Montana labor news., 1937-12-16

exercised by working men upon each
other which is objected to by those
who would amend this law takes
the form of force or threat of force
which is already a crime everywhere
and which is universally punished
as such. If it is claimed that city,
county, and state police and courts
do not in fact adequately detect and
punish these crimes, and that there
fore the Federal government should
step in, the proponent of such a
course must be ready to face certain
serious implications. First, the fed
eral criminal laws must be amended
to make these crimes federal crimes
if committed in the course of indus
trial strife. Next, if the Federal
government is to assume this re-
sponsibility it must recruit and
maintain an enormous police force
throughout the country, ready for
the sudden occurrence of industrial
conflict, and with authority to dis
place state, county, and local police
when such conflict occurs. The re-
sponsibility cannot be assumed I'M
less power be given to meet it.
No proponent of the coercion
from any source amendment has
suggested that a federal police estab-
lishment be thus created. Neither
would they be willing that the mild
remedy now used to prevent CO.
ercion by employers be applied to
a working man who coerces his fell
low worker, if that remedy were to
displace the legal burdens which
labor now bears. Some of them
offer instead the naive suggestion,
that If a labor union OF its members
have violated this law, the union
should be disqualified from func-
tioning as a collective bargaining
agency and should forfeit its rights
under the National Labor Relations
Act. Since the purpose and reason
for existence of a union is that it
may bargain collectively for its
members, this would in effect be a
death sentence. If this doctrine
were applied equally to both sides
of these conflicts, it would follow
that if an employer, whose business
is the making of automobiles, should
violate the labor law, his penalty
should be that he shouldn't make
any more automobiles, Oh at least
that he shouldn't hire any more la
Dor for the making Of automobiles.
There is no more reason why a
labor union chosen by employees
should, for its violation Of law, be
disqualified from dealing with an
employer, than why an employer
should, for his violation of law, be
disqualified from dealing with labor.
This proposal simply will not do.
To impose a death sentence on one
party who is already subject to
numerous legal penalties, in order
to counterbalance a mild cease and
desist" order limited to specific il
legal practices, on the other party,
cannot be justified by an argument
for equality.
The plain truth of the matter is
that industrial conflict always has
presented and always will present
a delicate and difficult problem cs
policing. Whether this policing be
done by federal, state, county, or
city police, there will always be con-
troversy as to whether the respon-
sible authorities have not been, on
the one hand too brutal and severe
or, on the other hand, too lax and
tolerant. Once the battle is joined
the community is at the mercy of
the judgment, good or bad, of the
authorities which have the policing
in their charge. The only real hope
is to prevent this strife from occur
ring, by removing its causes. The
National Labor Relations Act was