The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1914-09-11
THE BILL OF RIGHTS
Ancient Liberties Nullified Dur
inq Industrial Stress.
IS LAW BEING VIOLATED?
Freedom Of Speech, Right of Assembly,
Free Press, Etc, Guaranteed Under
State and National Constitutions.
Work For the Industrial Commi ISIS o n.

GEORGE w. ALGER in the Survey.
The commission on industrial rela-
tons is acting wisely in making careful
inquiries as it goes along in the exami-
nation of recent industrial disturbances
to see to what extent, if any, the law
is being violated by executive and po-
lice officers and by the courts, in deny
ing to strikers the fundamental pro-
lection of the bill of rights.
Our constitutions, both state and ma
tional, of course, guarantee to every
one freedom of speech, the right Of as
sembly, the right to the writ of habeas
corpus, freedom of the press and the
like, all of which are ancient liberties
of the English people considered by
our forefathers absolutely essential to
an American democracy.
In all the recent industrial disturb
ances, including those in Lawrence, in
West Virginia. in Paterson, in Colo
RADIO, things have been done which, as
given in the press at the time, would
indicate that the bill Of rights. which
ties to which l have referred, was not
considered 'practical.' No conserva-
tive public opinion has as yet been
aroused, since these violations Of they
have been such) of the bill of rights
have applied only to discontinued poor
people in the course of industrial dis
turbanceS.
Most of the court decisions by which
these constitutional rights seem to have
been denied have been made by judges
in petty courts. whose judicial opinions
as such are quite negligible from the
standpoint of the law, but far from
negligible from the standpoint of the
working people affected by them.
Take. for example, the Paterson de-
cision by the local magistrate in the
Scott case. If it had been affirmed in
the supreme court of New Jersey the
liberty of the press would have been
dead letter in New Jersey. Similar de-
cisions have been made by the police
courts in Massachusetts and in our
own state on other branches of the bill
of rights.
These decisions and the action of
local executive and police officers,
through which these decisions arise. all
seem to come from an idea that the bill
of rights is not practical, in it's applca-
ton at least to this large class of for
eigners who form the striking masses
of a majority of these Industrial dis
putes. Colorado has apparently decided
in a number of cases that the bill of
rights is not practical and outrages
upon those rights have been so fire.
quent. if one may judge by recent mag
aZine articles, rs to arouse the question
as to whether, so far as the working
class is concerned. republican form of
government exists in that state.
West Virginia, through its governor.
established military tribunal in def
ance of a constitution which clearly
declares that no such tribunal should
ever be established in the state, and
this tribunal denies the writ of habeas
corpus in defiance of q constitution
which expressly forbids that it should
ever be denied. The practical execu-
tive saw that action was necessary to
re-establsh order, and. having reached
that conclusion. he concluded that it
was advisable to suspend the constitu-
ton 50 far as the striking miners were
concerned, and the highest court of
West Virginia sustained him in what
he did.
If the commission on industrial rela-
tons can so far assist us by getting
us the actual facts so that we may
judge whether in its fundamentals the
bill of rights is being disregarded in
its application to strikers in industrial
disputes, it will aid a conservative
body of opinion to crystalline itself and
make its opinion felt.
1t is true conservatism to regard the
bill of rights as something funda-
mental, as belonging to all of us. which
cannot exist at all if it is denied to one
class and preserved only to a more
prosperous class which economically
needs it least. There are many of us
who have no sympathy whatever with
the class of agitators who are today
shouting for free speech, believing
them to be insincere and lawless in
their purposes. The mere fact that we
do not sympathize with them is no
reason why we should permit any of
the fundamental guarantees of citizen
ship in America to be undermined or
destroyed
The bill of rights cost great deal of
blood 1t was thing which our fore
fathers fought for. 1t cannotbecome out
of date and impractical unless we agree
to its destruction by indirect attack.
1t is to be hoped that the commission
on industrial relations will throughout
its investigations bear the bill Of rights
clearly in mind and will be able to re-
port to us as people the extent. if
any, by which that charter of liberties
has been nulliied or overrued or cast
aside during the Industrial disputes If
recent years. No part of its work can
be of any greater value. rs see 1t.
than this. 1t is to be hoped that that
work will be done thoroughly and i'm