Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-09-12

assault, dynamiting, whipping, derail-
ment of trains, burning of bridges, riot
ing, destruction of property and inter-
ference with trains In Interstate
traffic.
The defense protested that the list !
compiled by the department of justice
and sworn to by C.. J. Mcclure, attor-
ney for the department, was improper
Is evidence, but it was admitted for
the time being, on the understanding
that the government would produce fur
ther facts in its support
On the same understanding, Judge
Wilkerson admitted a certificate from
Postmaster General Hubert Work,
showing that 95S mail trains operating
over track aggregating 82,912 miles
have been withdrawn because of the
strike. and delivery of the mails has
been seriously hampered Likewise he
admitted a report from the director Of
agriculture of California showing the
falling off in fruit shipments during the
month of July because of the railroad
tieup, the need of cars to move the
crops and a petition of California fruit
growers to the interstate commerce
commission setting forth their need for
cars.
Array Of Attorneys
Attorney General Daugherty, who
ordered the original order and Is in
charge of the governments fight for
an Injunction TO replace it, was sup
ported by one of the heaviest batteries
of legal talent the government has ever
assembled in a Chicago court.
Elaborate precautions were taken to
guard against any untoward incident.
Special guards of department of justice
agents have been detailed to protect
the attorney general and Judge Wilker-
son. Long before court opened, picked
agents from the radical squad were
stationed at every entrance to the fed
eral building, while the rest of the
available force was scattered through
the court room.
d. r. Richberg, attorney for B. NJ.
Jewell, head of the shopmen. declared
in his opening statement that the acts
of the strike were entirely lawful The
restraining order, he said. was one
the court had no power to issue be-
cause, he maintained, Il Is unconstitu-
tional and violates the Clayton act.
If the bill is stripped of its conspiracy
allegation. he continued. all that is left
of the bill is to enjoin criminal acts
by unknown persons who may or may
not be members of strikers organi-
cations
The bill, Mr.. Richberg said. is based
are under a legal duty to obey the
decisions of the United States railroad
labor board.
Says Not Enforceable
There is nothing in the transporta-
viding any method for enforcing its
decisions except by public opinion, he
said. Even If the boards decisions
were legally binding they could not be
lawfully enforced to prevent the work.
ers from Withdrawing from service.
He quoted Congressman Esch. one
of the authors of the act, as saying
in congress that there is nothing OF
an anti-strike nature" in the law, and
also read similar statements by Sem
ator Cummins, whose name the law
also bears. From the message Of
President Harding to congress on the
present rail strike, the attorney read
sections in which the president brought
out the same absence of mandatory
provisions for the enforcement of the
boards orders.
The attorney general has no right,
Mr., Richberg declared, to use the power
of the government to prevent labor
from doing any lawful thing to fight the
"open shop" movement Whether the
open shop or the closed shop is to
prevail is entirely outside the province
of the attorney general and is q uues-
ton only the executive branch of the
government can pass on il it comes
under government jurisdiction at all, he
said.
The defense attorney cited the de-
cision of the circuit court of appeals in
the drastic provisions of the Injunction
issued by Federal Judge Anderson al
Indianapolis a few months ago against
the coal miners. From the appellate
courts decision he read that either
employers or union men have free ac-
cess and appeal 10 unemployed work
ers TO win employees on the one hand.
or union advents on the other, and that
employers have the right to appeal to
union men to become nonunion, wlils
union members may urge upon union
workers TO switch to their side.
Board Hears Attacks.
Ben W. Hooper. chairman of the
railroad labor board, entered the court
room during Richbergs attack on the
governments right TO enforce the
boards decisions and took a seat
within the bar. He was accompanied
| by several members of the board.
The Clayton act cannot apply to one
| right of the workers peacefully to in
| terfere with interstate commerce. To
get around the publications of Clayton
act, he said. the governments bill seeks
to maintain that the purposes of the
alleged conspiracy to interfere With
traffic are illegitimate and unlawful,
| but this, be maintained, is not trua
| The bill. he claimed. invokes jurisdic::
tion which has been denied feder@
courts.
The Clayton act cannot apply to ons
set of cases and not TO another. Rieh,
berg said, unless the attorney nerat
lis going to stand up in court ana claim
| that an act of congress when ne Is
sworn TO defend is unconstitutional
| TSe government comes into the cours
as nm employer within the meaning or
the CLAYTON act. he argued, because the
government. through the courts is op
Grating railroads under federal COURT
proceedings and is employing large
numbers of railroad men.
Attorney General Daugherty grtnned
broadly when shown copy OF an As
saciated Press bulletin from Washing
ton telling y the move Of Representa-
(contsdued on Page Two,
sss