The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1912-11-22
UNIONS MUST live
Organized Labor MenaCed BY
Sherman Antitrust Law.
MUST BE AMENDED OR ENDED.
Associations Of Workers, Having the
Welfare of All the People as Their
GUIDING Motives, Must Be Differen.
tiated From Monopoly's Forces.

Welfare of All the People as Their
Guiding Motives, Must Be Dfferen-
tiated From MonopoIy's Forces.
Reviewing the result of the hatterS
case in the American FederationiSt.
Samuel Gompers says:
And so the Sherman antitrust law
has again been invoked. Under the in.
depreciation given to 1t by the supreme
court of the United States the hatters
were sued by d. Il. Loewe & Co., hat
manufacturers of Danbury, Conn, or,
more properly speaking, sued at the In
stigation of the so called Anti-boycott
association. 4 jury and federal court
have awarded Loewe a sum of $4,000,
which under the law is trebled, amount
ing to S240,O00 and costs.
Under the supreme courts interpra-
tation of the Sherman law, under
which this suit was brought and under
which suits of similar character may
be instituted by any employer or bust
ness man feeling aggrieved or injured
by working people united for the pur-
pose of protecting themselves or pro
noting their interests, the workers may
find themselves dependents at any time.
Not only are the funds of any labor or
ganization subject to be mulcted and
confiscated by any employer or comb
nation of employers or an association
of pettifogging lawyers, not only may
the small holdings of workingmen and
working women be attacked and at
tached. but their few dollars deposited
In savings Institutions may be attached
at the behest of either of these agen
cies. And, still further, the voluntary
organizatio of labor, instituted not
for profit, may be dissolved at the
whim, fancy or caprice of any admin
istration, instigated by any capitalist
combination. and the officers and men,
bers of these voluntary labor organiza
tons may be prosecuted under the
sentenced to fine Of $1,000 and i'm
prisonment for one year.
That is the status of the labor organ
izations of the United States; that is
the position in which the members Of
organized labor find themselves since
that twist was given to the Sherman
antitrust law by the supreme court
That twist has been emphasized by the
second award by jury in the federal
court In the hatters' case. That award
was rendered by the jury Oct. II, 1912
The attorneys for Loewe, or rather,
the Anti-boycott association, declared
that the case just concluded was the
most important one of it's kind ever
tried in the courts of the United States
In one sense hat is true, but to our
mind it is secondary and supplement
tary. The most important one was the
original case brought upon appeal to
the supreme court of the United
States, when that court decided that
the voluntary associations of the work
ing people come under the provisions
of the Sherman antitrust law, for upon
that hinged the case now concluded in
the federal circuit court.
OF course the case in point will be
appealed to the federal circuit court of
appeals and if necessary to the su
preme court of the United States, and
it is earnestly hoped that reversal of
the judgment of the lower court will
follow. But even when success shall
have attended that effort the funda
mental point will still remain an issue,
and that is that:
The organizations of the workers,
organized not for profit, but instituted
for the protection of their bodies, their
minds, their souls, should not and
must not be placed in the same cate
CORY with combinations, corporations
and trusts, the purpose Of which is to
manipulate, control and create "cor-
ners" In the products of labor.
There must be differentiation,
which the enlightened public senti
ment of American citizens will at no
distant day declare, between associa-
tons of workers, having humanitarian
and altruistic purposes as their guild
ing motives and the groundwork of
their existence, and, on the other hand,
tnOSe VINO zeal III, corner, manipulate
and trustify the necessaries Of human
existence.
And until that issue Is finally de-
termined before our courts or before
the congress of the United States it
must of necessity be not only an eco
nomic but a political issue, to be
fought out every minute and every day
until the final and successful outcome.
Organized labor must live 1t has
done so much for the toilers, it has so
much to do for them and for all the
people, to preserve their liberties. to
protect and promote their common
welfare.
The Sherman antitrust law must be
amended-or ended.