Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1911-01-27

y ing that it was a question it y
y would not hear. Y
= y = s % = & y \ y y =
Washington, Jan. 27.-One of the
most spectacular legal battles ever
waged against capital and organized
labor reached its final stages today
when the Supreme Court of the Uni.
ted States took up for oral argument
the famous litigation by the Buck
Stove & Range Company, of St. Louis,
Mo, against the American Fedora
ton Of Labor.
The contending forces started their
fight to determine the legality of the
boycott .'h~ That was in the Supreme
Court Of the District of Columbia
But today when the contest was re-
newed before the Supreme Court of
the United States, the main issue had
been crowded out of the limelight by
the incidental one. Now the burning
issue is whether the principal Off
cials of the American Federation of
Labor are to go to Jail on charges of
contempt of court.
Because they failed to obey the in
junction issued by the District Su-
preme Court in the original case,
Samuel Gompers, president of the
Federation, is under sentence to
serve twelve months in jail; John
MITCHELL vice president of the Fed
Grafton, to serve nine months; and
Frank Morrison. to serve six months
Fighting for the American Fedora
ton of Labor and it's officials are Al.
ton B. Parker, former democratic
presidential canG dath; Jackson H
Ralston, Frederick L. Siddons, Viii
liam E. Richardson and John T. Wal
ker. Opposed to them as the rep
resentatives of the Buck Stove
Range Company are Daniel Daven
fport and J. ]. Darlington.
The Bucks Stove & Range Com
pany was selling stoves and range!
throughout the United States at tht
time the suit began. 1t was doin(
a business of $1,250,O00 year. /
complained that the American Fede
ration of Labor and its members were
conspiring to ruin it's business b!
means of a boycott. The court wal
asked to grant an injunction agains
continuation of the efforts and par
! ticularly to restrain the American
Federation of Labor from printing il
its official organ, the American Fec
erationist, the name of the compan.
as being on the weldon 't-patronize
list" The opposition of the Fedora
ton was alleged to be due to strik
Of metal polishers in the shops of tn
company.
The Supreme Court of the Distric
of Columbia issued the injunction
The Court of Appeals of the Distric
modified the decree in several ways
the principal modification being base
on the holding that the injunction
against the publication of the CON
pany's name on the "We-don't-patror
ize-list'' should be effective only whe
the publication was lin furtheranc
Of such a boycott" In so doing,
is contended that the lower made
distinction between a boycott of tn
company by the members of organ
zed labor and boycott of the men
bers against the company's customer
who refused to stop dealing with tn
company. 1t IS urged that only tn
second kind of boycott was held i
legal.
Both sides appealed from this de
cision. The manufacturing compan
believed that it did not go far enoug
and the defendants took the lpositio
that it went too far.
The attorneys for the America
Federation of Labor contend tha
each one of the defendants ha
a right to refuse to patronize thos
who dealt with the stove and rang
company, and therefore, they coul
combine in refusing. 1t is said tina
what was lawful for one was lawfr
when done in combination. Thi
position is attacked as being oppose
to the liberty to dispose of one
goods, and as being contrary to tn
decisions of all the states of the VI
ion. The lower court was diveide
on the point.
For the American Federation c
Labor it is argued that to prohibit tn
publication of the Weldon 't-patroI
ize-list" would be an interference wit
constitutional rights and the freedor
, of the press. On the other hand
, is contended that even constitution
J al right may be SO used as to be mad
, a part of conspiracy prohibited b
7 law.
/ Still further, it is argued that bus
| ness is not property, nor a propert
, right, but rather mere abstractio