Rockingham post-dispatch. [volume] (Rockingham, N.C.) 1917-1965, 1919-10-16

Judge Thomas J. Shaw is con-
sidered the ablest jurist on the
bench. Read what he had to say
in his charge to the Mecklen-
burg county grand jury at Char
lotte Monday:
LAS l stated to you before, gentle
men, there is no question of the right
of labor to organize for it's own good.
1t has that right, both legally and
morally. 1t has the right to organize
for the purpose of bargaining collect
lively, but it has no right to contra
vene the law and to adopt violence as
a means of redressing real or fancied
grievances.
Alongside the right Of labor to Or
ganize and bargain collectively is the
right of the employer to hire or dis
charge anyone he pleases without
consulting any organization or group
of men. He has both the moral and
the legal right to do that and the per-
son so employed or discharged has no
right to question why he was dis
charged
This freedom of action and of
choice for both employee and employ
er is fundamental and is guaranteed by
the constitution. Because an act is
done bv body of men such as an Or
ganized group of laborers or by an or
ganized group of employers does not
affect either it's legality or it's moral
ity. The law specifies the fundament-
al of each and guarantees that those
rights shsll not be abridged and it is
your province to see whether those
rights have been abridged here in
your community.
There is a very important factor
in the troubles that arise out of agi-
tations such as we have had here and
elsewhere recently, and that is the
matter of leadership. 1t is too often
the man who talks the loudest and
longest and says the most bitter
things that is found in the role OF
leader. The un-thinking are often
misled bv these tricks, not stopping
to see whether the person is advocat-
ing a sound thing and not looking
often to be sure Of his sincerity and
honesty. This circumstance is not
confined to labor agitations, but to
other fields of human endeavor as
we'll. When such characters lead they
arc always sure of following by an
element found in almost every COM
munity. an element looking for a
chance to violate law and more ready
to tear down than to build up society.
} "This lawless element is ready at
moments notice to fall in with any
movement or any clique of men that
threaten upheavels and laWlessness'
Going back to the right OF employ
ers to hire whom they will and make
what bargains they will with those
they employ, Judge Shaw cited the
parable of the vineyard, where the
manter of the vineyard went into the
market place and bargained with GER
tain ones there to work in his vine
ward for a penny day. He pointed
ont that the master of the vineyard
went out at the later hours, ana
even at the eleventh hour, and find
ing others standing idle in the mark
et-place, asked them also to go 10
work in his vineyard. At the close OF
the dav those who had bargained
work early in the day complained that
they received no more pay than those
who went to work at the sixth and
eleventh hours.
Judge Shaw pointed out that the
master of the vineyard was entirely
within his rights when he told the
complafners that they had no ground
of complaint when he had given them
what he had bargained with them for,
namely. penny day and that what
he decided to pay those who started to
work later was not proper matter
of concern to those who went to work
first.