The labor standard., 1919-08-15
COURT DISSOLVES INJUNCTION AGAINST
 UNITED MATTERS
Important Ruling Handed Down by Judge Maltbie = Hatters Actions Justifiable and Lawful Full Text of Decision

Actions Unsuitable and Lawful
 Full Text of Decision
 BRIDGEPORT-A decision handed down bv Judge William M. Maltbie of the Superior Court dissolves the tenn porary injunction recently secured by the R. 6 W. Hat Company, Inc, of Norwalk against officers of the United Hatters of North America and local unions of the Hatters in Norwalk, ana Danbury, The case was scheduled: R. 6 W. Hat Company, Inc, vs. Jere- miah Scully, ct al.
 The Case
 The R. & W. Hat Go. claimed that the defendants had prevented George McLachlan, of Danbury from supply ing it with hats in the rough, owing to the fact that it was conducting. non-union shop, and the temporary in junction restrained the defendants from acts that would prevent the plaintiff firm from purchasing hats m the rough from manufacturers there of.
 Mayor David E. Fitzgerald, of New the defendants, claimed in behalf of his clients that they had made no threats to MT. McLachlan, but had suggested to him that he should send his goods to union shops before he supplied non-union shops, and that III making this suggestion they were within their rights. It was denied that there had been anything III the nature of threats or intimidation, ana that consequently there was no ground for an injunction.
 The Court Decision
 The court decision as rendered by Judge Maltbie is as follows:
 "The hearing upon the temporary injunction was confined to simple ls- sues and the following facts, which 1 find sufficiently established by the evl- dence produced to serve as a basis for my conclusions, seem to be all that are material to our present inqulry
 "The process of the manufacture of hats is divided into two parts, one, called the making, includes such pro- cesses as are necessary ln working and shaping the raw material until the hats are first blocked; and the product at this stage are called hats in the rough; the other, called the finishing takes the That's in the rough and completes them, ready for wear. Many factories carry on both branches or the WOrk, put OIIlSIS COIlAA1IS CAShA- selves either to making or finishing, the latter securing their material, in the shape of hats in the rough, from the former The workmen engaged in the trade are divided, according to the portion of the process of manu- fracture in which they are engaged, in- to makers and 'finishers'.
 "There are several local unions of makers and several local unions of fin ishers, but all these local unions are affiliated and together comprise The United Hatters of North America, a central organization. In addition to the makers and fnishers, who are men, there are also certain unions of women called 'trimmers', some of which are also affiliated with The United Hatters.' A large part of the workmen engaged in the trade are unionized, but many, are not; and some of the factories are union shops and some are sopen shops,' the former employing only union men and the latter only non-union.
 "The plaintiff in this case runs an open shop and the defendants are either unions or the officers of local unions or of The United Hatters.' The plaintiff, which runs a finishing shop, has been engaged in preparing hats for sale to it's customers for the fall trade, and, until this controversy arose, had been ordering and receiv- ing large number of hats in the rough from the factory of one George McLachlan, maker, who runs union shop. As the season has developed, an almost unprecedented demand for hats has arisen, and the finishing shops have been requiring a greater supply of hats in the rough than the xraoIi1xy xxyifh ho result that some of them have found it impossible to run full time. Ger tain of the union shops engaged in finishing have been complaining of the fact to the officers of the unions, both those of the United Hatters and of Lo- cal No. 10, union of makers at Dan bury, whose members include the workmen at the George McLachlan factory. These officers thereupon sought to increase the production in union shops of hats in the rough, by various means, such as relaxing their rules as to overtime work, and induc- ing shops which had not made 'hats. in the rough for sale, to embark in that enterprise.
 "They also, and herein lies the crux of this controversy, determined that union shops, engaged in making, should give preference in their deliv- cries to union shops engaged in finish ing. In carrying out this determina- tion, on or about June 23rd last, the officers of Local No. 10, informed George McLachlan that he was, in future deliveries, to follow this policy. At that time, McLachlan had received and accepted large number of or ders from the plaintiff, which were, in whole or in part, thrilled. He had then certain hats in the rough ready for immediate delivery to the plaintiff and these he was permitted to deliver and later he was permitted to make further delivery to the plaintiff of certain hats in the rough, of kind not ordinarily dealt with by the trade. He refused, however, to make further deliveries to the plaintiff because of his fear that, if he did so, the unions would take action against him.
 "The officers of Local No. 10, at the time when they informed him of the