The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1910-03-22
SCathing Terms Employed
BY Gompers In Formal
Indictment Presented.

Charging the Billion Dollar" United
States Steel Corporation with violation
OF the sherman and other antitrust
acts. President Samuel Gompers, of the
American Federation Of Labor today
called upon Attorney General wicker
sham TO train the guns of the Depart
ment Of Justice against the trust IN an
effort TO demolish the combination.
The formal Indictment before the
President of the United States of one
of the most formidable of capital com
bines by the largest representative nody
Of organized labor, opens a new phase
OF the great strife Se.ween capital and
labor. Gompers presented the charges
before President Taft January 26 last
The President referred him TO the At
torney General and siace that time even
the bloody rios in Philadelphia have
| failed TO turn the little skull-capped
head of the labor leader from the task
| of forcing prosecution against the Steel
| trust.
| Every resource at the CON mand Of The
/ labor federation has been brought into
the formulation Of this Indictment
Covers FOrty-eight Pages.
Gompers is determined to have the
trust fed the same medicine that the
courts gave TO organized labor under
| the Sherman act. and which resulted
| in the iail sentence that is now hanging
over the heads Of Gompers, Mitchell
and Morrison. president, vice president
I and secretary, respectively. Of the
American Federation Of Labor. The Of
ncers and directors Of the trust, as wei
as those Of the affiliated companies are
named in the charges.
! The indictment covers torty-elghi
I pages. II gives a history Of the trust s
! birth, growth and present status. II
| cites a vast number Of alleged In
| stances Of despotic treatment Of en-
plOyes. Of high handed abuses of admin
| istrative power by municipal authorize;
] who We're also employees Of the COrpOT
saults upon private citizens and tn
alleged establishment of a peOnage sys
TEN in the town of Gary. Ind.
Some Salient Points.
i Following are some of the salien
4 points Of the Indictment:
The policy adopted by the Unite'
4 States Steel Corporation Coward or
i gained labor breeds despair"
1T has been the policy to fence Il
its factories by high board fences Sun
mounted by barbed wire so making ir'
POSSIBLE approach except through gdte
Its employees are frequently herde
| together In large numbers as Is nov
4, the case IN Gary, Ind. in undesiraoi
] When men are injured they are de
8 n-iyed frequently of the use OF IN
courts by being taken from ore guard
- ed factory 10 another department, I
{ ! wit the hospital They are forced I
p ErTr1prr0aTTE carrie
70 out dead, II the injury happens 70 p
. fatal without having any cOnlerenc
: with their friends. families. or attoI
l neys."
Sociological Phases Of Question.
5 ."Tbev Ohe employees cannot have fe
: lowship with the local institution poli'
e icaIIv and civilly in the sense that OF
ganized labor has hitherto enjoyed.
ii ..The corporations policy of prevent
: inc anv, labor organizer comminglin
. with. associating with. or addressin
! meetings where any Of its employees al
permitted to attend is very marked
- West Virginia
7 These rights are claimed by virtU
. of the corporations great power an
AGGREGATION Of capital and its right
- contract with labor which. standing
, the strict letter of the law. may be Jrt
/ and vet We call the dlLtlllAtAt VI III
r DEPARTMENT 20 the injurious erect
: has upon citizenship thus 10 preVel
2 ! These IaboreTs from entering INTO n
= spirit Of our Institutions and heror
: them like Russians in Siberia
a The legal, economic. and socloiIosl .I.
: phases Of the corporation are dealI VII
10 exhaustively- COuched IN strong teIIi
! the brief covers every point OF Ii
. petition presented before President Ia
- three months ago
I Divisions of Brief.
T. The brief is divided into subheads, b
= ginning with the organization Of n
y trust and tracing out the history OF II
|, various subsidiary concerns In u
II presentation Of estimates as TO the cap
g. talization, etc, figures from Munsey
n Magazine and several other reliable al
= fhorities are cited 10 bear out the stat
Il ment give e.
The legal aspect Of the trust and !
reason for existence are given at lengt
court reports, etc, being quoted both Il
land against the contentious Of labo
- Perhaps the most interesting features
= the brief are found under the headlT
y of economic and sociological phase
y President Gompers and his associate
+ say:
a "In the foregoing We presented u
% subject matter in its legal aspect, wi
N the facts and sources Of evidence upt
D., which we rely for the purpose Of q
% civil and criminal prosecution, and no
We desire TO address ourselves briefly