Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1922-06-02

ers from "the act of displaying ban
ners with devices as a means Ct
threats and intimidation to prevent
persons from entering into, or con-
tinuing in the employment of the
plaintiffs" In issuing this injunction,
Judge Allen quoted the Springfield
Spinning Company VS.. Riley, which,
fourteen years previously, had been
set aside by the Lord Chancellor of
England upon the ground that an
equity court could not act, and had
no jurisdiction in such cases.
But a precedent had been estab-
lished for state courts to follow, just
as precedent had been established
for federal courts in the cases refer-
erd to in previous article.
The opening had been widened for
the further exercise of judicial "con-
SCIENCE" and as the years have
passed, trade-unionists have been en-
joined among many other acts from
in any way mentioning the fact that
a strike existed; from striking or con-
tinuing TO remain on strike; from in
any way publicly discussing specific
industrial dispute; from paying strike
benefits; from endeavoring to organ
ize the unorganized; from applying
the discipline of the laws which the
members themselves had made; from
resisting the employers effort to de-
stroy the union through the introduc-
ton of non-union men in the plant,
the discharge of members of the
union, or compelling all of the en-
ployes to sign contracts specifying
that they should withdraw from the
union and become a member of no
union while in the firms employ.
Courts Have Restrained Almost
Every Normal Activity.
In fact, practically everything
which trade-unionists have done to
protect their organizations from being
destroyed by employers, or in con-
nection with an industrial dispute re-
sulting in strike has been restrained
by some courts of equity.
These DEGREES emanating from the
judicial conscience" have met with
vigorous opposition on the part of
some of the country's greatest state
and federal judges, who have pointed
out the unjust, the unconstitutional
and un-American character of the
restraining orders.
The American presidents which
courts of equity use to justify their
injunctions are opposed by large
volume of American decisions which
vigorously condemn the precedents
which are cited by the Injunction
granting judge. The presidents which
have accumulated are so numerous
and so contradictory and conflicting,
that the equity court today can find
an ample number of decisions which
assist the Judge in deciding that he
should or should not grant the in
junction which has been asked for.
This condition is aptly described by
Judge Andrews in the case of Foster
VS.. Retail Clerks, New York, 1902.
"There will be no advantage he
said, in quoting and citing the Eng
| fish cases, or the cases in the neigh.
boring states. Every variety of views
and doctrine can be found. Authority
is abundant for almost every propo-
sition."
Judge Andrews stated the case
simply and briefly and in it announced
what every lawyer, judge and student
knows to be the fact, that the prece.
dents for and against the issuing Of
an injunction restraining certain act:
/, by trade-unionists are such that the
attorneys for both sides can present
an almost limitless number to support
their contention that an injunction
should or should not be issued.
One judges conscience" will MOI
permit him to issue an injunction al
requested by the employer because Of
| his conviction that to do so woulC
abrogate the wage-earner's constitu
tional rights; that it would intlict {
grave injustice; that it would permit
his court to be used by the employer
as an additional and weighty clul
with which to beat down labor.
| Another equity judge becomes &
partisan of the employers, and hi:
conscience" permits him TO shackls
labor's hands during an industrial dis.
pute. He issues his restraining or.
ders, commanding the wage-earners
to refrain from doing certain acts
and carrying out certain policies fol-
their self-preservation which the EN-.
ployers have an unquestioned right t.
do and which they enjoy without lega
or judicial interference.
How the Conscience" Has Worked
in Some Cases.
| Let us examine the equity icon.
science" as it has been expressed in
the Vermont case of State VS.
Stewart:
1.-THE exposure of legitimate bust
ness TO the. control of an association
that can order away its employees anC
brighten away others that it may seel
to employ, and thus be compelled t,
cease the further prosecution of ii
work, is a condition of things utterl,
at war with every principle of jus
tice and with every safeguard of pro
lection that citizens of our system o
government are entitled to enjoy.