Evening star., 1921-03-08
Editorial Digest
Labor Threatening the Courts.

so long as labor unions stick to their
| legitimate purposes and practices OF CO.
operating to increase their wages when
| they are too low, to better their work
! ing conditions when they are not right.
| to improve economic results and to sta
bilize industrial situations" the New
York Herald independently believes
they not only. in truth. are ent1re!y
within the rights already belonging TO
them. but they are in a useful and 1uSu-
fable business" And in maintaining
these rights the Herald feels that unions
have mo need to demand" public sup
port because lit is theirs. with TINS
position the American press in general
! sympathizes. But when the American
Federation of Labor goes beyond thc
economic field and issues what IS uni
versally interpreted in editorial columns
as a deliberate defiance of courts ana
judicial procedure, this sympathetic at
titude quickly changes to one OF severe
condemnation of doctrine that IS call
ed Revolutionary" and "anarchistic.
The Philadelphia Public Ledger unde-
pendenD suggests that 'if the fedora =
ton would retain the support and sym
pathy" which its economic program ue-
serves. 'it would be wise to CONSIDER
whether it is not going far beyond the
limits of logic or of justice when it cou-
pies a. defensive program with an aG-
greSSve demand for special privileges
and exemptions.
Coming from so powerful an or
ga anization." the fcderation's attack on
the Injunction and the judicial sys-
tenn" with an outline of the course
which it promises to pursue. be the
consequences what they may. com
mands consideration. in the opinion OF
the Chicago Tribune Gndependent re-
publican). since. to quote the New
York Journal of Commerce Gndepcnd-
l,n1 In n
our system of the administration of
justice"
The official announcement OF "a nat
refusal on the part of labor to recog-
nize or abide by the terms of inJunc-
tions which seek to prohibit the do
ing of acts which the workers have
a lawful and guaranteed right to do
is nothing less. as the Norfolk Nlr-
ginian Pilot (democratic) sees it. than
"a declaration of independence of law.
a declaration of revolt against au-
thority." To the Knoxville Journal
and Tribune (republican), it is more
than that. it is organized labor's no
tice to constitutional authorities that
it is the government" In support of
this view the Boston Transcript Gnde-
pendent republican, remarks that "a
casual examination of the "Constitu-
tion of the United States and the new
declaration of what assumes to be
American organized labor" is suffi-
cient ito convince any one that the
new declaration is utterly subversive
of the other"
What does this fiat refusal to obey
the courts mean?' the Lynchburr
tNa) News tdemocratic) asks. and
gives it's Interpretation thus: 1T OBJ
viously contemplates anarchy. For If
our courts are stripped of their power
because the people won't obey their
orders. then we have case which
means an open assault upon the very
structure of organized society-a
challenge flung into the face Of gov
ernment. daring it to show cause
whether it has the right to survive"
1T was bad days business" the
Spokane Spokesman Review Gnde-
pendent republican, thinks, when
that defiant challenge was hurled in
the name of the American Federation
of Labor because 'it is a dangerous
and un-American sophistry that the
men who nut out this call. not the
courts. shall be the judges of what is
lawful and what unlawful and be-
cause. the Houston Chronicle tinde-
pc endent) adds whenever the Ameri-
can people enter the realm Of defiance
as mans of forcing the repeal or
modification of laws. in that hour
their government ceases to be de-
mocracy."
The Norfolk Ledger Dispatch Gn-
dependent democratic) doubts that
Samuel Gompers seriously believes
that the courts should be deprived of
the power to declare laws unconsti-
.utional.' since he must know that:
without that check the Constitution
would be only another scrap of paper.
If the courts did not have
that power, there would be nothing to
prevent the pa ssaGe of legislation
cruelty unjust to the very group
which he represents. With
out that restraining hand it is con-
ceivable that a reactionary Congress
might enact laws which would result
in the establishment of a virtual sys-
tenn of peonage.'