Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1908-12-15


public works which the present wording of
the act seems to exclude.
The Courts
most earnestly urge upon the Congress
the duty of increasing the totally made
quate salaries now givin TO judges. On
the whole there is no body of public sery-
ants who do as yaluS BILE work nor Whose
monered reward is Inadequate compared
TO theii work. BeginL ing with the Supreme
Court the judges should have their salaries
doubled. Ii IS not beftting the dignity of
the nation that its most honored public
servants should ne paid sums so small com
pared to wat they would earn in private
life that the performance of public service
by them implies ali exceedingly heavy pc
cuniary sacrifice
II is earnestly TO be desired that some
metho9 should be devised for doing away
with the long delays which now obtain in
the administration OF Justice. and which
operate with peculiar severity against per-
sons OF small means, and favor only the
very criminals whom il is most desirable
to punish
At the last election certain leaders of
organized labor made a violent and sweep
ing attack upon the entire judiciary OF the
country, an attack couehed in such terms
as to include the most upright. honest and
broad-minded judges, no less than those of
narrower mind and more restricted outlook.
1t was the kind OF attack admirably fitted
TO prevent any successful attempt TO reform
abuses of the judiciary, because it gave the
desired opportunity TO shift thei- ground
into a championship of just judges who
were unjustly assaIed. Last year, before
the House Committee on, the Judiciary
these same leaders formulated their de
mands, specifying the bill that contained
them. refusing all compromise stating they
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 a property right. and spe-
cihcally provided that the right to carry
on business should not be construed as
property right: and in .eco,d provision
their bill made Legal in labor dispute
any act or agreement BIZ or between two
or more persons that would not have been
unlawful if done by Z single person. In
other words, this bill legalized blacklisting
and boycotting in every 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 business was
explicitly taken ont from under that pro-
lection which the law throws over proper
ty. The demand was made that there
should be trial by jury in contempt cases,
thereby most seriously impairing the au-
course OF policy which, il carried out,
would mean the cnthronement of class priv
ilege In its crrdest and most brutal form.
and the destruction of one of the most
essential functions of the judiciary in all
civilized lands
The violence of the crusade for this legis-
lation, and its complete failure, illustrate
two truths which it is essential our people
should learn. In the first place. they ought
to teach the workingman. the laborer the
wagewOrker. that by demanding what is
improper and Impossible he plays into the
hands of his foes. Such crude and Vi
clous attack upon the courts even If it were
temporarily successful, would inevitably in
the end cause violent reaction and would
band the great mass of citizens together,
forcing them to stand by al. the Judges
al fInr
than to see the wheels of justice stopped
A movement of this kind can ultimately re-
suit in nothing but damage to those in
whose behalf II is nominally undertaken.
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 Amercansm
The whole country has cause to feel pride
in this attitulc of sturdy independence, in
this uncompromislng insjstence upon acting
simply as good citizens. as good Americans
without regard TO fancied-and improper
class interests. Such an attitude is an OBJ
ject lesson in good citizenship to the en-
tire nation.
But the extreme reactionaries. the per-
sons who bind themselves to the wrongs
now and then committed by the courts on
laboring men, should also think seriously
as to what such movement this por-
tends The judges who have shown them
selves able and willing effectvel; to check
the dishonest activity of the very rich man
who works iniquity by the acknowledgement
of corporations. who have shown them
selves alert TO do justice to the wagework-
er. and sympathetic with the needs of the
mass of our people, so that the dwelIer in
the tenement houses, the man who prac-
tices dangerous trade, the man who is
crushed by excessive hours of labor feel
that their needs are understood by the
courts-these judges are the real bulwark
OF the courts; these judges. the judges of
the stamp of the President-eleet who have
been fearless In opposing labor when it
has gone wrong, but fearless also in hold
ing to strict account corporations that work
iniquity, and far-sighted in seeing that
the workingman gets his rights. the
men of all others to whom we owe 1t that
the appeal for such violent and mistaken
Legislators has fallen on deaf ears, that the
agitation for its passage proved to be with
out substantial basis. The courts
ieoparded primarily by the action of these
Federal and State judges who show in
ability or unwilingness TO put a stop to
the wrongdoing of very rich men under
modern industrial conditions. and inability
or unwillingness to give relief to men of
small means or wageworkerS who are
crushed down by these modern industrial
conditions who, in other words. fail TO
understand and apply the needed remedies
for the new wrongs produced by the new
and highly complex social and industrial
civilization which has grown up in the
last half century
There are certain decisions by various
courts which have been exceedingly detri-
mental to the rights of wageworkers. This
is true of all the decisions that decide that
men and women are. by the constitution,
guaranteed their liberty to contract to
enter a dangerous occupation. or to work
an undesirable improper number of
hours. or to work in unhealthy surround
ingS: and therefore cannot recover dam
ages when manned in that occupation and
cannot be forbidden to work what the Leg
isature decides is an excessive number
of hours or TO carry on the work under
conditions which the Legislature decides
TO be unhealthy. Decisions such these
alluded TO above nullify the legislative
effort TO protect the wageworkers who most
need protection from those employers who
take advantage of their grinding need.
There is also. think, ground for the be-
lief that substantial injustice is often suf-
fered by employees in consequence of the
custom of courts issuing temporary injunc-
tons without notice to them. and punish
ing them for contempt of court in instances
where as a matter of fact. they have no
knowledge of any proceedings Outside of
organized labor there is a widespread feel
ing that this system often works great in
justice to wageworkers when their efforts
TO better their working conditions result iu
industrial disputes. A temporary injunction
procured ex parte may as a matter of fact
have all the effect of permanent injunc-
ton In causing disaster to the wagework-
ers' side in such dispute Organized labor
is chafing under the unjust restraint which
comes from repeated resort TO this plan OF
procedure Its discomfort has been unwise-
y expressed. and often improperly ex-
pressed, but there is sound basis for 1t.
and the orderly and law-abiding people of
community would be in a far stronger posi-
ton for upholdiug the courts If the
doubleday existing abuses could be provided
against
Such proposals as those mentioned above
advocated by the extreme labor leaders.
contain the vital error of being class legis-
ation of the most offensive kind. and even
if enacted into law believe that the Law
would rightly b. held unconstitutional.
Moreover. the labor people are themselves
now beginning to invoke the use of the
power of injunction. During the last ten
years. and within my own knowledge, al
least fifty injunctions have been obtained
by labor unions in New York City alone,
most. OF them being TO protect the union
label ia property right'i }. bur some being
obtained for other reasons against employ
ers. The power of Injunction is a sreat
equitable remedy which should no ae-
count be destroyed. But safeguards should
be erected against Its abuse. | believe that
some such provisions those | advocated
a year ago for checking the abuse of the
Issuance OF temporary injunctions should be