Los Angeles herald., 1907-12-18
FEDERATION OF LABOR LOSES
FIGHT AT LAW
.uNFAIR" LISTS BARRED BY
ORDER OF JUDGE
In Case Of Buck Stove and Range
Company Against President Conn
pers and His Organization
Plaintiff Wins


tion of Labor. involving the right of the
federation to boycott business houses
which labor organizations regard as ''un-
fair to them, Justice Gould of the DIS
trict of Columbia equity court today
granted temporary injunction to pro-
hibit the federation from continuing to
boycott the company, pending a final set
tlement of the case.
bill In equity was filed by the COM
pany last August for a permanent In
junction restraining the federation from
boycctting the company and putting 1t on
the unfair" list in the federation's orl-
cia1 organ, and later a supplementary Dill
which was filed charging that notwith-
standing the pending proceedings the fed
Grafton was still actively engaged IN
pressing the boycott, and a temporary
injunction, passed upon today, was asked
for.
The court made numerous citations Of
decisions In cases involving similar issues.
including references to rulings by Judge
Taft the present secretary OF war, In
the action of the Toledo Electric railway
against the Pennsylvania company. and
proceedings brought in various states.
Not Surprising
Judge Gould declared that it was not
surprising that there was 40 little differ
the question involved, and that the con-
clusions that such combinations as that
disclosed by the affidavits fled by the
Buck Stove company In this, case were
held to be unlawful was based upon ap-
probation of the fundamental rights OF
free men in a free country.
He said there was little room for argu-
me11t or discussion of the question wheth-
er the plaintiff company had shown the
existence of an unlawful combination and
conspiracy to destroy it's business, and
that the record leaves no doubt that the
plaintiff has been and still is the object
of a boycott. using the term sin the most
obnoxious sense, viz, an unlawful con-
spiracy to destroy its business, such
conspiracy as has received the condemna-
ton of every federal and state court in
the country before which it has been
brought for criminal action, legal redress
or equitable injunction"
The American Federation of Labor Is
not only a defendant in this case, but
also President Gompers and Secretary
Morrison individually, as well as nine
others of the executive council of the
federation, and also the electrotypers,
moulders and finishers of union No II,
together with certain individuals compris-
ing its officers and executive board
Has Open Shop
The Buck Stove and Range company.
which runs an open shop, alleged that
the labor organization placed It's name
on the unfair" and I'VE don't patrontze"
lists in the labor publications, and that
the boycott also was carried on through
thousands of circular letters to the COM
pany's customers, with loss of labor, pat
ronage and business.
Mr. Gompers contended that the unfair
list had been in use almost from the fed
eration's organization, that 1t imputed
simply inequitable or discriminative treat
ment against organized labor.
President Van Cleve of the stove COM
pany, 1t was charged, discharged as an
employe the president of a st. Louis local
union, and threatened to discharge all
other members of the union employees
that sought to deal with him.
The court held that the contention of
the defense that there cannot be unlaw-
full combination where each member
thereof might do individually the thing
contemplated without responsibility to
the law, has much of plausibility and
seems to evade accurate analysis"
Judge Gould cited authorities, however,
to show that combination of two or
more persons with such an intent and un-
der such circumstances that give them,
when so combined, a power to do any
injury they would not possess as individ-
uals acting jointly, has always been rec
ognized in itself as wrongful and Illegal.
AS to the contention that to restrain
the publication of name on the unfair
list would infringe the constitutional
rights of the defendants and be an as
sault on freedom of press, and that plain
fiffs redress, If at all. was by action for
libel, and that equity would not enJoin
the publication Of the libel, Justice Gould
said:
"All this would have merit If the act of
defendants in making such publication
stood alone, unconnected with other con-
duct both preceding and following it, But
it is not an isolated fact; 1t is an act Of
conspiracy to destroy plaintiffs busi-
ness"
Case Of Widespread Interest
The case has attracted widespread at
tention, and today's decision has been
awaited with great interest throughout
the country.
James H. Beck of New York. former
assistant attorney general, who, with
Daniel Davenport of Bridgeport, Conn,
and j. J. Darlington of this city, repre-
sented the Buck company, said:
while the decision in this case shows
no new legal decisions and follows former
decisions in both state and federal courts,
the case Is of far reaching Importance as
the first case where the American FEEDER
alton of Labor, as body, has been en-
Joined from using its chief weapon of
offense and defense, the boycott.
For years the manufacturers through
out the country have heard the formid-
able black list Of the federation, with It's
membership of nearly 100000 men, and
many OF them, in some cases, whole In
dustries, have yielded to the demands Of
the federation.
FPrevious Injunction suits to prevent
these widespread boycotts have been
brought against local and state labor or
ganlzations, with remedial results which
were purely local. In this case the in
junction is granted against the officers
and executive council, by whose orders
boycotts are declared and prosecuted.
sfSuch boycotte are now declared un-
lawful In the District of Columbia, where
the headquarters OF the federation are
While the court did not pass on the ap-
plicaticn of the Sherman antitrust law
10 the plaintiffs interstate trade, yet this
omission is Of minor Importance as that
point will soon be passed upon by the
supreme court Of the United States in a
case which was recently advanced for
argument
NEW YORK, Dec. 17.--SamueI Gompers