The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1908-03-27

under the law by giving the location
cs ths head office, the charter and by
laws, and the and addresses
Of their principal Offices In the in
terest of all these organizations
business, labor, and farmers organi-
cations alike-the present provision
permitting the recover Of threefold
damages should be abolished, and as
a substitute therefor the right Of re-
covery allowed should be only the
damages sustained by the plaintiff
and the cost of suit, including a rea-
sonabls attorneys fee.
The 3aw should not affect pending
suits, a short statute Of limitations
! should be provided, so far as the
past is. concerned, not to exceed a
! year. Moreover and even more in
the interest of labor than of busin-
ess combinatinos, all such suits
brought for causes of action hereto
fore occurred should be brought only
if the contract or combination COM
planned of WIS unfair or
able. 1t may be we'll to remember
that all of the suits hitherto brought
by the government under the anti
trust law have been in cases where
N SOL1DALGfhIOh Vi ~ "dS III
fact unfair, unreasonable and against
the public interest.
1t is important that we should en-
courage trade agreements between
employer and employe where they are
just and fair. A strike is a clumsy
weapon for righting wrongs done to
labor, and We should extend, SO far
as possible, the process OF concilia-
tinn and 2rhitrotinn &C n cIlhctit1tn
for strikes Moreover, violence, dis
order and coercion, when committed
in connection with strikes, should be
AS PROMPTLY ard as sternly depressed
as when committed in any other con
nection. But strikes themselves are,
and should be, recognized to be en-
tirely legal Combinations of work
! ingmen have a peculiar reason for
ktheir existence. The very wealthy in
d1vidual employer, and still o
b very wealthy corporation, stand
at an enormous advantage when o
pared to tie individual workingman;
and while they are many cases where
1t may not be necessary for Iab0rers
to form a union, in many other cases
u is indispensable, for otherwise the
thousands of small units, the thou
sands of individual workingmen,
will be left helpless in their dealings
with the one big unit, the big in
dtv1dual or corporate employer.
Twenty-Five years ago, by the act
of June %, 1886, trades unions we're
recognized by law, and the right of
lahoring people to combine for all
lawful purposes was formally reeog-
nized, this right including combina-
ton for mutual protection and bene-
and conditions OF labor, and the pro-
lection of the individual rights of
the workmen in the prosecution of
their trade or trades; and in the act
OF June 1, 1898, strikes were recog-
nized a. legal in the same provi-
sion that forbade participation in or
1nstigation of force or violence
against persons or property, or the
attempt to prevent others from
working. by violence. threat, or in
timidation- The business man must |
be protected in person and property,
and so must the farmer and the wage
worker; and as regards all alike. |
the right of peaceful combination for
all lawful purposes should be ex- /
plicitly recognized.
The right Of employers to combine
and contract with one another and
with their employees should be explicit
~ recognized; and so should the |
right or the employees to combine and '
to contract with n another and