Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1908-10-28
GOMPERS PLAN
A GREAT MENACE
RIGHT TIC CARRY ON BUSINESS
NOT ENTITLED TO Pro
LECTION.
ALARMING LETTER PRoMUL-
GATED BY PRESIDENT
ROOSEVELT.


and indicted letter to Senator P. c.
Knox, who had recently made a
The president goes after Mr.. Comp,
ers saying: 1.-The remedies which Mr.
Gompers has already submitted to
congress are matters of record, and
the Identification of his remedy
against injunctions in labor disputes
is easy and certain. This remedy is
embodied in house bill number "A of
the first session of the sixtieth con
gress.' The gist of the bill is thus
given:
First: After forbidding any federal
judge to issue restraining order for
an injunction in any labor dispute ex
cept TO prevent irreparable injury to
property or a property right, it specific
ally provides that mo right to carry
in business of any particular kind, or
at any particular place, or at all, shall
be construed, held, considered, or
treated as property or as constituting
a property right
Second, 1t provides that nothing
agreed upon or done by two or more
parties in connection with a labor
dispute shall constitute a conspiracy
or other criminal offense or be prose
cuted as such unless the thing agreed
h. 10 hxy
a single individual
The bill here described. says the
president, is not only the remedy"
that Mr.. Gompers has ALREADY sub
mitted to congress-" but it is the one
and only remedy which he and
those associated with him in his pres
ent movement have announced that
they will accept in the matter of his
grievance against the courts on the
injunction issue. The counsel for the
American Federation of Labor, and
Mr. Gompers, its president, are both
on record to this effect Mr.. Comp
ers himself in discussing this bill be
for committee on February 2S,190S,
went on record as follows:
Events have demonstrated clear
ly to my mind that there is only one
bill before the committee that can at
all be effective, to deal with this
abuse, with this invasion of human
rights, and that is the Pearro bill
This bill then, and none other, rep
resents exactly the relief that Mr..
Gompers demands in the way of anti
injunction legislation, and if the
statement in his letter to the public
is correct, this bill represents what
Mr. Bryan and his party are pledged
to In the matter of antiinjunction
legislation, says the president, add
ing:
The injunction plank in the Bryan
lite platform may sound vague and
hazy; but there is nothing vague or
hazy about this bill 1t is more than
a bill; it is a program Of the most
fixed and definite kind; and ii Mr.
Gompers is correct, this bill becomes
as ii were, an used appendix to Mr.
Bryan's platform, or footnote ex-
planning in detail the briefer and
wagner injunction plank in that plat
form.
Does Mr.. Bryan accept it as such?
Mr. Bryan should state publicly
whether he in fact accepts the prin-
ciple of this bill, which is the official
program of Mr.. Gompers and those
who stand with him. Mr.. Gompers
announces publicly that Mr.. Bryan's
party has made this program it's own
Is Mr.. Gompers correct in this state
ment? Either Mr. Gompers is mis-
taken, as to what Mr. Bryan's party
has promised him in this matter of
anti-injunction legislation, or those
who drafted his party's platform, in
their haste, failed to make the pro
mise so clear that the general pub
lie would understand it precisely as
Ny. Gompers understood it, Mr.,
Bryan failed in his letter Of accept
ance to discuss this labor plank of his
party's platform. So far as ! am
aware he has failed to discuss it since.
There should be such discussion
as a matter of common fairness, not
only to labor but to all citizens alike.
On a question of such grave conse-
quence the people are entitled to know
where Mr.. Bryan stands. Mr.. Taft
has repeatedly explained axactly where
he stands in this matter of regulating
injunctions. Are we not entitled TO
know with equal clearness exactly
where Mr. Bryan stands? Mr.. Comp
ers' pubic statements as to what his
party has promised make it impera-
tive that Mr.. Bryan declare himself.
This bill, to the principle Of which
he says Mr.. Bryan is pledged, declares
that the right tc carry on business in
a lawful way shall not be regarded
as a property right or entitled to the
protection of court OF equity through
the process OF an injunction; and that
the right to such property which admit
eddy now exists under the law shall
be taken away.
The counsel for the American Fed
Grafton Of Labor in his examination
before the house February s. at which
Mr.. Gompers himself was present,