The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-04-21
The Anticipated Supreme Court,

SAMUEL GOMPERs, supreme authority
in the court Of last resort Of labor y as
he has called the American Federation
Of Labor, has not only affirmed his pre-
vious reversal Of the decision of the
Supreme Court in the Danbury Hatters
case, but has relegated the entire tribu-
nal to the limbo of the obsolete. Speak
ing more in sorrow than in anger, he
declares that it is not only his right,
but my duty, TO point out the errors Of
any public officer"
In a signed editorial which he pub
lished in the American Federdtionist at
the time the decision was handed down
Mr., GoMPERs, referring to the Supreme
Court, said in his role of universal censor:
1T is a subject Of serious speculation
whether we might not do better under
some other form of procedure Appar-
emily the abolition of the Supreme Court
isno longer a matter Of speculation, for as
he tells us that tribunal is not in accord
with the spirit Of the times" Its eco
Monies are Anticipated, its procedure
medieval With great m%agnanimity
he acquits it of being "sordid or corrupt"
but its fatal defect seems to be that no
one can be a member Of the Supreme
Court unless he is a lawyer, and that
no one can become a lawyer unless he
first accepts "the dicta of the courts Of
to-day and. is "all right on vested
interests" We had thought that these
alleged deficiencies were the true quail
ications for a jurist and Can only wonder
whether a Supreme Court composed Of
GOMPERs, MITCHELL, HAYWOOD, DEBs
and MORRISON, which would sweep
way the past wisdom Of the courts and
put an end 10 vested interests" would
bring on the long deferred millennium,
Apparently vested interests are a sub
ject Of adherence to Mr.. GOAfPERS. The
vested interest which an employer has
in his own property and his right to man
age it as he thinks best is not Sin accord
with the spirit Of the times" Espe-
cially Objectionable is the vested interest
Of the manual toiier who prefers to sell
the product Of his labor without first
asking the permission Of labor organiza-
tons or complying with their demands
as to the condition Of such service.
Apparently the only vested interest
in which Mr.. GoMPERs thoroughly be-
lieves and which as yet the courts with
their old fashioned ideas Of individual
liberty have refused to recognize Is the
right Of his federation TO dictate the
terms under which American working
men shall work and the tribute which
each of them must yield to Mr.. COMPRESS
labor trust.
THE Sun finds it difficult TO agree with
all of Mr., GoMPERs's reasoning in his
address last Sunday night, but with n
statement We are in entire accord. After
discussing the deficiencies Of the Supreme
Court Mr.. GoMPERs says:
8 The fact is, gentlemen, that the men who have
been successful lawyers and jurlsts In our modern
conception are men whose education surroundings
and environment are not In accord with the spirit
Of the times"
The Supreme Court is behind the
times and has been since the accession
to power Of THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
Between that great tribunal and the
President is a fatal difference in tenn
permanent and conviction, The Supreme
Court believes in the majesty of law
and its enforcement, without respect to
classes or interests. TO Mr.. ROOSEVELT
the law Is a Big Stick to be used in his
discretion to reward his friends and to
punish his enemies, to advance his per-
sonal interests and TO destroy any pub
lie mar who dares to differ with my
policies He invokes the majesty of
law whenever it's alleged violators are
few in numbers and unpopular in char
acter and he suspends its operation in
favor Of those who are either considera-
bic in numbers or content TO crawl across
the threshold OF the White House to
the feet Of the President and prostitute
their cOnsciences and convictions to his
demands.
Government by Executive favor, the
division Of the American people into two
classes those who are privileged to vio-
late the laws because friendly to the
President and those obliged to obey it
such is "the spirit Of the times" When
in 1894 EUGENE DEBs violated an %iniunc-
ton Of the court he was sent to prison
and the Supreme Court sustained the
sentence. It's spirit has not changed, and
should the Executive department bring
20 the attention OF the court, as did
RICHARD 0LNEY in the case Of DEBs, the
open defiance by GoMPBBs Of the Federal
courts in the Bucks stove case and the
DanburY Hatters case, the Supreme
Court would undoubtedly reaflrm the
majesty Of the law, The court needs
but a case properly brought before it to
assert It's majesty, but the Executive,
whose sworn duty it is TO put the wheels
Of the machinery Of justice into motion,
has deliberately suspended the operation
of the law so far as labor organizations
are concerned while holding the law in
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