United labor bulletin., 1909-11-12
COMMENT ON EVENTS In
THE LABOR WORLD

BY r. E. croskey.

( as all wage scales and conditions of
work have to be submitted and approved
by the central bodies before being sub
mitted to the bosses, it prevents useless
strikes and produces solidarity of action
when the union demands for increased
wages, etc, are sanctioned.
Organization of A. F. of L. Hodcarriers.
The organization OF the white Hod-
carriers and Building Laborers Interna-
tional Association, under the A. F. of L.,
last Sunday afternoon, will fill a long
felt want. 1t is to be hoped that they
will be seated in the building trades
council and be properly recognized in
good faith.
This organization is composed OF the
white members of the old mixed local
that is not an A. F. of L. organization.
For some time there has been continued
discomfort with the management of the
affairs of this union, the white men be-
ing in the minority were given small con-
sideration, and the fact that they were
not an A. F. of L. organization precluded
them from belonging to the building
trades council. The new organization is
composed of the best workers in their
line. They have $50 charter members
and this will be doubled in few weeks.
Their being seated in the council will
greatly strengthen that body and is in
line with the active policy of reorganiza-
ton that will soon place it in control of
the building operations of this city.
That Court of Appeals Decision.
The decision of the court in the
Gompers. Mitchell and Morrison case is
only what was expected. 1t is to be
noted that the only que1tion touched on
by the majority of the judges of the
court was that of the violation of the
order of the lower court granting the in
junction, the subject matter of the rea-
son or business of that court granting an
injunction was not considered at all.
Our courts have become accustomed
to assuming greater powers than the ex-
ecutive and legislative branches of our
government so that the mere fact Of
overriding the constitution and bill of
rights is of small consequence to them.
The time to stop judicial usurpation has
long passed. nothing but political revo-
luton will do it now.
i The fact established by this decision
is that a judge has the right to send
person to jail without trial by his
peers. The constitution of this nation
says just contrary to that. The ruling
is not quite as rotten as that in the
I Meyer habeas corpus case, although on
par with it. Boiled down, the ruling in
the Meyer case was that governor of
state has the right to arrest and keep in
prison or deport from his state without
trial any person who in his unsupported
| judgment is an enemy to the state. The
fact of holding a person without trial
being in direct violation of the most
sacred law ever enacted for the preserva-
ton OF human liberty and the ruling of
the United States Circuit court upholding
, this makes it possible for a governor to
; cause to have started a barrel-house
brawl. declare a city or community in
/ state of insurrection and rebellion and
imprison any citizen. without giving him
, a trial. as long as he desires to. And
/ still we sing sweet Land of Liberty"
Unless all signs fail. the Supreme
court of the nation will affirm the ruling
of the lower courts aud rule that the
prisoners must serve their sentence. This
will give Injunction" Taft a splendid op-
portunity to square himself with the
labor unions by pardoning our leaders at
the psychological moment that 1t will do
the most good for his political party.
This coupe-executed and dlplomatically
| handled-will be worth thousands OF
votes. 1t should be noticed that the rul-
ing of the Court of Appeals was handed
OUT on election day, when IL was too
late to have any effect on the fall cleo
tions Great is King Buncombe.
The case should be carried to our
highest tribunal, the Supreme court Of
the nation, and funds should be liberally
supplied to see it through. but | see no
occasion for hysterical resolutions OF
sympathy or exhibitions of maudlin SEN
timentality. We should take the manly
stand that we will fight It out. Thou
sands of good union men have seen the
inside of jails and walked the streets
hungry and with no place to lie their
heads. fighting for the union cause. A
few days in jail is easy compared TO the
latter.
Union Candidates Elected.