The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-24
COURT SOUNDS DEATH KNELL
 OF BOYC0TTS
The Thres Defendanta.
sCenslnrsa frsm Page oas.,

defendants. the court said:
 sTn defense of the charges now at the bar, neither apology nor exfenua- lien is deemed ar to the embraced; no claim of unmeant contumacy Is heard; persisting 5 in contemptuous violation of the order, no defenseis offered save these: That the injunction lil m frinred the constitutional guaranty ot freedom Of the press. and [3s infringed the constitutional guaranty of freedom of speech.
 "These defenses do not i'll the meas ure of the case the injunction was oe- signed to stay the general conspiracy of which the publication of the unfair and we don't patronise' lists were but incidents: the injunction interferes with no legitimate right of criticism or continent that the law has sver sanctioned and the respondents intima- tion that 1t does 60 is . mockery ana pretense."
 tn reference to the. freedom Of the press the court declared that the con atitution nowhere conferred the riBht to speak, to print or to publish.
 'Tt guarantees" said hes "orty that insofar as the Federal government is concerned, its Congress shall nor abridge lt. and lsaves the subject 70 the regulation of the several States. where H Belongs"
 etHkEUfP 0A 8UeErMs
 "who ean be persuadedT asked the court cSstinuinr. "that the penaliz- ing of f&ise and malicious iibels upon the integrity of honorable men, or islanders upon the virtue of ehaste wo- men is an outrage upon The con- stitutionai rights of the viilifer?
 The court inquired if "these of thoughtful and sincere renection es- cane ti14 unhArmony between claims for a right of utter license in speech ana prcSs and the punishment by law of IIbels and the mulcting of islanders. No right to pubjish either the lipeI or the sander can be sustained, except upon the theory of right to do wrong
 bearing on free speech and press, de- clares that an elaboration of these sr- xufuknts with respect to the freedom of inc press would usually be quite aRr4eable to my desire yet he said, isthyse suggestions sound the hollow ues of the defense and to essay more might savor of an inquiry into tne coyrectness of the injunction ordered by Mfr. Justice Gould, duty already taken up and discharged by abler TTn dtsn,issing ffon further consid- skation the contention that the in5unc- ion invaded the right of free speech and of the press. the court had this to say:
 wolves questions vital to the preserve tfon of the social order questions which smite the Foundations of civil government and upon which the sue prenacy Of the law over anarchy and riot verify depend"
 In the opinion of the court even where a tribunal had fallen into error .ao.s. ksf.r. s44 a nfCn it was invested with jurisdictions to sshear and determiney the duty ana necessity of obedtence remain never theIess the same.
 "And," said the court T place the decision of the matter at bar distinct. iy on the proposition that were sne order ccufessedly erroneous, yet tt n,Ist have been obeyad. fWorden vs. Seals, 12I U. S., 1A.) It is between the supremacy of law over the rabble. or it's pr0gtratton under the feet ok discrdered tIlrongs,"
 ax esessre. ~ Esssre.s court declared the laws command had been ito stand hands of until jus tfce for this matter can be ascertained.
 'is not flaw wide enough and it's shield big enough" added the court, "to avert from aunihiiation that which its tribunals have taken in hand for
  it shall not be saved? Yet everywhere ali over within the court and without, utter. rampant, insolent defiance Ia heralded and proclaimed. unrehned as- sauIt. coarse affront and vulgar in- dignity measures the lftigants' concep- tion of the tribunaFs duty wherein his cause stilI bends.
 Ins coriclusion the court said:
 ;-'Before the injunction was granted these men announced that neither they nor the American Federation of Labor would obey it; since 1t issued they have refused to obey It; and through the American Federation of Labor dis obedience has been successfully achiev- ed, and the law has been made to fail not only has the law failed in its ef- fort to arrest widespread wrong, but the injury has grown more destruc- tive since the injunction than 1t wal before. There was ae studied deter mined, defiant conflict, prectpiteged in the light of open day, between the de- crees of a tribunal ordained by the Government of the Federal Union and of the tribunals of another federation grown up in the land; one or the other must succurnbs
 "On the sociological aspect of the situation, some faith In the ultimate rIRhtness of American men, whether in labor unions or out. is to be enter A of the land saturates them with readi- ness to abide by authority. as believe this very readiness. to yield to author ity has undone them before now through the errors of potsgHiding lead CTS. swollen by pfgmy power.
 ''It stands in the nature of things that the unlettered will be most sem sible of that authority which most often shows itself in modest affairs although a higher authority may exist to which their attention is not every moment directed by some interfereneC with them. but to which they stand ready to adhere upon the moment thai shows them that the lesser authority was in mistake, or leading them wrong
 AutOeratac UniOns.
 'It is written in this record thai the labor unions and its officers medal, into the members daily affatrs deepei than does the laws restrict him in mat ters that the law leaves free; and ther SO continually crowd their auth ority upon his attention, that inaensibly h. comes to regard them as of control ii his affairs; the fact that he regard them as authority leads him to heet them because Of his readiness to yielt readily: his very respect for authorit, assumes that all anarchy Is respect able; and he relies upon them, by then is led,
 Florida, Maine and oregon of~the mer it's of the original controversy of thir ty-six metal polishers In Missouri What knows he of the refined distinc .tions about 'berriots conspiracy in junction and the 'voidness' for want 0 Jurisdiction Of judicial decrees in re
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