The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-11-02
Cspecial from united Pressl

| Washington, Nov. 2.-In an opinion, sweeping in its terms, the Court of Ap- peals of the District of Columbia to- day affirmed the judgment of Justice Wright of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia in imposing jail sentences on President Gompers, Vice President Mitchell and Secretary Nor rison of the American Federation of Labor for contempt of court in violat- ing the injunction in the Bucks Stove l 6 Range case.
 Their sentences were: Gompers one year, Mitchell nine months, and Mor- rison six months.
 The opinion was rendered by Asso- ciate Justice Van Orsdell and concur red in by Justice Robb. Chief Justice Shepard dissented.
 President Gompers and Vice Presi- dent Mitchell are in New York. Sec retary Morrison is in the city but was not at his office when the opinion was rendered. All three are under bond. s President Gompers had already de- clared that if the decision of the Court of Appeals should go against him it would be carried to the Supreme Court | of the Emitted States. /
 Individual interest" Justice Van Orsdell said, -"dwindles into insignifi- canoe when compared with the higher principles involved in this case The fundamental issue is whether the con | stitutional agencies of the government shall be obeyed or defied. The mere fact that the defendants are the offic- ers of organized labor in America lends | importance to the cause and adds to the gravity of the situation, but it should not be permitted to influence zens, however large, may disobey the mandates of the court the same req soning would render that subject to individual defiance. The one has no greater right in the eyes of the law than the other. Both are subject to the law and neither is above it.''
 The case decided today grew out of the action of the American Federation of Labor in placing the Bucks Stove & Range Company of St. Louis on the | i've do not patronize list" in the monthly official organ of the Fedora ton following the failure to adjust the dispute between the metal polishers union and the Bucks Company in March, 1907. The St. Louis concern thereupon obtained an injunction from lJustice Gould of the Superior Court further use of their name in connec- ton with the list.
 Justice GouIds injunction was of a sweeping character and forbade any reference in the Federationist or other wise by the officers of the American Federation of Labor as to its alleged unfairness to organized labor. AL though emitting the name of the com DanY rom the we Uo nOI pdlTOUlZc list Gompers and the other officials of the American Federation of Labor continued their campaign against the concern in editorials, public statements and speeches.
 The Bucks Company brought these facts to the attention of Justice Dan Thew Wright in the absence of Jus tice Gould, and last January he sen fenced the labor leaders to jail after delivering one of the most scathing opinions ever handed down in an II American court. He characterized the course pursued by the defendants as utter rampant; insolent deflance' and further said that refined insult, coarse affront, vulgar indignity meas ures the litigants' conception of the tribunals of the country"
 Justice Van OrsdelPs opinion:
 ''We have a deep sense of the far reaching importance of this case. Three distinguished citizens. leaders in a great cause for the improvement and uplift of their fellow men with a larg- CT following. probably. than was ever marshalled under a single leadership in any philanthropic movement, are at the bar of justice to answer the charge of Gisobedience of an order Of a court of the United States. We are not unmindful of the high position the defendants have attained but their in telligence forbids any inference or con- clusion that the acts charged were committed by them in ignorance Of their duty to the courts of the country. hence the excuse cannot De aoVlSeu with convincing force.
 'sThe sole question before us is the guilt or innocence of the defendants The high distinction which they have attained. the fairness or unfa1rness or the Bucks Stove & Range Company l and the larger organization to which it belongs. The National Manufactur- ers' Association. are not matters to be here considered. Neither are we as court of review permitted to modify or extenuate the extreme penalty inn posed
 preserve an orderly administration Of it's affairs and to enforce its orders and decrees has always been recog- nized. In many instances as in the case at the bar. punishment for con tempt is the only means by which the court can enforce it's decrees- With proper exercise of this power the pur- I pose of its creation and organization is made effective: without it. it would become an impotent and useless ad junct of the government As citizen though. he may honestly believe that his~ rights have been invaded. may elect upon and to what extent he will obey the court and the requirements of the law as interpreted by the court instead of pursuing the course Of ap- peal"
 states his belief that "the acts charged by the defendants for the purpose of nulIifying the order of the court in the belief that they were technically avoiding the charge of contempt The acts of these defendants" he decrees, taken as a whole. can create in the mind of any reasonable person. but one impression. a concerted. well plan ned effort to encourage the member ship of the American Federation of Labor and their friends to disregard and dfsobey the order of the court and to create among t>eir followers and their sympathizers a lack of respect for the authority and dignity of the