The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-13
civic FEDERATION THUNDER.
r. MONT Tunnel BLASTS WITH
OJT; HEiTED TALK WITHIN.

the fnfI''A ~ " '''
Won whose fifth annual meeting began
yesterday az the Park Avenue Hotel, got
..,ber fogcy before the days discussions
rare ended. The morning talk was mostly
bout a subject described as Government
bv Injunction" but nobody came forward
18th proof that any 81 Oh thing existed.
In The afternoon all hands got busy with
sTbe c>trat and menace of child labor"
The rcs,.lt was that so many and SO diver
cant were the views expressed that by
so'clock the federation rs a whole hadn't
any definite notion as to whether child
labor had any extent or any menace either.
In lis perplexity the federation scratched
Its collective head and adopted resolutions
,elling how fuddled IL was and arranging
for the appointment OF a committee to in
~vestiQatc at length and illuminate it's
darkened mind.
In starting the ball rolling resident
August Belmont THIS described the funo-
lions Of the Federation:
Il is timely 10 remind you OF the purposes
NJ the federation-to or ganize the best brains
of the nation in an educational movement
toward the best solution of some of the
great problems related to social and industrial
progress, to provide for study and discussion
az questions Of national import. to aid thus
IN the crystalli2ation of the most enlightened
public opinion, and when desirable to pro-
mote legislation in accordance herewith.
Mr. Belmont d~isapproved of President
Roosevelt's plan for compulsory Govern
mental investigation of all industrial dis
turbances, but salt that in the case OF steam
and street railways and other public service
corporations in which the public was directly
Interested the conditions were such that
gomp 5 Ich plan might be desirable.
Mr.. belmont then called Seth Low to the
chair. MIR. Low introduced T. Carl SPELL
ing, general attorney for the American
Federation of Labor, who talked at length
about injrnctions. lie held that there was
no place FOR injunCtions in labor disputes
except when property was in peril. Said
Mr.. Spelling.
I say that it is deplorable that men can
BE- advised to commit crimes and inJure
people and stir up trouble and put the public
to a great amount Of inconvenience. but
tell you it is more deplorable. it Is a thing
that will lead to the most disastrous results,
II irresponsible men on the bench are to be
allowed to usurp authority above the law
and above all departments OF Government
and to become unrestrained despots. to take
one side in every trade dispute, become the
guardians OF peace and order and morality
IN the community, to decide ex parte that
hundreds and thousands of men are about TO
Violate the law ana senu IOrtn THESE special
DEGREES, these enactments of special legisla-
zion, to p~aralyze and destroy the rights Of
all these men--I say that that is the most dam
Eerous tendency in our Government. not
excepting the tendency toward monopoliza-
ton and combination.
John Mitchell, president OF the United
Mine Workers, held that the abuse of writs
Of injunction was largely responsible for
the suspicion that organized labor often
expressed Of the bench. Said Mr.. Mitchell;
II has been the proud boast Of the people Of
our country. at least, that no citizen might be
deprived of his liberty except upon the YER
dict of a Jury of his peers. As the result Of
the indiscriminate issuance OF injunctions
this feeling of security has lately been dissi-
pated, and the American workmen now feel
that their security has been eOpardiZcd. DO
you know that in labor disputes. when the
proposition to arbitrate Is proposed. that
very often-indeed. almost generally-the
workingmen will make the reservation that
the question to be arbitrated shall not be sub
mitted tot Federal Judge? l wish to say that
do not share fully in thesesapprehensions.
but the very fact that wOrkinRmen do eX-
press their fear of the impartiality OF the
Federal judiciary Is itself a matter OF grave
concern.
so many inIunctions have been issued. so
many laboring men have been incarcerated
In prisons DcCduSc Oh II NlOldtlOh vi diickcu
violation of these injunctions. not because OF
the commission Of crime. not because they
have violated any law of the land. but because
they have insisted upon doing those things
which they have a legal and a constitutional
right 20 do. / wish to say for myself-and
l yield 10 no one living in loyalty to this
country-that II a Judge were TO enJoin
me from doing something that l had a legal.
a constitutional and a moral right to do. that
I would violate the Injunction.
We insist that in~junctions shall not issus
where there Is adequate remedy at law. We
Insist that men shall not be sent to prison ex-
cept upon the judgment OF a jury OF their
peers. We shall not be satisfied. gentlemen.
until we secure redress from what We consider
N be the evil-Federal injunction.
The afternoon session was distinctly
militant. Ii was punctuated every now
and then with blasts from Mr.. Belmont's
East River tunnel work that shook the
hotel till its windows ratified. Later on a
photographer took a hashlight picture
that almost broke up the meeting. All
this c~annonading seemed to get into the
blood Of all the contributors to the dis
cussion until they were ready for a fight.
Contradictions were handed around as
freely as high hats at a wake and the child
labor situation was anything but clarified.
Daniel j. Keefe, president of the Inter-
national Longshoremen's Union, refereed
Tue scrap ana LIT. ObIlucl lCSuilO LAlOody ,
secretary Of the National Child Labor
Committee, was the first TO slip through
the ropes. DR.. Lindsay said that while
statistics were untrustworthy he thought
IL certain that 1000, 600 children between
the ages Of 10 and 10 were employed in
gainful occupations in this country. Not
all we're victims of abuse, OF course, but
as a general rule any child under 10 who
had 10 work for his living was in a position
Of peril.
He thought there would be general
agreement to the statement that the labor
OF all children under IA should be prohibited
and that night work for children OF n
age should be done away with. The
Beveridge-P Parsons bill would, II enacted,
take the heart out of the child labor evil.
Owen R.. Lovejoy, assistant secretary OF
the National Child Labor Committee, gave
the results of an investigation he had made
In the anthracite coal fields of Pennsyl-
vania. There was no coliery in which
children Of illegal age we're not at work.
He thought that in three boroughs he in
vestigated there were enough boys under
Il years at work to MAKE the total for the
anthracite district something hke Is, 400.
Under the -intolerable law now on the
statute books OF Pennsylvania" there were
not enough inspectors 20 enforce the law
properly. S~eventy-fve per cent, of the mine
employees killed in 1906, he added, were
hove npIar IN