The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1908-12-25
DECISION BY WHICH LABOR
LEADERS ARE HELD Gull TY
Full Opinion Of the Court in Passing upon
the Proceedings for Contempt.

WASHINGTON, Dec. %. The Buck
stove company's prosecutions Of
the officials Of the federation began in
August, 1907. The original action
was test case, wherein it was sought
TO enjOin the labor unions from using
the unfair and I'VE don't parronize'
lists In their fight against firms and
individuals Justice Gould Of the su-
preme court of the District of Column
bit issued an injunction which later
was made permanent, forbidding the
publication of the company's name in
these lists. President Gompers. in an
editorial In the Federationist Of jan
uary last, made known his intention
not to obey the courts order, con
tending that the injunction issued was
in derogation Of the rights Of labor
and an abuse of the Injunction power
Of the courts.
Gompers, Mitchell and Morrison
subsequently were cited for contempt
and this phase of the case has been
before the court for many months. The
proceedings taking the form Of hear.
ing of testimony before an examiner
and many arguments.
Justice Wright's Decision.
Justice Wrights decision was a
scathing denunciation Of the defend
ants. He recited the conditions ante
ceding the injunction and referred6to
the fact that fer 25 years the Buck
plant had operated as a manufactur-
ing shop and always had maintained
an open shop. He also spoke Of the
numerical strength OF the American
Federation of Labor, with it's 100000
members and It's repeated endorse
ment of the boycott of the Buck Stove
and Range company, through the
American Federationist, the fedora
tion's official organ. The court re-
ferred to the use of the 1--WE don't pat
ronize list and unfair list of the
labor organization and said that mem
bers OF labor unions were forced in
to supporting it, whether individu-
i ally willing or unwilling, approving. or
+ disappearing by various methods.
4 The court read extracts from numer-
GUS resolutions Of labor organizations
bearing upon the Buck case, as tend
ing to show the methods OF influence
ing members Of unions.
'And these Methods the court re-
marked, seem to be known as per
suasion.'"
The customers of the. stove COM
pany the court said, have been intim-
ldated, browbeaten and coerced out Of
their business relations with their
customers, ssby direct interference
with and boycott Of their (the Gus
tomers) trade relations with their
own customers and the public gener-
ally.
Following an exhaustive investiga-
ton Of conspiracies In restraint Of
trade. Justice Wright said:
The Purpose.
From the foregoing 1t ought to
seem apparent to thoughtful men that
the defendants to the bill, each and
all Of them, have combined together
for the purpose of:
Il. Bringing about the breach of
plaintiffs existing contracts with 9th
ers.
"2. Depriving plaintiff of property,
(the value Of the good will OF its bus
iness), without due process of law.
"3. Restraining trade among the
several states.
"a. Restraining commerce among
the several states"
The ultimate purpose of the defend
ants, the court said in this connection,
was unlawful, their concerned pro-
ject an offense against the law, and it
added they were guilty of crime. Com
ing to the question of violation OF the
courts injunction. Justice Wright
said:
I'm that Gompers and others had in
advance Of the injunction determined
to violate 1t II issued, and had in ad-
vance of the injunction counselled all
members of labor. unions and Ameri.
can Federation Of Labor of their pur-
pose generally to violate it in case 1t
should be issued, appears from the
following, which references point out
also the general plan and mutual un-
derstanding Of the organizations and
their various members
The court here read mass Of ex.
tracts from reports of proceedings Of
convention of the federation, reports
OF President Gompers, editorials from
the columns of the American Fedora
ZIONIST, and the LAHORE press generally
In support OF his statement that there
was q pre.determination to violate the
court order. Discussing the actions
of the defendants since the issuance
OF the Injunction, Judge Wright said:
Violation Of the Order.
Having In mind that In the forego-
Ing delineation, which indicates that
either OF the three respondents did be-
fore the issuance OF the injunction
determine Ito wilfully violate and
counsel others to do the same, let
me now turn to their sayings and do
ings since the decision of Justice
Gould was formally announced. and