Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-25
AMERICANISM AND THE
BOYCOTT

antitrust law applies TO combinations
of labor as we'll as capital. The asso-
citation states that there is nothing in
modern economics that can Justify or
! pardon the boycott as q weapon either
in offensive or defensive industrial con-
flicts. This looks like good American
ism in spite of the fact that the boy
colt was the most powerful non-blood-
letting weapon used by the American
colonists in their struggle for indepen-
dence. Washington, Jefferson, Hamil-
! ton and all of their fellow patriots
were in favor of the boycott, and one
of the earliest proclamations made by
the revolutionists called for a boycott
on goods of British manufacture and
on persons who persisted In buying and
using them.
| The condemnation of the boycott in
modern times and circumstances opens
up a wide field for discussion. High
tariff is a mild form of boycott, yet
! it is enthusiastically commended by
many Republicans. High tariff says
| that If Americans are unpatriotic
enough to buy foreign made goods
they must pay heavy premium on
them. We take it for granted that no
reader labors under the delusion that
the importing merchant is philan-
thropist or that the price at which the
imported article is finally sold does not
include the tax.
Foreign goods are boycotted exactly
to the extent to which their purchase
by Americans of meager purses is rem
dered impossible. The franchise is an
other form of boycott The country
boycotts an entire political party when
its leaders or its principles are not
and the motto of the successful boy
colt, Nothing doing" is that of the de-
feated party. Yet the principle of the
boycott is offensive to modern ideas of
fair play. and this assertion and recent
court decisions naturally apply to all
kinds of boycotts. The supreme court
says "Boycotting as applied to inter-
state commerce is as much of an Of
fense as some of the methods of those
who do an Interstate business" The
combinations of labor and combinations
of capital. There is no discrimination
for or against any class.
President Roosevelt in his annual
message of 1908 said: "Whenever either
corporation, labor union or individual
disregards the law or acts in a spirit
of arbitrary and tyrannous interfer-
ence with the rights of others, whether
corporations or individuals then where
the federal government has jurisdiction
stopped, paying not the slightest heed
to the position or power of the corpora
tion. the union or the individual, but
only to one vital fact-that is, the ques-
tion whether or not the conduct of the
individual or aggregate of individuals
is in accordance with the law of the
land. Every man must be guaranteed
his liberty and HIS right to do as he
likes with his property or his labor
as long as he does not infringe the
rights of others.
mo man is above the law and no
man is below it; nor do we ask any
mans permission when We require him
to obey it, Obedience to the law is
demanded as a right, not asked as
favor"
Let us here interject an American
principle. which should never be for
gotten by president Or people. Govern
r1ent in the United States is valid only
in so far as it is conducted and ad-
ministered with the consent of the
governed. No official can cram down
an American citizens throat a dose
that he refuses to swallow. In other
words, obedience to the law is proper
when the citizen is morally certain
that the law is not interfering with his
guaranteed rights. If he believes that
it is, then there may be another
story to tell. We do not believe that
any power in the country can demand
obedience to an unamerican law. But
we are supposing an imaginary, eX-
treme and most unlikely case.
lie pISSlucHl Ntll Oll " say we
have cause as a nation to be thank
full for the steps that have been so
successfully taken to put these prin-
ciples into effect. The progress has
been by evolution, not by revolution.
Nothing radical has been done; the ac-
ton has been both moderate and reso-
Lutte. Therefore the work will stand.
There shall be no backward step"
With this every good citizen will
agree. And he will not forget that one
of the first principles of American lib
erty, antedating all presidential mes
sages, was that expressed in modern
times in Teddyesque language in the
phrase "A square deal"
The anti-b -boycotting decision is a
sweeping one. 1t applies to employers
as we'll as employed or unemployed.
And by the way-merely Incidentally
if a citizen who cannot get any kind
of employment anywhere is no. to all
intents and purposes boycotted, then
what is his condition.? And what is
his remedy? Mr.. Taft, when asked,
replied God knows"
SAN PEDRO HARBOR
n FFICERS of ythe fleet have ex.
n p.,.. g..,,