The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1905-12-02

sons operating any railroad. stage or
steamboat line. for my transportation
az messenger or employe free of charge
upon the condition and consideration
that neither nor; my personal repre-
sentatives. nor any person claiming un-
der me, will make any claim for COM
pensatlon because of any injury sus-
tained by me, whether resulting from
tho gross negligence OF such corpora
tions or persons or of any employe Of
such corporations or persons or other
wise, and tho contract 50 made shall
as If signed and delivered by me. And
1 do hereby further agree that the pro-
visions of this agreement shall be held
to insure to the benefit of any and
every corporation. and to all persons
upon whose railroad, stage or steam
boat line the American Express COM
pany shall forward merchandise, as
fully and completely as II made direct
ly with such corporations with such
corporations or persons
Anyone reading the above document
would not suppose it was worth the
paper 1t was written on and that no
court would be SO shameless as to hold
that the law would permit any human
being to contract away his rights and
those Of his family in case he was in
tured or met death by reason Of the
carelessness of the company he was
| thus serving. But not SO the Supreme
Court, which is made up of ex-corpora-
tion attorneys. Justice Winslow wrote
out the opinion holding that Peterson
had contracted away his very life in
return for the right to ride free in the
express car while attending to his dut-
les in that car. Said Winslow:
1t is not necessary in the present
case either to affirm or deny that the
agreement between the express COM
pany and the railway company cover
ed injuries resulting from negligence,
because in this case the plaintiff him
self, when he entered on his employ
ment. agreed to exempt the express
company and the transportation COM
pan1ss with which 1t dealt from all
liability for personal injuries whether
arising from negligence or otherwise,
and also agreed that this stipulation
should inure to the benefit of all such
transportation companies as fully as II
promise, upon sufficient consideration,
made to one person for the benefit of
third person, which could be enforced
by such third person whether such
third person knew Of or assented to
the promise before the commencement
OF the action or not,-~~s
Tho rights Of 49, dollars are now
greater than the rights Of men. A
contract signed under the compulsion
OF the necessity of having employment
1s free contract in the eyes of q COR
poratton tustice! Peterson did not
have to sign such an aereement-he
was free to go without work and
starve! This is free, country,
dontcher know! -~.'
There is another phase to the above
case that should not be lost sight of.
The average express, messenger works
l9ng hours at a stretch and is robbed
OF good dea1@of his home life. He
has little. opportunity to post himself
on his rights, political and otherwise.
or to keep up with the latest thought.
Tho proof Of this is that these men
have signed such agreements as tho
above-most Of them, probably, with
out reading over the disgraceful pro-
visions it contains. They have sold
out their wives and children without a
thought. and the wives do not know 1t
until some such case as that hsrs given
SHOWS her that her possible future in
terests have been bargained away for
the sake Of a beggarly present living.
We have no hesitation In pronounce
Ing the decision given above. and tho
hundreds OF others like it, abominabls
ana monstrous. 1t is against public
policy, and the working class, against
whose rights such soulless decisions are
rendered should voice their protest and
make plain their condemnation. That
protest and condemnation should not
be wasted like blown of steam by idle
words, but should be shown in an ef
fecttve way-by massing to the ballot
oox to vote the government, state and
national, out Of the control of the can
1ta4ist class and into the hands of tho
people, the working class instead of the
shirking class.
That even a supreme court Is not
oblivious to the public mind once it ts
stirred up, Is shown by the fact that
the Wisconsin supreme court became
somewhat more liberal a few years
ago, just after the working class, goad-
ed into protest by its inhuman decisions
In injury cases, publicly agitated and
demanded legislation to protect its
rights. At lat time the court had the
record Of deciding in favor of the cap
italists in twelve out Of thirteen cases
inside of one year! since then it has
been little more human
FT1T1rpH oF MrrNrn