The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-03-23

kSOUBeYelC aU@ 7tT .r lninlstration, and just another stick with which to beat the dog. Another group of vociferous ob- jectors is made up of those who look upon the law as g sacred cow. which must not be touched and who confuse legality with justice. This lot clings to the conviction that no matter what order is issued by g court of law that order must be obeyed regard less. They are the people, not few in number, who lind bitter fault with Governor Murphy of Michigan for not sending the military forces of the state into the General Motors plants in Flint to lnachine-gurl the sit- downers out of the buildings. To them the shedding of blood and the destruction of human life is immaterial The right to possess private property is all that mat tets. When that right comes into conflict with human rights the latter must be subordinated. The law, deaf, dumb, and blind though 1t may be is supreme. Flcuttng It's application and fighting its en- forcement Is the first deadly blow at what they call American insti- tutions. It might not be altogether untimely to recall that If there had been no fiouting English law and fighting its enforcement along about 1775 there would be no such thing in existence as the United States of America. How ever, that was so long ago that 1t is not worth mentioning.
 Another Group
 There remains another group, Q very large number of bona-fide Americans, who while sympathetic with the cause of the working class and who have been constant in calling attention to the abuses under which that class has suf- fered, still look upon the sit down strike as altogether con- trary to law and morals. They de- plore the disrespect into which the law has fallen because they look upon 1t as the symptom Of deep-seated disease which If not cured permanently spells the tin- ish of a democratic government in this country. They see 1t as bringing on either Fascist or a Communist dictatorship, which no matter how 1t is named, means the same thing-the establish ment of a totalitarian state in which the rights of the individual are annihilated. This group IS considering not only the havoc which the new engine of destruc- tion is creating in the present conflict but also, and even more seriously, the causes which brought it into operation.
 Monkey See! Monkey Do!
 My own belief Is that however great the cost of the existing in- dustrial war to all the parties in volved, capital, labor, and the public, 1t IS insignificant If the cause of 1t is eradicated for all time to come. That cause, as many see 1t, Is the con- tempt for the law of the land, and the higher law of justice and charity, which has been and is be- ing, displayed by the great finan- clal and industrial interests of the nation. Respect for the law and complete submission to its en- forcement can only return to stay when that law is just to all, when its enforcement is even handed, and when the top flight of our economic society sets the example of law observance to the sub merged masses. How can the ena- ploying class expect its employees to- jump to instant obedience Of the law when the employees know the boss has thumbed his nose at the same law and gotten away with the thunbing9 Monkey see! Monkey do! G.f
 Witnesses
 Tn his statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee last Satur- day Justice Ferdinand Pecora Of the New York Supreme Court. stated that before working men and women engaged in sit-down strikes that tactic had been ell- plcyed by those occupying the seats of the financial mighty. He
 By Ed Reed