Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-04-04
AN ANTl-INJuNcTloN BILL.

II Under the heading "A BAD Dill COA'
lier's Weekly says:
Talleyrand's cynical saying about
language as an instrument for conceal.
ing thought has, a3fne modern example
in the Bacon. Bartlett Anti-lnjunction
bill now before congress. part Of
the bill. to be sure. is easy and dis
agreeable reading. The proponents Of
this bill ask congress to provide, for
example, that it shall not be unlawful
for employees to make "any agreements
or combinations with view of lessen
ing the hours of labor or of increasing
their wages, or of lettering their con-
ditions" 1t also asks congress to pro-
vide that farmers can cheer up the
high cost of living by making any
agreement or combination for the pur-
pose Of enhancing the price of agri-
cultural and horticultural products.
The extent of the indulgence in ad-
vance given to labor organizations and
farmers associations implied in the
little word "any' would put the Tetzel
of Luther's time to shame.
But it is only after four or five read
Ings and a considerable amount of
thinking that one begins to appreci-
ate the laboriously concealed scheme
In this part of the bill. 1t starts out
BY declaring that no Injunction shall
issue against employees or farmers on
account of any Of these combinations,
or on account of any acts they may
do in carrying them out, unless they
occasion irreparable injury to proper
ty or to property right of the party
making the application for an injunc-
ton. This seems familiar enough. In
functions have usually issued to re-
strain injury to property, though we
do remember case, in Texas to be
sure, where the court issued an in
junction restraining an amorous
gentleman from making kissing
signs" to another mans wife. Having
provided that injunctions shall issue
only to prevent irreparable injury to
property. the ingenious gentleman who
drafted this bill then provides for
new classification Of what constitutes
property" and property rights. They
make new line Of cleavage between
personal rights and property
rights, and declare that "the right to
enter into the relation of employer and
employee ;. and to carry on bust
ness In such relation -. shall be held
and construed to be personal ana not
a property right" Under this interest
Ing bill. if mob of strikers gets in
front of factory, and by threats and
violence prevents other employees from
going to work, and thereby compels
the owner of the plant to close down
through the intimidation of his pros
pective employees, the owner would
have no right to an injunction against
the acts of the mob, since the right to
do business, if this bill becomes law.
Is personal and not property
right, and the bill only permits an in
junction to restrain injuries to prop
erty."
The measure is proposed, we regret
to say, by the American Federation of
Labor 1t is substantially the bill
which President Roosevelt condemned
In special message in December,
1908. In this message. after stating
that the bill provided that the right
to carry on business should not be con-
strued as property right, that it legal
lied blacklisting and boycotting in ev-
cry form, including the secondary boy
colt which the Anthracite Coal COM
mission unreservedly condemned. and
that it took the right to carry on a
business explicitly out from under that