The New York herald., 1921-02-07
CLOTHING WORKERS
ANSWER BIG SUIT
Affidavits by Educator,
Writer and Labor Leaders
Defend Organization.

Affidavits extolling the purposes and
practices OF the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers OF America have been filed In
the Supreme Court by Samuel Seabury
and associated counsel to lay the
foundation for the defence which the
union win make in the 100000 damage
suit and injunction proceedings insti-
tuted against 1t by the j. Friedman
Company OF this city.
The suit brought against the union
asks that the Amalgamated be dissolved
because Il is IAN unlawful combination
and conspiracy. organized and existing
solely for preventing the plaintiff and
others from exercising lawful trade
that the union and its agents be per-
petually and permanently enjoined and
restrained from plcketing the plaintiff,
and that 100000 be awarded for dam
ages suffered by the plaintiff
Though the papers filed by the plain
tiff charge the union with Communism,
with a desire and intention of destroy
ing private property and with outspoken
sympathy for the principles of the Third
Internationale, these charges, which
really form the basis of the suit. are re-
ferred to only casually in the affidavits.
Most of the affidavits discuss at length
the theory of collective bargaining
Among the authors of the affidavits
are Professors Edwin r. A. Seligman
and Henry r. Seager of Columbia Uni
versty Ray Stannard Baker, John
Fitch. George Soule. Mrs. Florence Kel-
ley. Allen L. Burns. Jacob NJ Moses OF
Baltimore and many labor leaders.
Pointing to the important reforms in
the administration of the clothing shops,
the affidavits declare that the dissolu-
tion of the union would be a public
misfortune. They see the return of
the sweat shop and the other evils of
an antiquated industrial system" Prof.
Seligman is quoted as saying: II should
like to characterize the mere attempt
to put them on the level of the I. w. w.
or to cause their disruption and disap-
pearance as a most short sighted, re-
Srettable endeavor. fraught with haz-
ardous consequences to the future of
American industry and to the progress
Of industrial peace"
Ray Stannard Baker says in his affi-
davit: IF the Amalgamated Clothfns
Workers OF America were destroyed and
broken up to-day, It would be a ca
tastrophe resulting in the huge growth
of radicalism in the clothing industry"
A statement given out yesterday by
the union quotes some Of the more i'm
portant parts or the affidavits and says
that the charges of radicalism, failure
to carry out agreements and contracts
and similarity to the I. w. w. are
thereby ~"effectually punctured."
The suit by the J. Friedman Company
was filed after the fight between en-
ployers and the Amalgamated had been
going on for several months and most
of the clothing shops in the city had
haep at a standsfill II was charged
that the workers had resorted to violence
and that the sole purpose of the union
was TO gain control of the clothing
industry in this city. The leaders of the
union were charged with open advocacy
of Communism and with the intention
of destroying the property Of the manu-
tacturers. Specific instances were cited.
The allegations by the Tlaintiff were
similar to those in the famous Dan
bury hatters case, which resulted in
the defeat of the union.