New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-06-24
The Real Gompers Exemption and
the "Bunco" One.

The uouse OF Representatives showed honesty
.rd courage Monday night when Il put INTO 'ne
s,,nd,v civil appropriation blu a stralsht-out Ca
.r,nt;on Of labor and agricultural organizations
s.or, prosecution for violations of the sherman
-, .r,st law The exemption sad exactly what II
,,oont If provided that no money appropriated III
,ho srndry civil bill for the prosecution or cases
,,,dor tho sherman law shall be used in bringing
=, occopnt labor unions combining to control wages
I. associations Of farmers organized TO control the
nrices OF farm products.
THAT is clesn-cut effort to establish class dis
tpetions among offenders against the Sherman act
and 10 make sheep Of lawbreakers organized IN
Labor and agricultural unions aud goats Of all otner
sorts OF offenders There is no Joker IN II. MT
cas,ners cannot construe it one way while Presi-
Asot wilson is constituting It exactly the opposite
,ysv In that it rises in political honesty far above
the tricky. aim-Aam attempt made in the Clayton
onf;trqst bill TO give the same exemptions and yet
IN dodge responsibility for giving them. The Clay
,o bins "cbarter of freedom" to labor is cryptic
oran nassed I'D to the courts The charter Of free
DOM issued TO labor in the sundry civil bill is so
clear and plain that even President Wilson. with
ALI his powers Of sophistication, cannot twist II
out of its self-evident meaning
We cannot agree with Representative j. Hamp'
ton Moore that the sundry civil bill exemption IS
another piece of "bunco" It is just the reverse of
that What a relief it would have been TO the
President II he could have had hand in construct
ing this masterpiece Of class legislation! II he
had had that chance he would have conferred with
Mr. Gompers and turned out another verbal jug
Gle like that in the Clayton bill. which, as he
al han In no Of
antitrust law and which, as Mr.. Gompers says,
changes its scope entirely by putting labor ana
agricultural unions above the law.
But the sundry civil bill exemption was CON
ceived in a Congress anxious TO harass Repuo-
lican President All the sting possible was put
intorit in order to provoke veto. Having made
an open issue with Mr. Taft at one session, Con
gress was ashamed at the next session to play
hugger-mugger for Mr. Wilson's benefit. 1t re-
passed the exemption just as 1t stood, and though
Mr.. Wilson signed the appropriation bill he was
forced TO say in a memorandum that the discrimi-
nation it contained in favor of two privileged
classes was vicious in principle
The open discrimination in the sundry civil bill
and the furtive discrimination in the Clayton anti
trust bill are in our opinion equally vicious in
nrincj1e But we prefer the CORNER TO the latter.
II is at least straightforward and honest. In The
interest Of political morality the Clayton bill and
The sundry civil bill exemptions should be har-
monized. Why not say frankly in the former
measure that the Department Of Justice shall not
prosecute yiolators Of the Sherman law If they
happen TO be labor unions or associations of
farmers? Then the country would know that a
new charter Of freedom" was really being given
labor and farmers unions. The House now seems
willing TO come ont into the open. We hope that
the Senate and the President will also drop the
policy Of dealing with Mr.. Gompers in the dark