Evening star., 1940-05-03
Says All Picketing
Is Unconstitutional
Recent Supreme Court
Decision Held Contrary
TO Busic Law


To Busic Law
TO the Editor OF The Star:
Please permit me to discuss the opinion
of the Supreme Court, written by Justice
Murphy, on the question Of peaceful
picketing and sustaining the right
thereof on the ground that it is the
exercise of the right of freedom Of
speech which may not be abridged.
1t would seem that the Justice went
very far afield for an argument to sus-
tain such acts. To one of ordinary in
telligence and discernment there seems
to be little connection or relation
between picketing and the freedom of
speech, nor is it clear how denying the
right G picketing abridges in any way
the freedom of speech of the would-be
picketers, for if workmen have a dis
pute with their employer the papers
and the hustings ere available to them to
tell their side of the dispute, and to say
Whatever they choose with untrammeled
freedom, subject only to the law of
libel
Under this decision a logical infer
ence is that picketing accompanied by
violence so gain the ends sought and
bring the issue before the public is also
an element of freedom of speech, and
that, therefore, violence in labor dis
putes Is sanctioned and protected by the
Constitution which provides that free
dom OF speech shall not be abridged.
just word now as to the legal right
OF plcketing. True, the courts have
sustained the right, but did they not err
IN doing so through ineptitude or
because the law of the subject was not
fully and intelligently presented to
them?
The Constitution of the United States,
that great charter of our liberties,
guarantees to every individual security
OF life, liberty, and property. The word
liberty was not used IN the Constitu-
ton In any narrow sense, but in the
broadest meaning as a result of the
abuses of individual liberty in the past
With which the trainers of the Constitu-
tlon were perfectly familiar 1t en-
braces and was intended to embrace all
OF the natural rights of man, such for
example as freedom of locomotion, free
dom OF conscience, and speech, free
oom OF contract with respect to the
Ordinary and usual matters of daily life
and intercourse, private ownership of
property with security in the use and the
possession thereof, the right to engage
In the pursuit of any and all legitimate
business and professional undertakings
Tor pleasure or profit, without let, hin
drance, or interference, except in so far
as such pursuits may be affected with
public interest, and which may be
therefore subject to governmental regu-
lation for the public welfare, such for
example as the operation of railroad.
The liberty to engage in legitimate
business, free from coercion, molestation,
or interference by others Is unques-
tionably right recognized and guar
anteed by the Constitution, and is en-
titled to the protection Of all the powers
Of Government
It is an unfortunate fact, as stated,
that ofttimes in the past our courts,
probably for the reasons given, have
failed to affirm and uphold the con-
stitutional rights of the citizen to i'm
munlty from picketing. 1t is also true
that the right to such protection often
has been denied by politicians, but they
are frequently found on that side of
every question that political prudence
and expedience dictate. Nevertheless,
it exists as fundamental right of the
citizen, which the Constitution simply
recognizes and proclaims.
Now what is the object of union labor
IN plcketing ones place of business,
whether it be done with violence or
peacefully? 1t is to coerce the propri-
etor into acceding to the demands of the
parties the picketers represent, and that
too often without regard to the practi-
cabllity or justice of the demands made
upon him, or his ability to pay an in
creased wage when that is the issue.
Under such circumstances what becomes
of the Constitutional liberty of the
PioPiAe1ol, VI illo pIUpeTIy TlSntS, ana
OF the free and untrammeled conduct of
his business? To sanction or approve
OF plcketing, no matter how peaceful,
is to make hollow mockery of the Con-
stitutional guarantees mentioned, to en-
courage violence, to deny the business
man the equal protection of the law"
and to strike fatal blow at the funda-
mental right of the ownership of
property, all of which are the bases of
social order, and bulwarks of civilization
Strike down these, securities, that have
become our heritage after 1000 years of
bloody struggle, and what will be the
inevitable results? Russia and Ger
many OF today give us the melancholy
and terrifying answer
Aside from the wrong and injury to
the person whose place of business is
picketed, and the infringement of his
most elemental rights, picketing is also
an annoyance to and an encroachment
upon the rights of the public, and is
well calculated to, and often does lead
to violence and disturbance of the peace
and good order of the community. In
the hotel strikes in the city of WASH
lngton a short time ago pickets were
SO numerous on the sidewalk and i'm
mediately in front of the entrance to
the Mayflower Hotel that pedestrians