Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-09-04
LABOR A PILLAR
IN AMERICAN GOVERNMENT,
JOHN W. DAVIS DECLARES
Calls Upon Workers to Lead in Making Nation Secure
Against War-Says Writ of Injunction in
Strikes Has Been Abused

tyrannical. When labor bargains on
equal terms with its employer, both
parties to the contract owe it tC
themselves and owe it to society to
keep and perform with scrupulou5
honesty the contracts they have
made"
Mr.. Davis made an indirect refer.
ence to the third party when he said,
1T is because / believe in liberty
that is above and beyond all govern
mental control that | cannot sympa,
thize with those who would give
to congresses and legislatures, or
even to a popular majority, the
power to do whatever they might see
fit There is no such thing in
America as government by discre-
ton. 1t is not the strong who need
protection against unwise and un
just laws, nor against the encroach-
mentS Of power; it is the weak OF
whom the burden of such things is
most apt to fall. They have the
right to call upon the courts to say
to every governmental autocrat
great or small, thus far shall thou
go and no further
Injunction Writ Abused
On the subject of court injunctions
in labor disputes, Mr.. Davis made
!, himself perfectly clear. He said:
"There is one complaint, however,
which labor has had cause to make
against judicial process which is well
founded. In my judgment there have
| been many cases in the past where
the writ of injunction has been
abused in connection with labor dis
putes. Injunctions have been issued
which by their terms went beyond
any proper limit and sought to de
priVe men of a lawful exercise OF
indisputable rights. They have been
framed with PARTISAN zeal and their
effect has been to cast upon the
courts the performance of duties
which properly belong to those eX-
ecutive officers of the state or ma
ton who are primarily charged with
the preservation of pubic peace and
public order.
cit is not well for society, it is not
we'll for the courts, it is not well
for the parties themselves that these
things should be SO. My views on
this subject are not the result of
any newly formed conviction. When
[ was your representative in con-
gress | was given opportunity to
take part in framing and defending
legislation intended to correct these
evils, to limit to its proper func-
lions the writ of injunction and to
give the right Of trial by jury to
those who are charged with criminal
contempt. L believed then, as | be-
lleve now, that such legislation was
demanded. If the legislation already
passed is not sufficient guidance in
chs matter We must write it in
palmer terms.
Red" PeriIs Imaginary
Il do not envy the frame of rlind
which causes some men to charge
all who disagree with them with
plotting the destruction of the re-
public. To judge from recent ut
terances there are those in this coun-
try who see q conspiracy whenever
three Workmen meet together, a
riot when the numbers grow to ten
and revolution if it reaches a hun
dred. Around every corner turks a
red and nothing but the utmost
vigilance of these self-appointed
saViors will rescue the country from
the destruction that he is plotting.
OF course, in a country so diver.
sltled as ours, many mistaken ideas
are set afloat. Wild theories of gov
eminent and OF society are thrown
up in population that contains so
many sorts of men. But I am one
of those who continue to believe that
the best disinfectant, moral or plysi-
cal, is fresh air. The best defense
against the tyranny of the few or the
despotism of the many, is free and
open debate L prefer liberty with
all its perils. including the liberty
to make mistakes, to any system by
which the government seeks to set
itself up as the universal shepherd
Of us ALL
Calls Labor to Lead
THE age in which we live differs
vastly in its social and economic re-
lations and in the facts of it's indus
trial life from the age in which our
government Was founded. The glory
of our system has been that it
adapts itself to meet the new prob
lens Of our eyerchanging life. La
Dor has shared and must continue to
share in the responsibility of its
adoption. 1t still remains to be
shown, however, whether we our
selves are able to rise to that new
conception of international relations
what these changes demand.
This generation needs no further
lessons of the peril and destructive
ness of war? We must bring our
selves to think in terms of lasting
peace. With American flyers about
to complete the circuit of the globe
by air, with the human voice carry
ms across the ocean, and with men
becoming every day more and more
dependent upon products brought
from foreign Soil, those who counsel
Isolation are blind leaders of the
blind. We shall have world peace
and world disarmament if we are
willing to work for it, We will not
set it on any other terms.
Il call upon the laboring men and
women of America and those on
whom the burdens or war fall with
most crushing weight to lead their
fellow cOuntrymen on this great sub
ject, to make sure that America
takes her rightful place in the coun
ellis OF humanity and that she be-
comes the first among the nations
in the service of mankind
! d o1 4 7 - IL