Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-06-25

or 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, II needs
| be, Kill him and his new employees to es-
tablish their supremacy over him and
And II the State says to owners Of
| railroads, factories etc, you shall pay
tax on this property which you have
shall control It. hold you responsible
/ for keeping II in condition for safely
! serving the public, but ] allow them the
privilege Of wrecking it., or Of deprlvng
can she protect a farmer or any other
citizen in the right to control HIS prop
erty?
Settlement Of Strikes.
The same courts established by the
| Constitution and composed Of judges
4 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
/ one of these unions strike against the
| employing company, the members Of
]
| assessed to support the strikers until the
/ strike Is ended. II 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
4 ported by their brother members, they
| could assess themselves a 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 unoffending public.
! In either case they would go before
| judges and juries of their fellow citi-
zens in precisely the same manner as
every other one is required and COM
| PEELED to do; and It is impossible for all
/ other classes to concede that the mem
/ bers of labor unions have any prefer
| entail privileges suggesting, If not &C
| 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
| 4 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 it 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
| 81 employment and to return home;
| whereas, had these striking employees
| Of the street car company abstained
| from the unlawful acts they committed
| in preventing the operation of that pub
| 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
| On the Georgia Railroad were subjected
1t many points, to great privations
which the rich were able to protect
themselves against.
Therefore, in such cases it is the
striker, who, in his blind recklessness,
| ruts his feet in the bread tray of the
or man and interferes with or de-
| priVes him Of the right to liVe-the
| ardihal right OF humanity.
Public Has Rldhts.
Summing up the status OF a strike
| by employees on a public service cor
! .'bIdlloU, we can not rail- 10 Know lnat
| here are more than two parties to such
! f~il5es. There is a third party, the
/ public, which is subjected to unmerited
! and unnecessary inconvenience and loss.
! And above all, there is a 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 crisis which strike on a public
/ service corpora ton brings upon the
masses Of the people is not only a men
1 ace TO their power TO procure the neces-
I stiles of life, but is also a challenge
4 to the very sovereignty of the State in
/ that it arrogates TO itself the power to
| prevent the railroads from performing
l 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
1 than the power of the State herself, and
| gives direction to every other power
! which she permits within her borders.
/ She is supreme in potential activities,
/ whenever she finds It needful to exert
I them. She eXacts allegiance and will
not divide it. She ordaIns one process
/ for all, and holds any rival process as
rebellion. She is no respecter Of persons
4 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 a railroad II is man.
4 ifest, therefore, that the acts of the en-
! ployees in preventing such operation is
equally indefensihle, 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 q 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 il
1 IS more binding than the allegiance they
owe TO her.
/ The Executive office has not made
/ this issue: the State Of Georgia has not
made it. The labor union has openly
and recllessly thrown down the gaunt-
| let. The State. therefore, can not shrink
[ from her duty to her Constitution and
| her people.
Public Welfare Threatened.
II is a matter of current note that
the power of the labor union to hurt
the general public and to terrorize