The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-07-22
THE POWER OF GOVERNMENT

Government regulation of bust
nesses affected with the public in
terest" has gone on apacs since the
right of such regulation was first up
held by the United States supreme
court in 1876. The accumulation of
paternal legislation dealing with both
labor and capital dIseleses a variety
and volume of such laws which is as
tonishing. 1t signifies a radical de-
parture from the theory OF individual
rights and reaches almost the dignity
of a peaceful revolution in our juris-
prudence. But as this swollen tide of
regulation has swept onward. leading
in many cases to excuses and absurd
tiles, it has been a notable fact that
industrial warfare. which constitutes
a far greater social evil than many Of
the regulated evils, has been left
largely unregulated
The creation Of a government
agency by the state of Kansas to pro-
tect private business of public impor-
lance from interruption by industrial
warfare was a new departure Re-
viewing the recent decision of the
state supreme court unfolding the
court OF Industrial relations act Law
and Labor says:
The opinion of the court is not
merely legal opinion; it is an assay
on the power OF the government to
protect its citizens against injury from
the exercise CT the so-called right" to
strike. The opinion states a broad
principle-one whose operation it is
Hn1fflRlI1f n q
of industrial relations is justified by
facts, or is not justified at all, and it
Will be necessary to present a few dis
agreeable facts which lie naked to
astonished gaze in our industrial his
tory"
The opinion devotes five pages to
the presentation of "a few Disagree
able facts"-the railroad strike of 1894,
the Chicago milk strike, the steel strike
of 1919, the Boston police strike, the
recent Alabama coal strike, the Chi
cago public employees strike, the In
dianapolis dynamitings, and the great
coal strike of 1919 In the opinion of
the court the public distress attendant
upon these conflicts justifies the crea-
ton of government agency to protect
the public, justifies the power given
that agency to modify collective con-
tracts, to fix wage scales, and justifies
the enactment of law prohibiting
strikes.
Two propositions of far reaching
possibilities are presented by this de-
cision:
(1) The power of great organiza-
tons of labor to interrupt essential
industries, justifies and invites gov
eminent regulation of such industries
Cd Such regulation may fix the
prices paid for labor, the hours of Ia
Dor and the conditions under which
that labor must be rendered and there
can be no such thing as the right to
strike in protest.
Unlike the federal regulations gov
erning railroad employees, which are
derived from the power of congress to
regulate interstate commerce. specifi-
cally granted in the constitution, the
power of the state legislature upheld
by this decision is derived from the
genius of the common law. This
power when exercised to regulate
combinations cannot be made abortive
by constitutional guarantees of per-
sonal liberty or freedom of contract.
Such guarantees protect the individual
in the individual exercise of his per-
sonal rights. They do not protect him
when he conspires with others to in
jure the public.
The rendition of services in businesses
affected with the public interest is put
alongside the use of property in such
businesses. They stand equally sub
ject to the public welfare. The service
and the property may in good faith
be withdrawn, but the 1aborer or the
owner until he so withdraws from en-
terprises affected with the public use
must render his service and use his
property as that interest dictates.