost of production may
be decreased materially the effective
producing power Of human labor and
human skill be UNNECESSARILY increas
ed by conducting the business on a
more and more extensive scale, and all
be thereby benefited.
''In time the business becomes sc
great that its details and it's intricacies
are unknowable, except to the expert
who has grown with it, has grown with
Its growth, keeping pace with its de
velopment.
Under constant pressure from the
laborer, who is never DESTROYS of rails
ing his wages, facing the necessity o.
keeping his labor employed, that its
skill and efficiency may not disinteg
rate, facing occasionally surplus
which drags down the price in the
market place, with a fierce competition
similarly situated, further combination
becomes necessary to avert otherwise
inevitable ruin, he is forced to entel
into arrangements regulating compe
4 tition and maybe raising prices, to thu
alleged injury Of the consumer, whe1
he finds himself facing charge O
conspiracy and unlawful combination.
"Under such circumstances thu
bench and the bar find themselves con
i fronted with a task, beside which the
seven labors Of Hercules pale into in
Significance.
1.-THE very evidence upon which w
may ect, is deceptive, and capable o
the most unjust Interpretation, be
cause hard to understand and right!
weigh.
"Tnc culprit at the bar stands al
raigned for the crime of unlawful con,
1 p,;po+to,, IN aIirornss rDmnetitiOn AM