Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-12-10

desired opportunity to shift their
ground into championship of Just
Judges who We're unjustly assailed.
Last year before the house committee
on the Judiciary these same labor lead
ers formulated their demands, specify
ing the Dill that contained them rc-
fusing all compromise, stating thew
wished the principle of that bill or
nothing. They insisted on a provision
that in a labor dispute no injunction
| should issue except to protect prom.
/ erty right and specifically provided
that the right to carry ON business
| should not be construed as property
right, and i'll a second provision their
| bill made legal in 4 labor dispute any
act or agreement by or between two
/ or more persons that would not have
been unlawful it done by single Der.
I son. In other words, this bill legal.
lied blacklisting and boycotting in ev.
cry form, legalizing for instance, those
forms of the secondary boycott which
| the anthracite coal strike commission
so unreservedly condemned, while the
right to carry on a business was ex-
| plicitly taken out from under that pro.
! lection which the law throws over
| property. The demand was made that
there should be trial by jury in con.
tempt cases. thereby most seriously i'm.
pairing the authority of the courts.
All this represented course of policy
/ which, if carried out, would mean the
| enforcement Of class privilege in
its crudest and most brutal form and
| the destruction of one of the most es.
sential functions of the Judiciary in all
| civilized lands.
| The violence of the crusade for thi.
legislation and its complete failure il
| lusrrate two truths which it is essen
tial our people should learn. In the
first place, they ought to teach the
workingman, the laborer, the wage.
worker, that by demanding what is
improper and impossible he plays into
! the hands of his foes Such a crude
and vicious attack upon the courts
| even If it were temporarily successful
/ would inevitably in the end cause q 4
violent reaction and would band tbs
great mass of citizens together, forcing
them to stand by all the judges, com.
I than to see the wheels of justice
stopped. A movement of this kind can
| ultimately result in nothing but dam.
age to those in whose behalf it is
nominally undertaken This is
most healthy truth, which it is wise
! for all our people to learn. Any move.
ment based on that class hatred which
at times assumes the name of "class
consciousness is certain ultimately to
fail and, il it temporarily succeeds. to
do farreaching damage. Glass con.
seriousness" where it is merely another
name for the odious vice of class
selfiShneSs is equally noXious whether
in an employers association or in A
Workinglnan's association. The move
ment in question was one III which
the appeal was made to all workingmen
to vote primarily not as American citi.
zens, but as individuals of certain
class in society. Such an appeal, in
/ the first place, revolts the more high
minded and farsighted among the per-
sons to whom it is addressed and. in
the second place, tends to arouse a
/ strong antagonism among all other
classes Of citizens, whom it therefore
tends to unite against the very organ
ization on whose behalf it is issued.
| The result is therefore unfortunate
| from every standpoint. This healthy
truth. by the way, will be learned by
| the Socialists if they ever succeed in
establishing in this country an impor.
tant national party based on such
class consciousness and selfish class in.
! terest.
| The wageworkers, the workingmen,
| the laboring men of the country. by
! the way in which they repudiated the
| effort to get them to cast their votes
in response to an appeal to class
hatred have emphasized their sound
patriotism and Americanism. The
| whole country has cause to feel pride
in this attitude of sturdy independ,
ence, in this uncompromising insist
ence upon acting simply as good citi
zens. as good Americans, without re,
gard to fancied and improper class in.
terests. Such an attitude is an object
lesson in good citizenship to the en-,
| tire nation
! But the extreme reactionaries, til,
| persons who blind themselves to thu
wrongs now and then committed BIZ
| the courts on laboring men, should
also think seriously as to what such
movement as this portends. The
| judges who have shown themselves
able and willing effectively to check
the dishonest activity of the very rich
man who works iniquity by the mis-.
management of corporations, who
have shown themselves alert to do
| justice to the wageworker and sym.
! pathetic with the needs of the mass
| of our people so that the dweller in
the tenement houses, the man who
practices Il dangerous trade, the man
who is crushed by excessive hours OF
labor feel that their needs are UNDER
stood by the courts-tlesc judges are
| the real bulwark of the courts; these
! judges, the judges of the stamp Of