Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1908-10-22
Laws Demanded of Congress Would
Legalize Secondary Boycotts.
CRUEL FORM OF OPPRESSION
Report Of Anthracite Strike Commits,
sion Quoted on This Point.
WHERE DOES MR.. BRYAN sTANDi
Executive Wants 60 Know if Ne,
brAskan would Remove All Fro
lection of Courts from Neu-
trails In Labor wars.

PITTsBURG, Oct. 2l.--senator Knox
has received the following letter from
President Roosevelt, commencing his
speech on the labor issue of the cam
paign;
MY Dear Senator l<nox-In you sd-
mlrable speech OF yesterday you speak of
the action OF Mr. Bryan and certain gem
tlemen claiming to be the special repre-
sentatives of organized labor, foremost
among them Mr.. Gompers. to secure the
support Of laborng men for Mr.. Bryan, on
consideration Of his agreement to perform
certain acts nominally in the interest OF
organized labor which would he really
wholly ineffective or else OF widespread in
jury not only to organized labor, but to
all decent citizens throughout the coun-
try.
you have a peculiar right 20 speak on
labor questions for II was you, who, as
attorney general first actively invoked the
great power of the federal government on
behalf OF the rights of labor when, for the
first time in the history of the government,
you, for the Department of Justice inter-
vened IN a private lawsuit which had gone
against a locomotive fireman who had lost
an arm in coupling cars and by your in.
terventon secured from the supreme court
a construction of the safety appliance act
which made It a vital remedial statute and
therefore secured TO hundreds Of crippled
employees and widows of crippled employees
compensation which they would not other
wise have obtained
THE daily papers of October i3 contain
an open letter from Mr.. Samuel Gompers.
president OF the American Federation of
Labor, appealing to workirgmen to vote
for Mr.. Bryan.
Gomper5 and His Appeal.
'In that letter are certain definite state
ments which interest the wider American
public quite as much as those to whom Mr.
Gompers makes his appeal. These state
ments warrant all you have said In your
speech, and they would warrant you In
asking Mr.. Bryan to say publicly whether
Mr.. Gompers states correctly the attitude
OF his party and hlmself on a subject that
Is OF vital concern to every citizen, In
cludng every business man. as well as
every farmer and every faborinE man who
looks to the courts for the protection OF his
rights.
"Mr. Gompcrs. in his letter, asserts that
the judiciary Of this country is destroy ir.s
democratic government and substituting
therefore an irresponsible and corrupt des-
potism in the interest OF corporate power,
and he further makes clear that the means
by which he believes this alleged despotism
has been set up In the place Of democracy
is by the process of injunction In the courts
of equity.
"Mr. Gompers, ir his letter. states that
his appeal to the republican convention at
Chicago for remedy against the injunction
was denied, and he then goes on to state
not only that the democratic party prom
ised a remedy, but promised him the par
ticular remedy that he had already asked
Of congress.
LHbOr's Appeal for Help.
His words are:
Labor's representatives then went "a
the democratic party. That party made
labor's contentious its own. 1t pledged Its
candidates for every office to those remo-
dies which labor had already submitted 70
congress
'The last sentence in this quotation indL
Gates very definitely the specific remedics
to which Mr.. Gompers understands Mr..
Bryan's party has pledged itself.
His statements now makes perfectly
clear an important plank I'm the Bfyanit,
platform which has heretofore seemed pug
cling to a vast number OF earnest minded
thinking people who are sincerely inter
ested in the steady advance and the legitl.
mate aspirations Of labor and who care.
fully read both platforms to know pre-.
cisely what hopes each hold out for tn.
Improvement Of the conditions OF wage.
esrners.
THE plank reads as follows:
Questions Of Judicial practice have
arisen especially irl connection with in,
dustrial disputes We deem that parties
to all judicial proceedings should be treated
with rigid impartiality and that iniunctions
should not be Issued in any case in which
injunctlons would not issue II no indus
trial dispute were involved
This Is the plank that promises thu
remedy against injunctions which Mr.
Gompers asked Of Mr.. Bryans party. In
actual fact 1t means absolutely nothing. no
change Of the law.
mo man without inside knowledRe couId
foretell what its meaning would turn out
to be, for no man could foretell how any
Judge would decide In any given case. as
the plank apparently leaves each fudge
free to say when he issues an Injunction
in labor case whether or not it is a case
In which an injunction would issue II labor
were not involved. This prank is appar-
emily perfectly clear to Mr. Gompers and
in his letter 10 his fellow workers he in
dicates beyond question Just what he under
stands II to mean. He asserts that he has
the requisite inside knowledge. His state
ment that Mr.. Bryan's party (for Il was
Bryan who dictated the pistform) pledged
itself ito those remedies which labor had
already submitted to congress" he says.
is perfectly clear and definite statement.
Mr.. GOmDers' Remedies.
'"The remedies which Mr.. Gompers has
already submitted TO congress are matters
Of record, and the Identification Of his
remedy against injunctions in labor dis
putes is easy and certain. This remedy
is embodied in house bill No. "A OF the
first session OF the sixtieth congress. the
complete text OF which IS hereto ap-
pended. The gist OF the bill. as can be
seen by referring 20 the complete text. is
this:
"First-After forblddlng any federal
Judge TO issue a restraining order for an
injunction in any labor dispute, except to
prevent irrepsrable injury 70 propeEG e