The labor world., 1922-09-16
Attacks Daugherty.

Attorney Donald c. Richberg.
counsel for the railroad unions, att
tackled Attorney General Daugherty Z
in sensational manner at the hear>
ing Monday. He declared Daugherty
had 'betrayed the confidence of the
court and consequently is betraying
respect for the court and law and
order. ~
Mr. Richberg at the outset Of the
hearing moved for the dismissal OF
the writ. In arguing his motion hei
made an impassioned plea outlining
the shopmens' case, continually 1ays
ing stress on the false presenta~ /
tons Of the attorney general. e.:
"1n reading the brief page by
page" said Richberg, 1T becomes
apparent that the conspiracy alls-
cations are based upon the assump~i
ton that the defendants were under
legal obligation to obey a decision {
regarding wages laid down by the
United States railroad labor boards
No Legal Obligation.
'"The courts attitude on whether
this assumption is we'll grounded Is
vital. The labor board, wish to as /
sure the court, has no power from !
the transportation act to enforce its
decisions" u;
Richberg then pointed out that no;
| laws have been sustained to force
workers to accept certain scale
Of wages, that the United States su~i
preme court repeatedly has held that
workers and employers shall always
be left free to regulate the wages.
| under which they shall harmonious
ly work. !,
"The right of employees In private
service to take concerted action is
unquestioned and recognized" Rich.
berg said. 1.-THE impression is given
that employees in public service such
as the railroads, have no such rights
There IS no such legal Distinction
There is no discriminatory against
the right of a peaceful and lawful
strike
Declares Strike Is Lawful. =;
1.-THE purpose of the defendants is
entirely lawful" Attorney Richberg
continued. "This court has no power
to grant this bill for injunction be-
cause the purposes which it seeks
| to carry out are perfectly legal
acts"
AS the attorney started his argu-.
ment, Chairman Ben w. Hooper of
the United States labor board, and
G. w. w. Hanger and Colonel ]. II.
Elliott, both members of the board.
! entered the court room and waxa
interested spectators. s
While Attorney Richberg was alone
as counsel for the strikers, Attorneys
Frank L. Mulholland, Thomas Stew
enson and Oscar J. Hern, all Of Cleve.
land, Ohio, representing the brothers
hoods of Locomotive Firemen and
Engineers, were present in an ads
visory capacity. Among the spectas
tors were Timothy Shea, vice presi~
dent Of the Firemen's brotherhoods
and C. E. Curtis, vice president OF
the engineers. =. =
Would Modify Order. 2
While the attorney generals as<
surance that requests for modifica>
ton of the drastic restraining order
will be considered" was not COM
strued as binding the government to-
any concessions. Mr.. Daugherty has
been repeatedly quoted since the tnS
junction was granted as saying dras>:
tic provisions which had been inter<
preted as curbing free speech. freq
press and free assembly, would be
toned down If not eliminated in case
the injunction lis made permanent;
The unions will endeavor to show
that no acts Of violence had been
countenanced and that the acts al~
legged to have been committed were
no part Of the shop crafts campaign
in the conduct of the strike.