Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-06-26

{ not claim the right to protect any farmer
| OF other person employing labor against
/ his employees who might strike and
proclaim to him that nobody else should
work his crop for him; that II he hired
/ any other employees they would burn
/ his dwelling and barns, and If needs
/ be, Kill him and his new employees to es-
/ tablish their supremacy over him and
| his property
| And II the State says to owners OF
railroads. factories, etc, You shall pay
tax on this property which you have
| created or bought, but another class
shall control It. I hold you responsible
| for keeping II In condition for safely
serving the public. but / allow them the
/ privilege Of wrecking It, or Of deprlvng
| the public Of the use Of it," then how
can she protect a farmer or any other
! citizen in the right to control his prop
erty2
Settlement of Strikes.
| The same courts established by the
Constitution and composed Of Judges
elected by the people and jurors chosen
| from the people are open to the mem
| bers Of labor unions on the same guar
| antee Of equality as they are to farmers
and all other classes in the State, and
| no method OF settlement OF quarrels by
labor unions which results in incon-
Venience and damage to the public
/ should be tolerated
| Again, upon this point, It is generally
understood that when the members of
N
employing company, the members of
/ the same union on other companies are
assessed to support the strikers until the
strike is ended. If this be true, the or
ganization In question could assess one
tenth or one-fortieth of the amount and
employ counsel to take the cause Of the
controversy into court and could have
justice secured without damaging any Of
the interests Of the public.
Or, if the strikers are not thus sup
ported by their brother members, they
could assess themselves sum insignia
cant beside the gross amount of wages
lost during the period of the strike and
could have their case adjudicated in the
courts without inflicting damage upon
the unoffendng public.
In either case they would go before
Judges and jurles of their fellow citi-
zens in precisely the same manner as
every other one is required and COM
PEELED to do; and IL is impossible for all
other classes to concede that the mem
bers of labor unions have any prefer
entail privileges suggesting, IL not ac-
tually applying the process OF anarchy
when they-the masseS-are required to
submit to the process of law.
Justice Not Measured by Votes.
The mere fact that the laborers on
a public service utility or in a factory
have more votes than the owners OF
these properties have. has no bearing on
the legal status of the case. Justice is
not measured by the number OF votes
any more than by the weight OF dol
lars. Each party is under the law. Each
is entitled TO the protection Of its own
rights in court. Neither is entitled to
interfere with the rights Of the other
either in court or out of court.
1t should be further borne IN mind in
his connection that II is primarily the
poor people who are subjected to incon-
venience and damage by the acts of
strikers. In Augusta. for example, the
rich could use their own conveyances
or hire others for the purpose of com
ing into town and going out to their
homes, but the poorer classes in some
Instances were compelled to walk two
miles each way to reach their places
Of employment and to return home;
whereas, had these striking employees
If the street car company abstained
from the unlawful acts they committed
in preventing the operation of that pub
C utility, these laborers in the humber
ranks of life could have come from and
returned to their homes at trifiing cost.
md the poorer people at the stations
IN the Georgia Railroad were subjected
1t many points, to great privations
which the rich were able to protect
themselves against.
striker, who, In his blind recklessness,
'utS his feet in the bread tray Of the
or man and interferes with or de
prives him Of the right to liVe-the
ardlnal right Of humanity.
Public Has RIuhts.
Summing up the status OF a strike
by employees on a public service cor
noraion, We can not fail to know that
here are more than two parties to such
tr'lSeS. There is a third party. the
public. which is subjected to unmerited
and unnecessary Inconvenience and loss.
And above all, there is fourth party,
viz, the State, whose Constitution the
strikers have ignored and whose laws
they have trampled under foot. Con-
corning this fourth, and greatest, party,
will add:
The criss which a strike on a public
service corporation brings upon the
masses Of the people is not only a men,
ace to their power to procure the neceS-
stiles of life, but is also a challenge
to the very sovereignty of the State in
that II arrogates to itself the power to
the special functions for which the State
granted their charters, viz those of
being common carriers of persons and
property.
There is no power in Georgia greater
than the power of the State herself, and
that power holds mastery over and
gives direction to every other power
which she permits within her borders.
She is supreme in potential activities,
whenever she finds 1t needful to exert
them. She exacts allegiance and will
not divide II. She ordains one process
for all, and holds any rival process as
rebellion. She is no respecter OF persons
in the enforcement OF her laws.
state Greater Than Man.
1t is needless then to say that the
State would not permit the manage
ment to shut down the operation of a
street car line or railroad. II is man
ifest, therefore that the acts OF the en-
ployees in preventing such operation is
equally indefensible, equally condemna-
BILE and that they should be just as
infleXibly held accountable to the laws
Of the State No man, no combination
Of men, is greater than the State and
her laws.
/ have stressed the views herein ad-
vanCed because the object lessons given
by the striking employees of the street
car company in Augusta and Of the
Georgia Railroad have been a practical
service of notice by the labor union to
the State Of Georgia that its law with
in her borders is greater than her law
that the allegiance of its members TO II
is more binding than the allegiance they
owe to her
The Executive OfIce has not made
this issue; the State OF Georgia has not
made It. The labor union has openly
and recklessly thrown down the gaunt-
let. The State, therefore, can not shrink
from her duty to her Constitution and
her people.
Public Welfare Threatened.
1t is a matter Of current note that
the power of the labor union TO hurt
the general public and TO terrorize