The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-10-20
LAW AND LABOR UNIONS.
Ex-Governor Brown of Georgia ON the
Evils of the Present System.


editorial article ,sof October headed
"Ths Constitutionality OF the Rent
Laws I note the following statement
There Is 20. constitutional provision
which the Supreme Court OF the United
States has enforced more consistently and
without variance or shadow OF turning
than the prohibition against the State Leg
isiation hnpairing the obligation OF con-
tract No State law attempting to do
this has any chance OF receiving the APP
! proval of the Supreme Court 'sN
or course. II the Supreme Court will
iot approve State legislation impairing
the obligation OF contract 1t necessar-
ny follows that it will not approve the
act OF .llnpalring contract when done
by any other power within State.
have quoted the above. therefore, as
the text of this letter. which In written
Tor the purpose of holding that Congress
and the State legislatures ought to enact
laws forcing the labor unions to be in
corporated. %r't
II there were no other reason for this
requirement we would find a sufficient
one In the fact that, while one of the
oasic and most perslstently urged de-
mands OF the labor unions is for cellec-
I'VE bargaining, multitudes or instances
prove that, after they, as collective or
CARNATIONS. have been successful, IN
forcing responsible employers to make
contracts with them they break those
contracts at win and go on strikes of
which many bring great Inconvenience to
the public and furthermore are charac-
terized by ,anarchic destruction Of the
property Of law-abiding people and by
the unlawful woundi.s am. killing ,(mur-
der) OF citizens conducting business
within their rights, and then shelter
their. organizations from compensating
those whom they have wilfully. and
ruthlessly wronged by the fact that they
are not Incorporated. hence not respon-
sible for the crimes their members have
committed. Logically. they say: '"You
cannot make our union pay for your
building which we dynamited you must
pay for rebuilding 1t: you. an unofrend-
Ing bystander. cannot mako our. union
pay the surgeon for treating your leg
which we broke you must pay him.
YetAthe strikes which brought about
these crimes were officially ordered by
tne organizations as such.
Now, as to collective bargaining: Prob
ably few employers would have OBJ
lection Ito this method of bargaining If
they knew they were bargaining" with
organizations which experience had
proved to be or which the law had
forced to become responsible. Mutual
manifest responsibility would inspire
mutual confidence, hence dispel the dis
trust which past experience has undoubt-
eddy justified employers in feeling when
called to'rnake contracts with labor
unions Really. neither public sentiment
nor the law has the right to force a re-
sponsible party to make a contract with
a party who Inherently is irresponsible
or who has purposely made himself so.
Such contract would be on a parity
with contract between rock cliff and
fog which has. risen from a marsh at
its base. The fog is OF unsubstantiai,
hourly changing composition the sun 5
rays can dissipate it. the winds can blow
II away. &C., but the rock cliff must
stay; it cannot move. So factory q
mine or a railroad cannot move away
1t must stay. But the employees who
compose the labor union. who come from
any county. any State, any nation, can
any day quit work (strike) in a body,
and can, If they choose. move away In
body, or they can quit singly or in
groups and no employer can, force them
to stay. any more than the rock cliff
can force the fog to stay.
Bear In mind now that when the state
charters steam or electric railroad she
not only consents for 1t to operate, but
she also commands It to operate. to
serve the public.;,. and furthermore that
the laws place penalties on the corpora
ton and its officers II. by their voluntary
act, its operation Is suspended, thereby
damaging the public. But these unions
of employees at will exercise the power
to suspend the operation of the trains
thus hurting the public; and. not being
Incorporated. are exempted from prose
cution for doing an act for which the
company can be fined and the officers
can be fined and sent to prison If they
respectively and jointly do.
Thus, these one-sided. State ana ma
tional laws not only logically put a pre-
MUM on responsibility and on. contract
breaking by those who are allowed TO
hold themselves irresponsible, but the ef-
feet of those laws Is an absolute encour-
agement to the, commission of lawless
deeds resulting in damage to or destruc-
ton of property and the woundlng and,
not infrequently, killing {murder) of
law-abiding people by those composing
the contracting party which the law has
left free of responsibility.
Query: Is any law basically constitu-
tional IL It binds employers against dam
aging their workmen and, the general
public and leaves their. said. worlSmen
free to ,damage-sometifnes irrepara-
bly--their employers and the public?'''
Can suggest an illustration which
more completely crystallizes the issue Of
labor unionisrn against american law
than the following? In August, and.
again. in September, 1916. the Amalga-
mated Association of Street an1 Electric
Railway Employees of America. after
fruitlessly demanding that the employ
ing companies repudiate certain con-
tracts they had made. went on strike on
electric railway lines In New Yorl, city.
These strikes continued for several weeks
during which the Amalgap,atcd,s mem
bers and their hoodlum allies stoned.
dynamlted, shot into, and Otherwise DAM
aged the street cars while operating
with passengers In open daylight through
the streets OF New York. and killed ut
least four people" OF whom one was a
e-year-old child. besides wounding sew
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