Evening star., 1915-05-28
Industrial Relations Commits
sion Ready to Frame It's Re-
port to Congress.
EXPECTS TO MEET IN JUNE
IN EXECUTIVE SESSION
Samuel Gompers Given Permission to
Answer Criticisms-Theodore
Schroeder Also Testifes.

Hearings by the federal Industrial
relations commission at the Shoreham
Hotel were closed yesterday. The COM
mission adjourned to meet in executive
session about June /, when il VIII
frame a report and recommendation to
Congress. The investigation conducted
by the commission has been in prog
ress for more than a year and has eN-
tended from coast to coast. covering
practically every phase of the country's 8
industrial life. 1t is expected that the
report of the commission will be sub
mitted to Congress early next session
At the hearing yesterday afternoon
Samuel Gonpers. president of the
American Federation of Labor, was re-
called to the stand to give him an op-
portunity to reply to various witnesses
who criticised his actions and the fed
Grafton. He recited his experiences as
a victim of attempts to restrict the
rights of free speech and free press.
and reviewed his difficulties in the fed
eral courts regarding injunctions and
contempts.
Asserts His Rights.
Il have declared and have maintain
ed" he said. that when any court
shall try by writ of injunction to deny
me the rights of free speech and free
press 1 propose to exercise my consti-
tutional rights. the injunction of the
courts to the contrary notwithstand-
ing
Mr.. Gompers vigorously took issue
with Daniel Davenport, counsel for the
American Anti-Boycott Association.
and other witnesses who held that the
Clayton antitrust act did not improve
the position of labor before the courts.
He presented paper written by for
mer Attorney General Wickersham,
holding that the Danbury hatters' case
could not have been decided against the
union men if the Clayton act had been
in force.
'The Clayton act" said Mr.. Gompers.
takes the voluntary associations OF
workers out from under the provisions OF
the Sherman antitrust Law. where they
were placed by nlisinterpretation Of the
law by the courts. The act declares and
makes good the declaration that labor
is not a commodity or an article OF COM
merce.' 1t is charter of industrial
freedom
Denies Hostility to Non-Unionists.
The witness also was emphatic In de-
nouncing claims advanced before the COM
mission that union labor maintained an
attitude of "uncompromising hostility
against non-unionlsts.
Answering criticisms of the activity Of
union labor in the defense of the Nc
Namara brothers, as criticised before the
commission, Mr.. Gompers declared that
the federation as an organization had
nothing to do with the fund raised for
the Mcnamara defense.
Theodore Schroeder, attorney for the
Free Speech League, the next witness,
declared the courts had lost sight of
free speech" in its historical sense.
"A study of conditions throughout
the world. he said. has shown me
that we have more penalized opinions
in this country today than any other
country has had since the world be-
gan. By that l mean we have less
conceded freedom of speech than any
other country" i
State. city and federal laws, Mr..
Schroeder said. were all directed to
protect property.
Says Free Speech Is Not Protected.
You will not find single statute
anywhere that even squints at an ef-
fort to protect the personal rights
guaranteed by the Constitution-free
speech, free assemblage and the right
to bear arms" he said
Asked If he would eliminate the pro-
hibition against sending obscene mat
ter through the malls. the witness re-
piled IN the Affirmative, and added that
sex education" ought TO be made avail
able. as a means of nullifying any pos
sible evil effect of obscene literature
Mr.. Schroeder declared the funda-
mental remedy for industrial evils was
the placing of all wages on a basis of
compensation for the social value of
the service performed" The laborer,
Mr.. Schroeder held, should receive the
full value produced by his labor. He
urged the restriction of families among
the poor and advocated the repeal of
laws preventing the disSemina tion of