The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1917-03-20
ADAMSONMEASURE
UPHELD IN EPOCHAL
DECISION OF COURT
Highest Tribunal Finds Congress
Has Right To Legislate On
Minimum Pay
GIVES HOUSES ALL POWER TO
KEEP OPEN TRADE CHANNELS
Finding Conters Right 10 Enforce
Arbitration Upon Men In
Time Of Emergency
tAssOoiatsd Press ~ Federal wirsisss.J

Il NAhoVoshseN NAoso W AeuSA& WHolpbesl
WASHINGTON, March eO--In d.
vision Of Eve to four, the Supreme
Court Of the United States yesterday
handed down what is regarded as an
epoehal decision upholding the eonsti-
tutionality Of the Adsmson Act. Under
this decision the right of congress to
legislate as to maximum hours and mini.
mum pay for railroad employees is up
held. M Taxa ya, .s
The decision, in the opinion of those
who have studied il in its legal bear
ings upon the future operations of rail.
roads, gives to congress all power to
keep open. the channels of interstate
commerce. The operation aud the man
agement Of interstates railroads are
charged with the public interest and
congress has the right, ascending TO the
majority opinion Of the Supreme Court,
Ito enforce compulsory arbitration upon
the train men in time of emergency,
forcing them into the national service,
just as congress has the right to enforce
compulsory military service upon citi-
zens when the necd, of the nation 50
requires.
The Adanison Act is declared to be
neither uHwOrkable, confacatory, ex-
perimental or in excess Of the right
Of congress to enaetsin the exercise of
fts regulatory -adtli0tlt " ~ y
Under the Adamson AIT, the inter-
state railroads must employ allStrain
crews on the basis Of an eight.hour
day, with the pay 90 remain the same
as previously paid on the basis Of q
ten-hour dsy Time and half is to
be paid for all overtime over eight
hours Ns,Et#as l Sd
The FIVE members of the Supreme
Court concurring in the decision are
Chief Justice White and Associate
Justices McKenna, Holmes, Landis
and Clarke. - 1#
Those who dissented coneurring in
a dissenting opinion written by Asso-
ciate Justice Day, were Associate
Justices Van Devanter, Pitney and
McReynolds Justice Day, in his
opinion, holds that congress has not
the power to enforce compulsory arbi.
tration In his opinion, congress in
the Adamson Act has enacted legisla
tion that is arbitrary and unreason.
able, taking the property of the rail
Associate Justice McReynelds, in a
supplemental dissenting opinion, says
that, il the Adamson Act be .constitu.
tional, cit follows that congress has
also the power to fix the maximum
wage which the railroads may pay
their employees
Announcing the majority opinion,
Chief Justice White reviewed the nego-
tiations leading to the enactment of
the Adamson law, telling of the Presi.
dents efforts to avert the strike last
September. He said the law covers
both the hour-day act and the wage,
fixing statute. r. t.'5
The eight-hOur provision, he de.
clared, is the paramount feature, and
added that transportation is both a
public and private interest.
"The dividing line is SO marked, -
he commented, "that the government
will not destroy the private right. The
power to regulate rests upon both the
private and the public interest in.
yolved."
An immediate temporary wage in,
crease of forty to fifty millions rested
upon the decision.
A feature of the days developments
in railroad circles was the appearance
of Judge Lovett, chairman of the
Union Pacific, who, testifying before a
congressional investigating committee
urged the immediate naturalization of
railroad control. Speaking Of phases
of the railroad problems, he said that
: :