The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-12-19
DANBURY HATTER'S CASE IS DECIDED
 AGAINST UNION
q. s. Court of Appeals Affirms Verdict in Favor of
 LOeWe & Co.

New York, Dec. 19-In the famous 'Danbury Hatters' case'' the United States court of appeals yesterday af- flrmed the verdict of the Federal oas- trict court awarding to D. E. LoeWe & Co., hat manufacturers, of Danpury, Conn, a judgment Of $25z' iSo agallis' the United Hatters of America, 1lnion affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. With interest and costs the judgment now amounts to S272, 900.
 For more than eleven years this has been the most stubborn1y fought case affecting labor unions and employers The actual costs to, both sides nave amounted into the hundreds of thous- ands of dollars.
 In writing the decision for the Unlt- ed States court of appeals Judge Al fred C. Coxe with the concurrence of Judges Ward and Rogers, stated that all of the fundamental questions of law had been disposed Of and that this court found that the action of the United Hatters of America in de- claring a boycott against the LoeWe firm had violated the antitrust law as designed by Senator John Sher- man.
 That the Sherman antitrust law is applicable to such combinations as are alleged in the complaint is no longer debatable,' Judge Cox said in his de- cision. +'It makes no distinction be- tween the classes, employers or em- ployes, corporations or individuals. Rich and poor alike are included in it's terms. The supreme court partfcu- larly states that, although Congress was frequently importuned to exempt farmers organizations and labor unions from it's provisions, these efforts all failed and the act still remains"
 Judge Coxe, in reviewing the testi- nnony, states that it clearly was shown that the United Hatters and the Amer jean Federation had it in their power to cripple or ruin any employer of la bor who refused to do the bidding of the union men. He states that the United Hatters notified the firm that if they would not make their factory union by peaceful methods they would resort to other means and that Loewe & Co., would find it difficult to sell their goods Upon the refusal of the company to make their shops ex- clusively union the strike was declared -and-then a nationwide boycott on their goods followed
 ssNo one disputes the proposition that labor unions are lawful Judge Coke continued ''AH must admit that they are not only lawful but highly beneficial when legally and fairly con- ducted, but like all other combinations irrespective of their objects and pur- poses, they must obey the law"
 In the eleven years that the Dan bury hatters' case has been in the courts thirty of the original s240 de- fendants have died and two have be- come insane. The company asked $250,Oo0 damages from the 24O defend ants. who were the principal officers of the HatterS' union and the various other unions affiliated with the Ameri- can Federation of Labor, who were charged with enforcing the boycott.
 The hat manufacturing company backed by various manufacturing as- sociations. contended that the vari- ous unions in the American Fedora ton of Labor had combined against the Loewe company in restraint of trade and contrary to the Sherman an ti-trust law.
 One feature of the case reached the United States supreme court, and was sent back for a. trial on the question if the boycott was violation of the Sherman act Since then it has pro- gressed through the various courts un- til 1t reached the decision yester- day.