Cayton's weekly. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1916-1921, 1919-11-22
THE STRIKE AND THE LAW

ground The facts and circumstances which
AttorneyGeneral Palmer marshals in his
public statement Of the Governments po-
sltlOn are but the ackgrOund of the case.
and no one OF them is essential to it's validi-
ty. The law invoked by him as the basis
OF the Goernment's action is the Food and
Fuel Control act This act, as the Attorney
General says, 'made is unlawful for any
concerted action, agreement or arrange
ment to be made by two or more persons
to limit the facilities Of transportation and
production, or to restrict the supply and
distribution of fuel, or to aid or abet the
dong OF any act having this purpose or eff
feet. Making a strike effective under the
circumstances which I have described
amounts to such concerted action or arrange
ment." Nor is there the slightest doubt
that this act is still in full force. The date
Of it's expiration is unambiguously stated
in the act itself, which declares that it
''shall cease to be in effect when the exist
ing state of war between the United States
and Germany shall have terminated and
the fact and date of such termination shall
be ascertained and proclaimed by the Pres-
dent''
In the newspapers, while the strike was
mcubating, the greatest stress was laid on
the charge that the miners were fagrantly
neither in the Presidents letter nor in the
Attorney Generals statement does this
charge play prominent part On the con-
trary, while the point is mentaned in both
cases. it is touched upon with conspicuous
gentleness. Whether the obligation of that
agreement, which was to be laid during the
continuation Of the war;" should be regard
ed as absolutely binding at this time is
obviously an open question. Miners would
have been perfectly justified in asserting
their view that the obligation no longer
holds good. The odium that rests upon
them in this regard. is not their assertion
Of the view but their assumption of the
right to compel it's acceptance by force, in
stead of submitting the question to fair and
impartial determination. But the Govern
men s case in no wise depends on the right
or wrong of this particular claim The
miners cannot pretend that they have the
right to repeal an act Of Congress- and I'M
der the Food and Fuel Control act strike
Of the kind that is now being attempted
would be absolutely illegal, even if no con-
tract had been entered into in regard to
wages and working conditions.
larger question as to the Governments
power is raised by a speech made by ex-
President Taft in Massachusetts. Every one
who thinks seriously about what the strike
really means must ask himself whether our
protection against the disaster which it
threatens rests solely on the accident that
peace has not yet ben proclaimed. If the
Treaty had been ratified last month and
the proclamation of peace issued. the con-
dition Of the country would still be es-
sentially what it is to-day, and the peril in
which our industries and the general welfare
would be placed by the strike would be no
loss than if is now Mr. Taft Dlaced the
right of the Government to protect the pub
lie in such contingency upon basis which
has nothing to do with the existence of
state of war. He said
In an ordinary strike incidental annoy
ance to the public, which is negligible
does not render the strike illegal But
when enormous combinations of workngmen
deliberately enter upon countrywide plan
to take the country by the throat and COM
pei the country to compel the employers in
that particular field of industry to yield