Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1908-12-10
DANGEROUS Occupation. or to work an

n dangerous occupation, or to work an
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
4 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 Of 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 theSl and
I Furnishing them for contempt of court In
instances where, al matter of fact.
| they have no knowl'dss OF any proceed
/ ings Organized .anor Is chatting
under the unjust rest amt which
| comes from repeated resort to this
| plan OF procedure. Its discomfort
| has been unwisely expressed. and
| often improperly expressed. but there
| is sound basis for it, and the or
! derby and law-abding people OF a COM
! munity would be in far stronger posi-
| ton for UNFOLDING the courts IL the I'M
| doubtedly existing abuses could be pro
| vided against.
Matters for Thought for Labor:
! Such proposals as those menticrAd
| above as advocated by the extreme ohor
leaders, contain the vital error of beng
class legislation OF the most offensive
kind, and even IL enacted into law / 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 rightO, but some being OBJ
tanned for other reasons against employ
ers.
Injunction Must Remain.
The power OF injunction is 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-
straning order issue otherwise tSan 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 a short fixed pc
hearing. it should forthwith lapse. De-
cisions should be rendered Immediately,
and the chance of delay minimized in
every way. Moreover, 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 II 1t 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 jures merely bear their
share together with the public as a
whole. 1t 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 hatrsplit-
ting technicalites in the Interpretation
of law by judges. to sentimentality 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 Aople
cannot shift the responsibility from our
own shoulders. But there is an impor-
tant part of the failure w..lch has spe-
| cial,y 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-
| mulated 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 tiO1. 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-
inents 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 BUSH
| 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
| lions. 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 innocuous by making 1t 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
4 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
o. the interstate commerce law. Con-
troll over the great corporations doing
interstate business can be effective only
If 1t is vested with full power in an
administrative department a branch OF
the federal executive, carrying out q
federal law; 1t can never be effective II
divided responsibility Is left in both
the states and the nation; II can never
be effective II left in the hands of the
courts to be decided by lawsuits.
Respect for Law Must Be Upheld.
The courts hold a 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 Il
say anything which can weaken this re-
spect, save for the gravest reason and II
the most carefully guarded Manner. In NJ
other nation In the world do the court.
WELD such vast and far-reacbing power
as In the United States. All that Is nee
essary Is that the courts as a Who'll,
should exercise this power with the far
sighted wisdom already shown by those
judges who scan the future while they
act In the present. Let them cxercis,
this great power not only honestly anC
J bravely but with wise insight into thu
needs and fixed purposes of the people