The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1908-12-29
/ SAMUEL GOMPERS MUST
/ GO TO JAIL, SAYS COURT
John Mitchell and Frank Morrison
Also Condemned.
JUDGE WRIGHT's BITTER WORDS
Defendants Speak in Favor of a Free
Press and All Give Ban For an
Appeal to United States Supreme
Released on Bonds.

Washington, D. C.-Twelve months
in jail for Samuel Gompers, presi-
dent; nine months for John Mitchell,
one of the vice-presidents, and six
months for Frank Morrison, secre-
tary of the American Federation of
Labor, was the sentence imposed by
Justice Daniel Thew Wright, Of the
Supreme Court of the District of Col
umbia, for contempt of court in vio-
lating the order of Justice Gould, Of
the same court. enjoining them from
placing on the unfair or we don't
patronize list the Bucks Stove and
Range Company, of St. Louis. An
appeal was taken to the Court of APP
peals, of the District of Columbia,
and the labor leaders were released
under bonds The next and last APP
peal lies in the United States Supreme
Court
The injunction was issued on the
ground that the boycott if in restraint
of interstate commerce was viola
ton of the Sherman Antitrust law.
While the present case has resulted
in jail sentences for labor leaders for
contempt Of court, prosecutions of
trust magnates have never brought
about any more serious penalties than
fines.
The wife and daughter of Gompers
and number of labor leaders from
various parts of the country saw the
defendants receive sentence at the bar
of court. Gompers' family seemed
deeply affected
Gompers wept as he heard his con-
domination. Both Mitchell and Nor
rison seemed stunned
Asked whether he had anything to
say why sentence should not be pro-
nounced, Gompers made quiet but
impassioned speech to the bench.
Mitchell and Morrison confined them
selves to an endorsement Gompers
said: I am not conscious at any
time during my life Of having violat-
ed any law of the country or of the
State in which live. ! would not
consciously violate a law now or at
any time during my full life. 1t is
not possible that under the circum-
stances which / am before Your
Honor this morning and after listen
ing to the opinion which you have
rendered to say that which / have in
mind, but, sir, / may be permitted to
say this: That freedom of speech and
freedom of the press has not been
granted to the people to say the
things which please, but the right to
say the things that displease even
though they do wrong
The decision of Justice Wright,
which consumed two hours and TWEEN
ty minutes in the reading, was one of
the most scathing arrangements ever
heard in any court.
Justice Wright is from Ohio, an
lppointee of President Roosevelt He
sent a negro lawyer to jail about two
years ago because he refused to an
Swer questions Justice Wright was
Dyerruled, but the lawyer had no re-
dress for the several months he spent
In Jail
Following an exhaustive discussion
Of the conspiracies in restraint of
trade, Justice Wright said
From the foregoing it ought to
seem apparent to thoughtful men that
the defendants to the bill, each and
all of them, have combined together.
for the purpose of
"f1) Bringing about the breach OF
plaintiffs existing contracts with
others;
500 Depriving plaintiff Of prop
erty (the value of the good will of
it's business) without due process Of
law;
"(S) Restraining trade among the
several States;
(4) Restraining commerce among
the several States.