The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1922-11-18
TRADE UNI0NISTS UNWILLING TO
! waive RIGHT TO TRIAL BY JURY
Workers Put In Unfair Position by Injunction and in Opposing
They Are Made to Appear Against Law and Order
BY JOHN p. FREY.
Editor international Molders' Journal.

1t Is possible tnat the TRACE"
union attitude toward violations
of the law when injunclions are
granted during strikes is not
thoroughly understood. Many
injunctions issued during an in
dustrial dispute restrain, among
other things, the committing of
crimes and .misdemcanors. As
the trade-union movement is OPP
posed to crimes and misdemean-
ors, as it does not intend 10 ap-
ply unlawful methods in conduct
ing a strike, the clauses of'in-
functions restraining the COM
hitting of crimes have not been
given the thoughtful consider
alton they deserve.
" When a judge about to issze an
Injunction asks Of the strikers at
torneys whether they are opposed to
crime. misdemeanor and lawlessness,
the invariable answer, and the quite
proper one, is that the strikers in
tend to obey the law and conduct
the strike in a lawful manner. And
this statement is invariably accept
ed by the court as good grounds for
Inserting within the Injunction, pro-
visions which restrain criminal acts.
Because of this there is a seeming
belief that the trade-union move
ment is not opposed to those fea-
lures of an Injunction which re-
strain strikers from committing law
less or criminal acts extending from
ordinary misdemeanor to murder.
The attorneys attitude and the
Judges position would be made more
clear, and the issue involved brought
into full daylight, if the judge would
ask the attorney whether there was
strained from committing crimes,
and the strikers attorney would re-
ply, in substance saying, we have
no objections, your honor, because
in view Of the fact that my clients
are on strike they are agreeable to
waving theirs right to a trial by
jury if any of them should be
enlarged with any violation Of the
law in connection with the strike.
: There can be few times in the
wage earner's life when the right
and protection of a trial by jury
is more important than during an
Industrial conflict, and yet the great
majority Of modern injunctions take
away, by the stroke of a judges pen,
the right of those enjoined to a trial
by jury. Those enjoined are SUBJ
:jected ia. charges Of contempt OF
court for having violated that por-
:::tion Of the restraining order pro-
,:hibiting lawless acts, and find them
SELVES charged with crimes, frequent
lily the victims Of frame-ups. with
but any opportunity of having a jury
pass upon the facts.
:, Courts of equity do not restrain
the committal of criminal acts out
side of labor disputes, because they
have no authority for so doing,
neither have they any better author
lily for restraining striking. workers
from committing criminal acts. But
this feature of the writ of injunc-
,tion is of particular value to the en-
ployers: tbs intended to have a. ter
rifying effect upon the strikers. It Is
intended to place within a judges
hands an authority which is denied
TO him otherwise. It operates under
the guise Of contempt charges to
place those accused before judge
Iwho becomes legislator, prosecutor,
Judge and jury.
!; In one ofs his remarkable express
sions Of opinion rpon this subject
Henry Clay Caldwell, one of the ma
tons greatest Federal judges, said:
Jury and injunction are terms
which cancel each other. In pro.
portion as the injunction is expand
led the right of trial by jury is re-
;stricted. And this result is not a
imere incident to the use Of the writ:
in many cases its real purpose is to
deprive party Of the right Of a
trial by jury. Armed with this pow
erful writ which has no definite
boundaries or Limitations and which
:. may be used at discretion, the pow
:er-the Federal Chancellor-may be
fairly characteristic as imperial"
T.: Not only is the trade-union move
,ment most vigorously opposed to the
writ Of injunction as it is applied in
labor cases, but especially is it. OPP
posed to those clauses Of the injunc-
'tion which restrain the committal
of crimes or misdemeanors, because
these features are intended to, and
do, prevent trials by jury when
Strikers are accused Of lawless acts
IN connection with a strike.
= An illustration Of the results fol-
lowing such restraining orders IS
afforded by the strike of our men,
:; bers (molders) in Milwaukee. in
1906. Some. $50 members were ar
rested at various times, charged
with either misdemeanors or more
serious crimes in connection with
the strike. Their cases were tried
either in the police court or before
Juries, the result being that not a
single conviction was secured. A fed
eral injunction, however, was is
;6ued, and under its provisions six
0r seven of the strikers were pun
j1shed and imprisoned for contempt
OF court. During this period a num-
Der of professional strike breakers
And armed guards, were, arrested
nharged with crimes against tho