The Connecticut labor news., 1922-06-30
F. OF L. PROPOSES STRONG AMENDMENTS TO CONSTITUTION
Convention Program Calls For
 Abolishment of Growing Evils

Workers Ot AmerfCa VS. OOronadc
 Coal Co.,, which in effect opens the
 way for general raid upon union funds, by holding that labor unions are suable as such and liable for dam
 ages to employers if caused by unlaw- full acts on the part of any of their striking numbers, whether such acts be authorized or not, so long as the strike is sanctioned by the union. Thus by six decisions the United , States Supreme Court, composed oi from the people and without respon- sibility to the people, has set aside 3
 congressional enactment which clear 1y expressed the will of the vast ma jority of the people, and all but out lawed the activities of organized la bor, which alone can protect the workers from the oppression and aggression of the greedy and cruel in, tereStS.
 This despotic exercise of usurped power by nine men, or bare major
 lty of them, over the lives and fiber ties of millions of men, women and children, is intolerable With the immortal Lincoln we believe that The people of these United States are the masters of both Congress and courts, not to overthrow the Consti- tuition, but to overthrow the men per vert the Constitution" Speech al Cincinnati, Sept. I7, I85o)
 We are determined to preserve our rights as workers, citizens and free men, and we call upon all fair minded and iberty-ioving citizens to unite with us in a determined effort to de prive the courts of the despotic pow CTS which they have assumed, and to make our government in full measure a government of the people, for rfle people and by the people. To this end your committee recommends that the convention record itself in favor of, and promote the adoption of
 amendments to the Constitution oi
 the United States for the following purposes:
 Constitutional Amendments I. An amendment prohibiting the labor of children under the age of It years in any mine, mill, factory workshop or other industrial or mer- cantile establishment, and conferring upon Congress the power to raise the minimum age below which children shall not be permitted to work, and to enforce the provisoins of the pro- posed amendment by appropriate leg islation.
 ?. An amendment prohibiting the enactment of any law or the making of any judicial. determination which would deny the right to the workers of the United States and its terrltos- ies and dependencies to organize for the betterment of their conditions, t0 deal collectively with employers: to Il 1ohor patronage and induce others to do SO B. An amendment providing that fl the United States Supreme Court de constitutional, or by interpretation asserts a public policy at variance with the statutory declaration of Con-
 gress, then if Congress by two- thirds majority repasses the law, 1t shall become the law of the land. 4 In order to make the Constitu- tion of the United States more hexi- ble to meet the needs of the people,
 an amendment providing for easier amendments of the same.
 Legislative Relief Program. Your committee further recom- mends that in conjunction with the campaign for the adoption of the sug- geSCeQ Congress be urged to enact: :. A. A Child Labor Law which will
 overcome the objections raised by the laws heretofore passed by Congress and nullifed by the court;
 B. A law which will make more definite and effective the intention oi Congress in enacting Sections 6, Ie
 and 20 of the Clayton Act, which was
 manifestly ignored or overridden by the court.
 C. A law repeating the Sherman Antitrust Law, which was intended by Congress to prevent illegal com binations in restraint of trade, com monly known as trusts, but through judicial misinterpretation and perver- sion has been repeatedly and mainly invoked to deprive the toiling masses of their natural and normal rights. Your committee also recommends that the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor be authorized and directed to call con- ferences of persons and associations interested in any or all of the above specified recommendations, for the
 purpose of obtaining advice, assist ance and cooperation in the prepa<a- ton of the proposed laws and con- stitutiona amendmelnts, and in the education of public opinion for their support and adoption; and that the Executive Council be authorized to approve, in behalf of the American Federation of Labor, the laws and constitutional amendments so pre- pared, and to take such further action as may be deemed advisable to pro mote their enactment.
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