Smyrna times., 1917-03-28
pANSOk ACT
IS HELD VALID
eu.Oress Has POWertO Regulate
Hours Of Labor and Wages.
10 RIGHT TO TIE UP ROADS
,.o,oed In Public Business, Tribunal
Saws, and Compulsory Arbi-
tration Can Be
Invoked.

lnNOkeOs
Washington.-In an epochal decision
aiding Congress to be clothed with
,ny and all power necessary to keep
.oor the channels of interstate COM
~sres the Supreme Court, dividing
I. 20 four, sustained the Adsmson
~ As constitutional and enforceable
b every feature.
The immediate effect Of the decision
dH be to fix a permanent eight-hour
hsIc day in computing wage scales on
herstate railroads, for which a
mHon-wide strike twice has been
threatened, and to give, effective from
huuary / this year, increases in
ages to trainmen Of about 25 per
vut. at a cost to the railroads esti-
u,ted at from $4O,OOO,OOO to $5O,OO0,-
N year.
The Court, through Chief Justice
Nite, declared both carriers and
tdr employees engaged in a business
asrged with a public interest subject
b the right Of Congress to COM
HsOrily arbitrate a dispute affecting
De operating of that business.
Right To Tie Up Traffic Denied.
whatever would be the right of an
mploye engaged in private business
b demand such wages as he desires,
b leave the employment if he does
pt get them and by concert of action
agree with others to leave on the
nme conditions" said the opinion
such rights are necessarily subject
limitation when employment is ac-
apted in business charged with q
Nblic interest and as to which the
pEer to regulate commerce by Con-
Fsss applied and the resulting right
fix IN case Of disagreement and dis
Fts standard Of wages as we have
sen necessarily obtained"
In delivering the opinion, the Chief
hstice departed at this point from his
Titten text to emphasize the position
men operating trains in a time Of
Htona emergency by comparing
hem to soldiers facing an enemy.
Coming on the heels of the conces-
ioa Of the eight-hour basic day by
y railroads at New York, to avert
, threatened strike, Mondays de
AOn is regarded as largely supplant-
9 that agreement and also removing
D all time, through the broadsst
aArDretation Of Congressional author
2 outlined by the court, the
reliability Of future transportation
EHysis.
Four Justices Dissented.
!uning with the Chief Justice in
Hstaning the law were Justices Ne
A'0ls and Holmes, his immediate
kaors in point Of service, and Jus
sss Brandeis and Clarke, junior mem
N1 Dissenting for various reasons
@e Justices Day, Van Devanter, Pit
Sg and MeReynolds.
he majority upheld the public
isa to have interstate commerc'
interrupted as a basic DrinciplI
Nanount to interests Of the railroads
I0sir operatives, both declared Il
an public service and subject to tn
Np'eme unrestricted power Of Con
psss 70 take any action necessary t
llasain freedom and uninterrupdol
interstate commerce. Either as
nxing wages or hours of labor, tn
aaH decided. Congress- had authorit
enact the Adamson statute.
Inc public interest begets a publi
t~ Of regulation to the full exten
."eSsary to secure and protect 1t,
= the opinion, adding that in tn
-'fgency of threatened destructiy
-Vsnsion Of national transportation
~asfess acted within its power 1
r''lOing a wage standard and othe
sN0s necessary to protect the publ
Gsrests.