Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-06-12
DECISION AGAINST
KANSAS INDUSTRIAL
RELATIONS COURT

Washington, June 1.-THE Kansas
law creating state industrial rcla-
tons court was declared unconsti-
tutional by the Supreme Court to-
day SO far as it attempted to fix
wages in packing houses, Chief JUS
tice Taft, delivering the decision in
a case brought by the Charles Wolff
Packing Company of Topeka, said the
law in that respect was in conflict
with the fourteenth amendment and
deprived the company of it's property
and liberty of contract without due
process of law.
1T has never been supposed since
the adoption of the constitution" the
court declared, that the business of
the butcher. or the baker, the tailor,
the woodchopper, the mining opera
tor or the miner was clothed with
such a public interest that the price
of his product or his wages should
be fixed by state regulation. Since
the adoption of our constitution, one
does not devote ones property or
business to the public use or clothe
it with public interest mereyl be-,
cause one makes commodities for,
and sell to, the public in the common
callingS of which those above men,
toned are instances.
AN ordinary producer, manufac-
turcr or shopkeeper may sell or not
sell as he likes, and while this fea-
ture does not necessarily exclude
business from the class clothed with
public interest, it usually disting-
uishes private from quasi-public &C.
cupatiOn."
The industrial court act was
aimed to compel arbitration through
state board, whose decision was to
be final, in all essential industries,
and thus insure continuity of pro-
duction. Pointing out that the law
permitted the employer who was dis
satisfied with the decision of the
court to go out of business and the
dissatisfied workmen to quit. pro-
vided he did not agree with his fell
lows to do so or combine with others
to induce them to quit, Chief JUS
tice Taft said the essence of the
statute curtailed the right of the
employer on the one hand, and of
the employe on the other to contract
about their affairs.
This is part of the liberty Of the
individual protected by the guar
anty of the due process clause of
the fourteenth amendment" he said
while there is no such thing as
absolute freedom of contract and 1t
is subject to a variety of restraints,
they must not be arbitrary or un-
reasonable"
While the was was directed to
prevent strikes in those industries
producing food, fuel and clothing, or
in the transportation of such arti-
Giles. and brought under the indus
trial court all public utilities and
common carriers, it was defended
by the state in the case today on
the ground that the preparation OF
food was affected by a public inter-
est and that it was within the power
of the legislature to SO declare.
The decision divided business af-
fected by a public interest into three
classes-those carried on under au-
thority of n public grant of privi-
leges imposing the affirmative duty
of rendering a public service de-
manded by any member of the pub
lie. such as railroads.: those occu-
pations, regarded as exceptional,
where the public interest attaching
has been recognized from earliest
times, such as keepers of inns, and
business enterprises which, though
not public at their inception, may
fairly be said to have become such !;
where the owner by devoting his
business to the public use in effect
grants the public an interest in that
use and subjects himself to public
regulation.
The mere declaration by 1egis-
lGture that business is affected with
a public interest, the court declared,
is not conclusive of the question
whether its attempted regulation on
that ground is justified. The express
sion clothed with a public interest"
as applied to business. the opinion
added. means more than that the
public welfare is affected by contin-
uity or by the price at which a COM
modify is sold or a service render
ed.
1.-THE circumstances which clothe
a particular kind of business with a
public interest must be such as to
create q peculiarly close relation" the
Chief Justice said, between the pub
lie and those engaged in It,"