Arizona sentinel and Yuma weekly examiner., 1914-08-06


 mained in force until well along into the nineteenth century, and it took distinct Act of the British Parliament to legalize labor unions.
 Under the charge of, conspiracy, the authorities, under the law are allow ed to introduce a vast range of evi- dence not directly pertinent to the par ticular individual or individuals on trial, but which they get into the rec ord under the theory that the same is applicable to the law conspiracy. Just what constitutes a conspiracy. the law itself is uncertain about. For exam pie: We have Chief Justice Shaw, at one time chief justice of the su- preme court of the the state of Massa- chusetts, saying, with reference to the definition of conspiracy: "The great difficulty is in framing any definition or description to be drawn from the decided cases which shall Specifically identify this offense-a description broad enough to include all cases pun; ishable under this description" If the courts don't know what constitutes criminal conspiracy, then how can it be expected that working man will know?
 The law of criminal conspiracy to- day is uncertain, defies intelligent an alysis and is a perpetual menace to cooperation in any organized effort to do anything contrary to the wishes of those who control organized gov ernment. Under the law of conspiracy everyone who co-operates in any or ganized movement is responsible for each and every act of each and every individual cooperating along the line of that movement, even though the act which the individual does is really outside of the range of the purpose of the original program, provided that jury seesfit to say, when influenced by prejudice, malice and ill-will, that conspiracy had been formed. Some of the most vicious verdicts returned by juries have been under the cloak of the law of conspiracy.
 The law of conspiracy is a hydra headed monster standing in the way of organized progress. It makes possible manifold miscarriages of justice, re duces the administration of the law to the whim and caprice of judges and juries and makes it impossible for the common people to maintain that re- spect for the administration of the law which is fundamental requisite for the orderly progress of society We should direct all of our efforts to the destruction of this legal myth which possesses dangers far greater than any virtues that anyone can find in it. As long as the law of criminal conspiracy stands on the statute books of either the state or federal govern ment, it is impossible to secure any large, broad and sweeping program of Organized Labor.
 Labor must one of two things, it must either develop such control of the machinery of government and of the courts particularly as to enable 1t to re-shape and remake the law of conspiracy so that the law as it now exists will no longer be applicable to labor dispute, or, independent of the securing of political control, labor must secure such industrial power as VIII enable 1t to call checkmate to all efforts of the authorities to enforce the so-called law of conspiracy. thus rendering ineffective and impossible of enforcement of the law itself. The duty is imperative that this law shall be nullified in some manner, otherwise all the efforts looking to the coalition and creation of real solidarity in the ranks of labor will be rendered inef- fective by the authorities.
 OOOOOOCOOOOOOOoooO