Evening star., 1937-01-14
Sit Down Strike Key Point
General Motors by Heeding Union Demands Would
Set Precedent Affecting All Property Rights.

Der of shares Of General Motors stock.
This was seriously unfortunate.
Nearly every one will agree that the
judge should have remembered his
personal interest and asked to be
excused from acting. It Is . time
for meticulous observance Of pro-
priety by all who have oficial re-
sponsibility. Any other Judge could
have issued the writ: the process Il
one Of familiar routine.
Local Public Opinion.
Apparently the writ was served,
and apparently the strikers ignored
it. This brings the situation down
to one Of local public opinion.
whether the community will condons
violation of law not checked by the
appropriate machinery Of law en-
forcement. II the community does
not condone, and II the local law
omcials cannot enforce the law. the
next step would ordinarily be an ap-
peal to the Governor of the State
for help. presumably for State police
or the militia.
1t has been interesting TO observe
the 1nroads on property rights that
have accompanied the depression.
Quite early some legislatures passed
laws reducing the rights Of mort
gagees and one of these, . Minnesota
law, was sustained by the supreme
Court of the United States. Other
legislative bodies passed laws re-
ducing the right Of landlords 10 evict
tenants; some Of these also have
been sustained by the courts.
Statutory inroads on property rights
are, however, less serious than private
inroads which succeed and are not
checked by the courts or other ma
chinery Of government. In some Mid
western States there were few cases
Of farmers, with the aid Of neighbors,
forcibly resisting "tax-sales," sales OF
their farms because OF non-payment
of taxes. There were . few similar
resistances to "sherifIs' sales" fore
closures of mortgages. In one case
in which the sheriff was forcibly pre-
vented from executing q writ, the
court inflicted prison sentences upon
leaders of the resistance.
Coal BootIegging an Example.
A conspicuous example 'of illegal
entry upon and use of property which
neither the local courts nor the State
government checks, Is the so-called
"bootlegging" Of coal from lands
owned by corporations in the anthra-
cite district of Pennsylvania. Reports
agree that the bootlegging Is con-
doned by local public opinion. on the
ground that the mines are left idle
by the owning companies. that the
miners take the coal and bootleg 1t
in order to live, and that the towns
and communities dependent on the
mines would be paralyzed If 1t were
not for this frankly outlaw trafnc.
These conditions constitute dis
tinction between the case Of the
Pennsylvania coal miners and that
Of the sit down" strikers in Michi-
gan. The Pennsylvania miners 60 on
the companies property and take the
coal and sell it because the companies
do not operate the mines and give
the miners employment. The Michi-
gan strikers "sit down" in the factory
for the precise purpose Of preventing
operation.
Ordinarily most kinds Of inroads on
property right are temporary; they
pass with the depression or war or
other abnormal condition that gives
rise to them. But strikes are frequent
and often justified during normal con-
ditions. And If it now becomes legal
or customary for strikers to occupy
buildings against the wills Of the own
ers, the result would be . permanent
reduction of property right which, as
o precedent, might affect all property
rights of all persons at all times.
Copyright. 1882