The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1908-10-29

= VI -
unions Are Based and w lllcll
Made Them Lawful and Pros
porous.
Judge Taft.s career upon the
bench VIII ever receive It's most tTll-
nortant redaction ii the popular
mind, from the Decisions affectAn8
labor which Il became his duty to
utter. That his service on the Skin
circuit, In cola borntion with Judge
william R. Day (noF an Assoctate
Justice of the Supreme Court and
Judge II. II. Lurton, who remains
on the Sixth Circuit, In Illuminating
the obsGurftfes defining the meaning
and directing the enforcement OF the
statutes, were no less I'm ppFtants does
notSdetract from the weight OF his
decisions concerning labor
Ranking with these labor decisions,
of which there were three, Was the
decision In the .'Addystone pipe
into tfe morfbund Sherman law. It
showed Mr. Roosevelt the line to
which to hew in fnsttgattng success-
fuls proceedings against the trusts.
and establish the right of the Federal
Government to control interstate
commerce The rights OF labor have
been marked out by Mr.. Taft SO that
they Btand as sharply and clearly de-
6ned as they were confused and un-
derestfmated before. This has been
altogether to the profit of unionfzed
labor, not to fits disadvantage. Judge
Taft placed firmly in the hand OF
labor, to use properly as weapon OF
oRense and defense, the right OF
strike, to proceed lawfully against
unfair employees and in manner to
secure it from prosecution. These
facts cannot successfully be contro=
Yerted.
Mr. Taft has been held accountable
for the sins implied by phrase,
government by injunction, In real
ity as void Of meaning as most catch
phrases are, which sprang into exist
ence during the American Railway
Union strike of 1894 His. decision,
which was IN the sPhelan case, was
inspired by incidents growing out of
the endeaVor Of Eugene v. Debs to
de up all the railroads in order. to
reinforce the efforts of the Pullman
Company to Obtain Higher wages and
lust and needed concessions. Debs'
idea was that II the railroads would
refuse to handle Pullman cars It
would insure the success ofithe strike
as undoubtedly 1t would have done.
In some OF his efforts to tie up roads
that would not bar the PulImans, his
men collided with the law of injunc-
ti0ns and e-.worsted.
One OF these men was 3. w. Pine
Ian who was commissioned by DebS
to go to Cincinnati and tie up the
roads entering there. Among them
was the Cincinnati, New Orleans and
Texas Pacific, or Cincinnati Southern
which was being managed by re-
ceiVer appointed by Judge Taft. The
ordering out of these men as meas
uFe of sympathy with the Pullman
strikers was In effect a boycott. The
receiver of the railroad sought and
obtained from Judge Taft an iniunc-
ton prohibiting the strikers from
interfering with traffic. Phelan was
determined. He told his followers
to go ahead and disregard the injunc-
ton.
Phelan was hailed into court. The
strikers were not IA conciliatory
mood, to say tho least, and the de-
gree Of animosity that was manifest
ed against Judge Taft was such as to
alarm his friends for his personal
safety. The courtroom was packed
with strikers, and they were grim
and ugly, for Phelan they considered
In the light of one who was on the
way to maTtyrdom, largely because
of the anger of a Judge whose iniunc-
ton he had spGrned.
It was a foregone conclusion. on
the evidence, that Phelan would be
condemned. Judge Taft reviewed
the evidence fully. He cited authori-
ties to establish beyond dispute that
while the employees OF the railroad
had right to cease work. they had
no right to combine to- injure the
road or to cause 1t to withdraw from
a profitable business with third
party Win HEle erect OF luJuTluE GnaG
party, when the relation thus inter
rupted had no connection with the
kind of service given by the em-
ployes or the compensation they re-
ceived for it.
Attorneys for labor unions have
since successfully utilized in pleading
for the rights of their clients In court
this definition OF the rights of labor
set forth by Judge Taft In the Phelan
case:
THE employees of the receiver had
the right to organize into or join
labor union which would take ac-
tion as to the terms of their em-
ploXment.
at Is a benefit to them and to the
public that laborers should unite for
their common interest and for law
ftl purposes.
''They have labor to sell. II they
stand together they are often able,
oil OF them, to obtain better prices
for their labor than dealing singly
with rich employers, because the
necessities of the single employs may
compel Tim to accept any price that
is offered.
THE accumulation of fund foI
those who feel that the wages offered
are below the legitimate market value
of such labor Is desirable.
s'They have the right to appoint
ohlcers who shall advise them as to
the course to be taken in relations