Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1908-03-26

MESSAGE
Continues from page two.)

fhle 10 attack-on the ground that
constituted an unreasonable re-
faint of trade. Whenever the Pc
bd OF filing had passed without any
zen prohibition, the contracts or
ordinations could be disapproved
forbidden only after notice and
taring with a reasonable provision
summary review on appeal by
he courts. Labor organizations,
nmers' organizations, and other
1 Plantations not organized for pur-
Pses OF profit. should be allowed to
igister under the law by giving the
cation OF the head office. the char
kr and bylaws, and the names ana
fidresses OF their principal officers
the interest OF all these organiza-
ps-business, labor. and farmers
CARNATIONS alike-the present
rovisfon permitting the recovery OF
Mireefold damages should be abol-
Fhed. and as substitute therefor
me right of recovery allowed for
mould be only the damages sus-
ained by the plaintiff and the cost
suit. Including a reasonable at
orney's fee.
b The law should not affect pending
hits; a short statute OF Limitations
should be provided. so far as the
past is concerned, not to exceed
year. Moreover. and even more in
he interest of labor than of business
combinations, all such suits brought
FOR causes of action heretofore con
icurred should be brought only II the
contract or combination complained
kof was unfair or unreasonable. IL
may be wellto remember that all
Iof the suits hitherto brought by the
government under the antitrust law
have been in cases where the com
bination or contract was i'm fact UNI
fair. unreasonable. and against the
public interest.
ENCOURAGE TRADE AGREE
MENTS.
1t is important that we should en-
courage trade agreements between
employer and employee where they
are just and fair A strike is
clumsy weapon for righting wrongs
done to labor, and we should ex-
>tend. SO far as possible, the process
OF coDciliation and arbitration as a
substitute for strikes Moreover.
violence, diorder and coercion.
whom committed in connf.5fon with
strikes. should be as promptly and
as sternly depressed as when com.
mitted in any other connection But
strikes themselves are. and should
be, recognized to be entirely legal.
Combinations of workingmen have
peculiar reason for their existence
NThe very wealthy individual en-
ployer, and still more the very
wealthy corporation, stand at an
enormous advantage when com
pared to the individual working
man; and while there are many
cases where ii may not be necessary
for laborers to form a union, in
many other cases it is Indispensable.
for otherwise the thousands of small
units, the thousands OF individual
workingmen, will be left helpless
in their dealings with the one big
unit, the big individual or corporate
employer.
TRADES UNIONS RECOGNIZED
BY LAW.
twenty-five years ago. by the act
of June 20, 1886, trades unions
were recognized by law, and the
right including combination for mu-
t1al- protection and benefits. the
regulation of wages, hours and con-
ditions of labor, and the protection
OF the individual rights of the work
men In the prosecution of their
trade or trades; and i'm the act of
June 1, 1898, strikes were rscJg-
, nized as legal in the same provision
that forbade participation in or in
stigation OF force or violence
against persons or property, or the
attempt to prevent Others from
working, by violence. threat. or in
timidation. The business man must
be protected in person and property.
and so must the farmer and the
wageworker; and as regards all
alike, the right OF peaceful com
bination for all lawful purposes
should be explicitly recognized.
RIGHT OF EMPLOYERS TO COM
BINE.
The right Of employers to com
bine and contract with one another
and with their employees should be
explicitly recognized: and SO should
the right OF the employees to com
bine and TO contract with one an
other and with the employers. and
to- seek peaceably to persuade 9th
ers to accept their views, and TO
strike for the purpose Of peaceably
obtaining from employers satisfac-
tory terms for their labor. Moth
ing should be done to legalize either
BLACKLIST or a boycott that would
be Illegal at common law: this be-
ing the type OF boycott defined and
condemned by the anthracite strike
commission