Evening journal., 1908-12-23
PRISON SENTENCE
FOR LABOR LEADERS
Justice Wright, of Supreme Court of District of Col
umbia, Sentences Gompers TO One Year,
Mitchell Nine Months, and Morrison
to Six Months on Contempt Charge
HAVE FILED APPEAL,
RELEASED ON BAIL


columbia. to-day decided that President
wGompers ana other officials Of the Ameri-
san Federation Of Labor. had nagrantly
violated the injunction granted by JUS
II tico Gould in the Bucks Stove and Range
M case.
The officers Of the Federation thus adj
@ Judged guilty Of contempt are Samuel
u csompers. president. Frank Morrison, sec
" retary. and John Mitchell. vice-president'
81 since retired.
oiompers was sentenced to one year
81 imprisonment; Mitchell TO nine months
q and Morrison to six months.
III The three men later filed an appeal and
@ were released in s5Ooo. $1,000 and $1,000 bail
" respectively.
N In his opinion. which was Of extreme
q length. Justice Wright characterized the
ri various utterances of the defendants with +
II respect to the court as utter rampant
n insolent defiance. unrehned insult, coarse
II aaront. and vulgar indignity
The case grew out Of the publication
in Tho American Federationist, in its 'un-
& fair list" Of the name Of the Bucks Stove
NJ and Range Company, Of St. Louis, against
which the union men had a grievance I
& Counsel for the company secured an in
ri junction against Mr.. Gompers and his
u associates. to prevent any further such
n references. After Justice Could had is
Il sued the injunction. although the name
III was dropped from the unfair list Mr..
II Cfonlpers made repeated references to the
81 case in the magazine and in public
II speech. in which he criticised the court
vi and declared his Willingness to 50 to jail, /
u il necessary rather than keep silent on
n what he believed 10 be an invasion OF the
rights Of organized labor.
II Penalty as an Example.
AT the conclusion Of his decision JUS
II tice Wright saidi
e III would seem not inappropriate TOE
n ssch a penalty as viii serve 10 deter
Il otbers from following after such OUT
u aawed examples: VIII serve physically 20
u impose obedience. even though late; will
serve to vindicate the orderly power Of
Judicial tribunals. and establish over
this litigation the supremacy Of law"
The decision says in part;
when with The parties TO this cause
in attendance, their dispute heard and
tho status Of the subject Of the contro-
versy examined into the nhibitory pro-
! cess Of this tribunal issued forth II
vas the laws command to stand. hands
off until Justice for this matter can be
ascertaned
rs not law wide enough, and its shield
broad enough to avert from annihilation
that which its tribunal has taken IN
hand for the very sake Of decreeing
whether it shall not be saVedf
Saws Courts are Defed.
.!Yet everywhere; all over; within the
court and out; utter rampant, insolent
de6anee is heralded and proclaimed; un-
refined insult, coarse affront, vulgar in
dignity measures the litigants conception
~ the tribunals due, wherein his cause
sim pends
..Before the injunction was granted
tbese men announced that neither they
nor the American Federation of Labor
would obey 1t; since it issued they nave
refused to obey it; and through the Amer
ican Federation Of Labor disobedienee
has been successfully achieved, and the
law has been made TO fail; not only has
tba law failed in its effort to arrest
,,iaasnread wrong but the injury mas
,ron,n marc destructive since the m
sraction than il was before. There is
s,mdiad dtermined, defiant conflict pre-
,tnttated in the light of open day, be-
tween the decrees Of a tribunal ordallled
Il, ~ government Of the Federal Union
II +be tribunals OF another fedora
4.a crown No in the land; one or the
a4,,a, must succumh. for those who would
,,nlaw Inc land are public enemies.
..or tbe sociological aspect Of the situ-
., son,e faith in the ultimate right
ss ~ American men. whether in labor
,,nions or out, is to be entertained Tor
noiic,a tbat the habit Of the land satu-
r,ted them with a readiness 10 Yield 10
Z an+boritv has undone them before now,
,hroueb the errors Of misguldins leaders,
swollen by pigmy power; it stands in the
nature Of things that the unlettered be
most sensible of that authority which most
often shows itself in their modest affairs,
although a higher authority may exist
10 which their attention is not every mo-
mont directed by some interference with
them but to which they stand ready to
adhere upon the moment that shows them
that the lesser authority was in mistake,
or leading them wrong.
Heed the Leaders.
III is written in this record that the
labor unions ana its officers meddle into
a members daily affairs deeper than does
the law: restrict him in matters that the
law leaves free; and then continually
crowd their authority upon his atten-
tion, that insensibly he comes to regard
them as of control in his affairs. this fact
that M regards them as authority, leads
him "a heed them, because of his readi-
ness to yield to authority: his very re-
spsct for authority. assumes that all
authority is respectable; and SO upon
them he relies by them he is led. What
knows the worker in Texas. Florida.
Maine and Oregon of the merits Of the
original controversy of thirty-six metal
nolishers in Missouri
Speaks of Distractions.
What knows he Of the refined dis
, @N~r- boycott conspiracy
nnction.' and tho voidness for want
jurisdiction Of Tudicial decrees2 In
respect of each Of these. and of the
original controversies, he has been be-
trayed, hoodwinked into the stand Of
an enemy Of law. and of social order.