Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1921-12-16
A CHRISTMAS STORY,
NOT QUITE SO MERRY
AS SOME OTHERS


1t is written that once a great many
centuries ago a powerful monarch re-
fused TO be convinced when there was
written upon the wall of his banquet
chamber words which means;
weighed in the balance and found
wanting" The words we're warning
but Nebuchadneezar failed to com
prehend. History is filled with the
records of monarchs who lacked the
ability to heed the warning of rising
resentment against oppression and
cruelty.
These monarchs have passed away
and most of the expressions and
cruelties for which they have stood
have passed with them.
The impounding of men and women
in slavery has been abolished.
The right of barons TO command
the unpaid services of hordes of hui
man beings has been abolished.
States no more make laws forbid
ding the increase of wages.
The right to organize is no longer
denied by law.
The right of kings to enforce ODE
dience to laws in the making OF
which there has been no popular
voice has been abolished.
But though progress has beer
great, not all oppression and cruelty
has been abolished.
One of the most amazing examples
of arbitrary action remaining to MAJ
the democracy of our day is the in
junction.
The Injunction is an order issued
by a Judge. 1t is the modern equiva-
lent of the old royal command. The
judge commands and he Furnishes fol
disobedience of the command. He
lays down the law, fixes the punish
ment for its violation and then exc
cutes the sentence.
The principle that is involved when
a judge issues an injunction is exact
ly the same principle that was In
volved when king issued a decree.
IL is almost possible to envision the
war chariots, the fan-waying court at
PENDANTS, the mercenary soldiery of
the ancient courts of medieval ages.
There is no difference in principle
between the issuance of an injunc-
ton by Judge in a court room in
apolis and the handing down of de-
Solomon or Nero or Wilhelm.
In each case representative gov
eminent is absent, absolutism is pres
ent and the people are ordered in
their conduct by an unauthorized au-
tocrat.
When the Clayton law was enacted
it was believed the day of the injunc-
ton in industrial disputes was passed.
That law provided that no more such
injunctions should be issued.
The president, in signing the act,
declared in effect that certain judges
had so conducted themselves in vio-
lation of then existing law that it
was necessary for them again to be
explicitly told where their power end
ed and that he was glad TO sign a bill
that would tell them.
The Clayton Act told the judges
where to stop, but they have mani
tested as little regard for the law of
the land as autocrats customarily
manifest.
Recently the business of issuing in
functions has been brisk. In the past
two months some notably sweeping
injunctions have been issued. Judges
are getting more ruthless. They are
coming to have more sweeping dis
regard of the law.
The false position of the injunc-
ton Judges is clear to all persons
who understand the law, but it is
proven doubly by the court system
itself. Where one judge will grant
an injunction another judge, acting
in a similar case, will deny an injunc-
ton. There is no uniformity of court
conduct. This proves that the issu-
ance of an injunction in an industrial
dispute is a matter of personal pref
erence with the Judge. If he hates
labor, if he feels and thinks like an
autocrat, if he is irritable, he issues
an injunction. So it was with Nero.
He had a blue evening and went out
and burned Rome.
The American Federation of Labor
has declared that the unlawful in
junction must be resisted. That is
fundamental doctrine. Men who fol-
low that doctrine will comport them
selves in a manner fitting them to the
company of the worlds champions of