The Delta independent., 1921-01-21
A JUST LABOR DECISION.

JUST LABOR DECISION.
Under the guise of defeat, union
labor has in fact scored great and
lasting victory in the decision of the
United States Supreme Court in the
case of the Duplex Printing Company
against the Machinists' International
Association. Had the court estab-
lished the principle of law under the
Clayton act that a labor organization
is privileged to do those things which
are forbidden of other men, that it
may conspire and use a bIudeeon to
enforce its will in labor disputes, the
trades union movement would have
been doomed to perish.
Instead, the court has raised up the
banner of equality under the law. 1t
has placed labor and capital in the
same category, subject to the same
legal restraints and entitled to the
same privileges. The right to strike is
made inviolate and the privilege of
the primary boycott-the peaceful
persuasion against an opponents
not interfered with. But the secondary
boycott, that which contemplates con-
spiracy in restraint of trade and the
use of threats and force, is forbidden.
as it should be.
The case involved construction of
the provisions of the Clayton act one
of those statutes which Congress some
times stoops to enact under duress
and as bid for-the favor of some
powerful factor of the electorate. The
lower courts had held that by its pro-
visions labor organizations were not
accountable under the antitrust laws
for their secondary boycott operations.
1t was pointed out that 1t was written
in the law that "the labor of human
being is not an article or commodity
Of commerce." and that the act spec
if1cally restrained the courts from is
suing fnjunctions against labor lead
ers in their industrial disputes.
But the Supreme Court by vote Of
to 3. reversed the lower courts and
sets up rule Of equality which will
stand as a monument of civil rights
and which, though 1t may now be con-
demned by some labor leaders, will in
the future come to be hailed as the
authority which saved organized labor
from destruction. Justice Pitney, in
delivering the opinion of the court.
said:
There is nothing here to justify
defendants or the organization they
represent in using either threats or
persuasion to bring about strikes or a
cessation of work on the part of en-
ployes of the complainant's customers
or prospective customers, and of there
by constrainipg complainant to yield
the matter in dispute"
The secondary boycott Is a vicious
weapon, and If permitted to be used
unrestrainedly by unprincipled leaders
might easily foment unlimited disor-
der. even to the point of Industrial
revolution. 1t is offensive to the Amer
ican sense of fair play and justice.
The Clayton act, as amended follow
ing the Supreme Courts decision in
| the Danbury Hatters' case, is not
| credit to Congress. or to those who
sponsored it. There are. congressman
| who voted for 1t who now would glad.
ly have their record with respect to
this measure erased from the rolls,
because they realize they supported
a measure which purported to give
to one section of the American citi-
zenship rights and privileges denied
to others.
Labor is coming into its own, but
not through special privilege wrung
from complaisant Congress. A new
day is dawning for those who toll, a
day in which the wrongs they have
endured will disappear and the digni-
ty and majesty of labor will be re.
cognized by right, and not by force.
This recent decision of the Supreme
Court of the land will hasten, not re-
tard, the new era.-Washington Post.