The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1910-03-05

hatters may be in point here. In July, 1902, boy
colt was instituted against the products of Loewe
& Co. of Danbury, Conn, by the United Hatters of
North America, assisted by the American FEEDER
alton of Labor In September, 1903. proceedings
were begun by the company against the union, I'M
der the Sherman anti trust law, and the case was
rendered against the union and damages of $4,000
awarded the company. The union in exercising its
boycott was guilty of act in restraint of inter
state commerce
The decision has been seized by the pro-trust
press as a vindcation of the antitrust law, and it
is noticeable that all of those newspapers which
found fault with the Lands decision handing out
$29,000,000 fine against the Standard Oil COM
pany are now rejoiced once more The wisdom of
the law and Of its Interpretation is made manifest
There 200 defendants in the case and it is very
doubtful if their combined possessions are sufi-
cient to defray the fine. If the otfense of the
Standard Oil company had been dealt with in the
same proportion as the ofense of the hatters that
is, according to the relative possessions of the two
organizations Standard Oil would have been fined
somewhere in excess of two billions of dollars We
fear the oil corporation shown more consider
alton than the hatters in the size of its fine
dOlOC
is unAmerican and Illegal that it should be abol-
ished as means to coerce employers of labor. But
the laborer has no method of getting what he
deems he is entitled to except by organization. And
though his organization is power for good in the
world, though it gives his demands for better con-
ditions and higher wages force which individuals
could not command, it is extremely doubtful if the
organized worker is very much better off than his
unorganized brother. Neither is making much
more than a living in these piping times of pros
perity Conditions change as the years go by. The
laborer generally has shorter hours than in former
years, which condition is unjustly claimed by the
unions due solely to their efforts. Coal oil has
been reduced from 40 cents gallon to Is cents
gallon, and the oil trust claims that as result of
its efforts on behalf of the people
Give the laborer the skilled artisan the assur-
ance of a worldly possession of $4,000 for twenty
years labor, and you have satisfied and contented
aborer or skilled employee That is a saving of $500
a year. He asks fortune. He doesn't care to
leave his as philanthropist or anything like
that All he wants is chance to live comfortably
and decenty to educate his children and to provide
for his declining years. His wants are few, indeed
He asks for no banquets at $1,000 plate, nor for
any diamond tiaras for his wife. His organization
exists, not to despoil his employer but to give him
some measure of protection. An automobile ride
in the annual Labor day parade would satisfy his
fondest dreams in that line And he comes nearer
selling his product (his labor) at what it costs him
than any other man in all the land.
Let us not judge the union man harshly He
may be guilty of violating the antitrust law and
some other laws, but he is the backbone of the ma
ton; he is the sheep who loses his fleece whenever
he makes purchase for himself or his family.