River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1908-12-10


undesirable or improper number of hours.
or to work in unhealthy SURROUNDINGS:
and therefore cannot recover damages
when manned in that occupation. and
cannot be forbidden to work what the
legislature decides is an excessive num-
Der of hours. or to carry on the work
under conditions which the legislature
decides to be unhealthy. Decisions
such as those nullify the legislative
effort to protect the wage-workers who
most need protection from those employ
ers who take advantage or their grind
ing need They halt or hamper the move
ment for securing better and more equi-
table conditions Of LABOR
There is also. think. ground for the
belief that substantial injustice is often
suffered by employees in consequence of
the custom of courts issuing temporary
injunctions without notice to them, and
furnishing them for contempt Of court in
instances where. as matter of fact,
they have no knowledge of any proceed
ings. Organized labor is chatting
under the unjust restraint which
comes from repeated resort to this
plan of procedure. Its discomfort
has been unwisely expressed, and
often improperly expressed, but there
is a sound basis for it, and the or
Derby and Iaw-abiding people of a COM
munity would be in far stronger posi-
ton for unfolding the courts if the un-
doubtedly existing abuses could be pro-
vided against.
Matters for Thought for Labor.
Such proposals as those mentioned
above as advocated by the extreme labor
leaders, contain the vital error of being
class legislation of the most offensive
kind, and even If enacted into law I be-
lieve that the law would rightly be held
unconstitutional. Moreover, the labor
people are themselves now beginning to
invoke the use of the power of injunc-
ton During the last ten years, and
within my own knowledge, at least fifty
injunctions have been obtained by labor
unions in New York city alone, most of
them being to protect the union label Ga
property rightly, but some being OBJ
tanned for other reasons against employ
ers.
Injunction Must Remain.
The power of Injunction is a great
equitable remedy, which should on no
account be destroyed. But safeguards
should be erected against Its abuse
In substance provision should be made
that no injunction or temporary re-
straining order issue otherwise than on
notice, except where irreparable injury
would otherwise result and in such case
a hearing on the merits of the order
should be had within short fixed pc
riod, and, If not then continued after
cisions should be rendered Immediately
and the chance Of delay minimized in
every way. Moreover, I believe that the
procedure should be sharply defined, and
the judge required minutely to state the
particulars both of his action and OF his
reasons therefor, SO that the congress
can if it desires examine and investigate
the same.
For many Of the shortcomings Of
Justice in our country our people as a
whole are themselves to blame, and the
judges and juries merely bear their
share together with the public as a
whole It is discreditable to us as a
people that there should be difficulty in
convicting murderers, or in bringing to
justice men who as public servants
have been guilty Of corruption, or who
have profited by the corruption Of
public servants. The result is equally
unfortunate, whether due to hairsplit-
ting technicalities in the Interpretation
of law by judges, to Sentlmentality and
class consciousness on the part of
juries, or to hysteria and sensational
ism in the daily press. For much OF
this failure of justice no responsibility
whatever lies on rich men as such. We
who make up the mass of the people
cannot shift the responsibility from our
own shoulders. But there is an impor-
tant part of the failure which has spe-
cial1y to do with inability to hold
to proper account men of wealth who
behave badly.
The Modern Corporation.
The huge wealth that has been accu-
INFLATED by few individuals of recent
years, in what has amounted to a So
cial and industrial revolution, has been
as regards some of these individuals
made possible only by the improper use
of the modern corporation. A certain
type of modern corporation, with it's
officers and agents, its many issues of
securities, and it's constant consolida-
ton with allied undertakings, finally
becomes an instrument so complex as
to contain a greater number of ele-
ments that, under various judicial de-
cisions, lend themselves to fraud and
oppression than any device yet evolved
in the human brain. Corporations are
necessary instruments of modern bust
ness. They have been permitted to
become a menace largely because the
governmental representatives of the
people have worked slowly In provid-
ing for adequate control over them.
Our great clusters of corpora
TONS huge trusts and fabulously
wealthy multimillionaires, employ the
very best lawyers they can obtain to
pick flaws in statutes after their
passage; but they also employ a class
of secret agents who seek, under the
advice of experts, to render hostile
legisla ion il locuous by making it I'M
constitutional often through the inser-
ton of what appear on their face to be
drastic and sweeping provisions against
the interests of the parties inspiring
them; while the demagogues, the cor
rupt creatures who Introduce black
mailing schemes to strike" corpora
lions, and all who demand extreme,
and undesirably radical, measures,
show themselves to be the worst enc
mics of the very public whose loud
mouthed champions they profess to be.
Real damage has been done by the
manifold and conflicting interpretations
OIL the interstate commerce law. Con-
troll over the great corporations doing
Interstate business can be effective only
If it is vested with full power in an
administrative department, branch Of
the federal executive, carrying out a
federal law; it can never be effective If
a divided responsibility is left in both
the states and the nation; it can never
be effective if left in the hands of the
courts to be decided by lawsuits.
Respect for Law Must Be Upheld.
The courts hold place of peculiar and
deserved sanctity under our form of gov
eminent. Respect for the law is essen
tial to the permanence of our institu-
tons; and respect for the law is largely
conditioned upon respect for the courts.
1t is an offense against the republic to
say anything which can weaken this re-
spect, save for the gravest reason and in
the most carefully guarded manner. In no
other nation in the world do the courts
WELD such vast and far-reaching power
as in the United States. All that is nee
essary is that the courts as a whole
should exercise this power with the far