Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-24

W Tie DeuOCTdllc party. mat party
made labor's contention it's own. L
pledged it's candidates for every
office to those remedies which labor
already had submitted to congress-
"The last sentence in this quotation
indicates definitely the specific rem
edies to which Mr.. Gompers under
stands Mr.. Bryan's party has pledged
itself His statement now makes per
fectly clear an important plank in the
Bryanite platform which heretofol
has seemed puzzling to vast mum
Der Of earnest minded, thinking PEG
pie who are sincerely interested In
the steady advance and the legitimate
aspirations of labor and who carefully
read both platforms to know precisely
what hopes each holds out for the i'm
provenent of the conditions of wage
earners. The plank reads as fol
lows:
Questions of judicial practice have
arisen especially In connection with
labor disputes. We deem that the
parties to all judicial proceedings
should be treated with rigid i'm.
partially and that injunctionns should
not be issued in any cases in which
injunctions would not issue if no in,
dustrial dispute were involved
Plank Is Meaningless.
"This is the plank that promises
the remedy against injunctions
which Mr.. Gompers asked of Mr.. Bry-
ans party. In actual fact 1t means alb
solutely nothing; no change of the
law could be based on it; no man
without inside knowledge could fore
tell what it's meaning would turn out
to be, for no man could foretell how
any Judge would decide in any given
case, as the plank apparently leaves
each Judge free to say when he issues
an injunction in labor case whether
or not it is a case in which an injunc-
ton would issue if labor were not in
volved.
'Yet this plank is apparently per-
fectly clear to Mr.. Gompers, and in
his letter to his followers he indicates
beyond question just what he under
stands it to mean. He asserts that he
has the requisite inside knowledge.
His statement that MI. Bryan's party
flor it was Mr.. Bryan who dictated
the platform) pledged itself to those
remedies which labor had already
submitted to congress is a perfectly
clear and definite statement.
Wants Injunetions Restrained.
"The remedies which Mr.. Com
pers has already submitted to con-
gress are matters of record, and the
Identification Of his remedy against
injunctions In labor disputes is easy
and certain. This remedy is embod-
led in House bill No. IA of the first
session of the Sixtieth congress, the
complete text of which is hereto ap-
pended.
"The gist of the bill as can thus be
seen by referring to the complete text,
is this:
81. After forbidding any federal
Judge to issue a restraining order for
an injunction in any labor dispute,
except to prevent irreparable injury
to property or property right, it
specifically provides that mo right
to carry on business Of
any particular kind, or at any particu-
lar place, or at all, shall be construed,
ty, or as constituting a property
right"
"'2. 1t provides that nothing agreed
upon or done by two or more parties
in connection with labor dispute
shall constitute a conspiracy or other
criminal offense, or be prosecuted as
such unless the thing agreed upon
would be unlawful if done by a single
individual
"The bill here described is not only
the remedy that Mr.. Gompers has
already submitted to congress- but it
is the one and only remedy which
he and those associated with him in
his present 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 Fed
GRAFTON Of Labor and Mr.. Gompers, its
president, are both on record to this
effect.
cat hearing before the house com
mittee On judiciary, the counsel for
the American Federation of Labor on
Feb. 5. 1908, Gas appears from the
printed hearings) stated:
"The bill was considered by at
least two sessions of the executive
! council of that Organization and
unanimously approved. 1t was con-
sidered by two Of the national con-
ventions-the two latest-and by
these unanimously endorsed And in
the face of many propositions to
amend it, in the face Of many pro-
posed substitutes, in the face of pres
sure from every direction, from high
sources and sources not so exalted
the Organization has stood by, and is
today standing by, this bill without
amendment
Gompers Approved Bill.
"Mr. Gonpers himself, in discus
sing this bill before the same com.
mittee on Feb. g. 1908 Gas appears
from the printed hearings) 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