The Washington times., 1921-01-28
FATE Of A. FL.
HANGS 0NLAW
Arkansas Decision menaclng
Existence Of Unions Appealed
To Supreme Court.

Absolute destruction OF the
American Federation OF Labor. as al
present constituted. is threatened by
a supreme Court decision In the case
of the United Mine Workers OF
America against the Coronado Coal
Company ct al
In a suit for triple damages
against the United Mine Workers
the Coronado Coal Company was
awarded $625,000 by United States
Circuit Court OF Appeals OF Western
Arkansas. The Supreme Court is
asked by the miners to set aside
that verdict.
FUNDS IN JEOPARDY.
II the verdict is upheld every dol
lar I'm the treasures OF all the unions
in the United States will be In I'M
mediate Jeopardy-exposed TO attach-
ment by court action whenever any
CORPORATION Cor individual employer)
shall demonstrste that II has been
injured" by organized labor.
This crucial labor case arose In a
region whose sole INDUSTRY Is coai
mining. and where satisfactory
agreements between the union and
the owners had existed for several
years prior TO 1914. 1t Is confessed
in the record that the Coronado and
eight other companies with the same
ownership deliberately created
holding company with a West Vir-
ginia charter in order to break their
contract with the miners ana TO gam
the shelter OF the Federal courts las
opposed 90 the Arkansas courts) In
hot
low.
IMPORT NON-UNION MEN.
The holding companys hrst act
was to close all the mines. one OF
the mines was opened month later
and manned with non-union men I'M
ported from Tennessee and sur
rounded at the mine by armed gun
men who provoked quarrels with the
native population. Violence ensued
and some property was destroyed.
In it's suit against the United Mine
Workers of America the Coronado
and allied corporations make the
vitaIly important contention that by
seeking to protect the living stand
ard of the miners by organizing non
union miners the officers or the
United Mine Workers are engaged in
conspiracy to restrain interstate
commerce, in violation OF ths anti-
trust laws.
Congress has twice enacted laws to
stop child labor by excluding from
Interstate commerce the products OF
chRd workers. In declaring such
law null and void, the supreme court
has specifically declared that the act
Of bringing coal out of the ground
was not an operation in interstate
commerce. -
At the heart of the workers case
in this instance Is the right OF or
ganized wage-earners to protect
given standard of living by seeking
to organize the workers in non
union field. Upon that supposed right
the whole structure of safe and sane"
trade unionism in America has been
based.
EFFECT OF DECISION.
II the Supreme Court upholds the
verdict against the miners the follow
ing principles will have been written
into American institutions:
All dues collected by a union may
be seized by court fines If the union
Injuries" any employer.
Coal mining by little children is
not interstate commerce and cannot
be stopped by Federal law, while coal
mining by union labor Is interstate
commerce and must not be interfered
with by any labor union.
The welfare OF the wage-earning
class is not to be considered by any
Legislature or court when that well
fare runs counter to any property
right