The daily Nome industrial worker., 1916-03-30

goodness knows how many of the leaders of the American Federation of Labor pctted thcmce1vos on the back upon getting in that clause, which is entirely untrue from an economic point of view, to the eff feet that labor is not commodity It was quite a triumph. If any per- son could succeed in getting Con- gresa to pass a declaration in tariff bill wherein fluid substances were subject to 50 per cent ed yalorem duty, to tho effect that this would not apply to water which was not a fiuid', precisely the same achieve ment would have been accomplished as that which was done when labor was declared to be no commodity. And we can just content ourselves here by saying that the ipse dixit of congress would no moro prevent labor economically being commo- dity, than they could prevent water being physically Hulo.
 But in addition to batting them solves on the back and wringine their hands in congratulation, they also indulgcd in Q little perfervid eloauence in platform and in press hailing this declaration as Magna Charta No 23 for Labor, freeing il for all time from tho servile condi- ton which it had enjoyed since first chattel slavery existed. It was quite a harmless little logal assertion cost congressman nothing and pleased labor nightly, and so from a strict ly political point was well worth while.
 Comes now the city of Youngs- eown, Ohio, as tho scene before us. Enter the grand jurors deliberating upon the labor strikes, riots and working conditions. Exit the grand jurors with indictments against FL bort Gary President of United States Steel and against the United States Steel Corporation itself These indictments contain counts among others of a conspiracy to keep down the wages of the work CTS. which no doubt were alto gether true.
 Comes then the court presided over by Judge Anderson which de- cides that inasmuch as labor is no commodity (see the Clayton anti trust act) for this reason neither Gary nor the steel trust can be in- dicted for trying to Keep down wages.
 Verify Daniel come to judgment! Here Is man hoists the A. F. Of L.. with their own petard, and here is q judge delights in doing the hoisting. Responsibility for getting in that clause in the Clayton anti trust bill rests with the American Federation of Labor Tirelessly the politicians who denounce politics supported that very clause, suggest ed and insisted upon it. And there is no question but that it was intro duced to protect labor organizations from prosecution under the trhst laws. When it is availed of by the courts to protect capital. just as the courts made use or the Sherman Act to control labor, theF will be oniy following method of proce- dure to say tho least is halloWed by ample precedent.
 The courts are not illogical at all. The bitterness of this decision II II is bitter in the tcste to any one who cannot enjoy its taste to any one lies in the fact that it is the Amer icau Federation of Labor which has beea and is so foolishly illogical.
 Time and time agcin political ac- tion is denounced by Gompers and ahe rest. It Is no good. It is in s,ffective. It makes the workers lose confidence in their labor organiza- tior,. It is unnecessary, because if the workers have the economic power the laws will be automatic ally forced upon society and if they have not the economic power comes from organization, the laws will not be sestYforced any how. 1aa sldsaHH
 'TRose arguments are good and sound. Gompers' stand in this res pect is correct. Everything that can be said in favor of political reforms depeids whether or not the workers