The Washington herald., 1921-02-24
LABOR THROWS
GLOVE AT FEET
OF u. S. COURT
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE.

are not copartnerships and shall not
be so treated in law or in equity.
Investigation by Congress of the
activities of so-called private de-
tective agencies in the field of in
dustrial relations"
Cause of outburst.
The immediate cause of the labor
outburst against injunctions was
teh Supreme Court decision a few
weeks ago in the Duplex Printing
Company case, involving a resort to
boycott which Mr.. Gompers thought
had been legalized by the Clayton
act The Supreme Court held that
the Clayton act did not legalize this
particular kind of a boycott and
sustained the injunction issued
against the union.
Asserting that "injunctions re-
store feudalism," the labor confer
cnce statement continues:
The revival of the unrestrained
use of the injunction also imperils
the stability of our economic struc-
ture For six years the Clayton act,
accepted on all sides as the estab-
lished law of the land. to be an ap-
preciable degree checked the abuse
of the writ of Injunction. A ma
jority4 of the pustices of the Su-
preme Court have swept away this
strong barrier against a feudalistic
legal concept and labor finds itself
absolutely at the mercy of the un-
limited use of tudge-made law.
stand by Constitution.
The workers maintain that the
constitution of the United States is
a living document. its provisions
and guarantees as applicable today
as when they were adopted. The
workers maintain that in their
everyday life and work the right
which the constitution declares to
be inalienable should in practice, as
well as in theory. be inalienable.
Among these rights Is the right to
liberty,-freedom from involuntary
servitude or compulsory labor, ex-'
cept as punishment for crime. This
guarantee of the Thirteenth amend
ment lives and the workers are de-
termined that 1t shall not be denied
them. Nor shall this guarantee of
their freedom be SO distorted as to
compel a group Slavery in modern
industry as reprehensible as was
tho Individual, chattel slavery of
oldN Slavery, compulsory labor, the
tying of men to their jobs, will be
no more tolerated now than was
chattel slevery then. 1t has no
more right to exist and is just as
repugnant under our democratic
form Of government as 1t would be
under a government of monarchial
bureaucracy or under any other
form of government"
Appeals to People.
The statement opens with a re-
quest to the American people to
give solemn consideration to this
declaration" and then proceeds:
Standing between two opposing
forces, uncompromising toward
both,- the American trade union
movement today finds itself and
every American institution of free
dom assailed and attacked by the
autocrats of industry
and the followers of radical Euro
pean fanaticism. II either of these
wins, the doors of democratic free
dom and opportunity can never be
reopened in our time"
eactionary employers started the
open shop movement. the labor
tice was signedo
Open shop Fight.
This entire campaign on the part
of the combined ,reactionary employ
'ra Is in no sense a campaign for
the open shop no matter what def
nition may be gigen 70 that term.
says the manifesto. The campaign
b (dist1nstiy and solely) one for q
shop that shall be closed against