New-York tribune., 1910-06-25
REAL LEADERSHIP.

President Taft exhibited the judgment
and courage Of true political leader
when he exerted all his influence to
eliminate from the sundry civil appro-
priation bill the giaringly illogical ana
ineauitable provision exempting labor
unions from prosecution fer violations Of
the sherman antitrust law. There are
y9,1bIic men who tremble in their shoes at
the thought of offending the labor vote
and are reluctant to oppose demands,
however unjust and extra va CANT, made
by representatives Of labor unions. The
President has no patience with politi-
clans Of that timorous type. He does not
hesitate TO oppose a vicious piece of class
legislation merely because the class in
whose name special favors are sought Is
large and some Of its spokesmen are
clamorous and vindictive.
Important as their organizations are,
the claims of these labor" spokesmen
are inflated. They do not speak for labor
as a whole, but only FOR the relatively
small labor element which is organized
Their appeal is not for a class, but for
a class within a class, and Election Day
BSuItS SBCAi ~ AlkONt tActL C'SAA Ihe~S
subdivision is very far from being a unit
in demanding privileges denied to all
other groups of citizens. Labor leaders
of the type Of Mr.. Gompers and of the
president of the Brotherhood Of LOcOmo-
tive Firemen and Enginemen, who sent
the infelicit0us telegram of admoniti0n
to President Taft, misjudge their power
when they try TO dragoon Congress into
exempting the organizations which they
head from liability for conspiracieS in
restraint of trade. They wholly mistake
the character of the President when they
trtste intimidate him into subscribing to
, the undemocratic theory that one class
| ia the United States is entitled to A
| legal immunity denied TO all other
| classes.
! There can be 40 satisfactory answer 10
| the Presidents argument that laws pc
naIizing certain practices should apply TO
all who engage in those practices. The
| act is what counts, not the Incidental
status Of the person or the organization
/ committing if 4 conspiracy in restraint
| of trade is just as obnoxious when pre-
| NOTED by union laborers as when pro-
NOTED by unorgaRized laborers or by en-
ployers. There is no virtue whatsoever
! in the distinctions of occupation or affil-
! iation insisted upon by union leaders.
All citizens should stand on the same
nature of their fellowships or associa-
tions
This question was fully thrashed out
! in the Presidential campaign Of 1903.
/ Mr.. GOmpers made the same demand
| then that he is making now He wanted
/ the Republican party to insert i'll its
| platform a premise to exempt labor
/ unions from the prohibitions of the anti
/ trust law. His resolution was cunningIy
| drawn to conceal what it really meant
| But the Republican convention. would
/ have nothing to do with it, and he then
| submitted il TO the Democratic National
| Convention, which accepted It, President
| Taft rightly denounced the Democratic
/ platform declaration as a promise to
| license labor organizations 10 conduct
/ secondary boycotts. Mr.. Bryan was
afraid to say Just what lac thought the
/ declaration meant, and his persistent
greatly in the last two weeks of the
| Presidential campaign. He was willing
| TO profit by the so-called labor vote"
but did not dare to admit openly that
! his bargain with Mr.. Gompers committed
| him to an approval Of the secondary boy
| cott- The country showed IN November,
! 1908, what it thought OF the Gompers
! scheme of special immunity for the labor
! unions. Mr.. Bryan did not carry q single
one of the states In which the Labor ele-
| meat is strongest. Public opinion then
supported Alr. Taft's programme of i'm
! partial treatment for all II will applaud
now his manly and successful insistence
that Congress should eliminate from the
sundry civil bin the unwise provision
preventing the prosecution Of labor
unions engaging in secondary boycotts
while continuing the criminal liability
Of all other assoeia tiens for such boy
colts.