The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1950-11-23
Yellow Dog Contract. Symbol Of
FeudoIism. Wogging It's Toll Again

of new interpretations.
He said UNIV was conducting ;
conspiracy to persuade miners t.
quit Hitchman in violation of then
contracts with the company. HI
said the very fact the union asked
a miner to join was violation Of
peaceful persuasion" He said the
strike was a clear case of trying t.
ruin the company by depriving i
of revenue for so days. He ruled i
was "foul and injurious prostitu
ton" and happened simply because
rival companies refused to gram
union terms until Hitchman was
organized. He said conspiracy ex.
listed and told the company it coulc
recover damages if it took the pro
per legal action. Finally, Judge
Dayton wrapped the whole thing
up by saying the UNIV needed tt
be restrained because it had al
ready won over 125 of the miners
TO 1CS cause.
The union appealed, but it slipp'
ed up on a technicality which re-
quired filing within 80 days, anc
five years inched by before the
case came to trial. The case was
tried before the same Judge Day.
ton. The UNIV might just as wei
have taken the Christmas holidays
off in 1912, because the judge Ella
borated on his opinions when he
handed down the injunction.
He said West Virginia law went
back before 1776 and under such
law it was as unlawful for labor to
form monopoly as for capital. He
said the principles and practices
of the union made it an unlawful
organization, that union principles
deprived workers of the right tC
work because it made them obey
union orders to strike.
He ruled that union agreements
limiting the employer to hiring OF
union men were an intrusion upor
his right to run his own business
He said the UNIV was trying to
gain control of the coal mining
business by setting up an illegal
monopoly and by conspiring with
rival coal operators. Then he made
the injunction perpetual" because
to remove it would deprive the
company of its competitive advant-
ages.
The UNIV appealed to the US
Circuit Court Of appeals and hit
pay dirt. This court reversed prac-
tically everything Of Judge Day
ton's-so the company appealed to
the US Supreme Court. The Sup
RENE Court went back to the orr
ginal findings and upheld the
"yellow dog" contract. 1t said a
contract not to join a union was a
valid contract, that inducement to
join another union was equivalent
to breach of contract, that the
UNIV was guilty Of fraudulent
practice. because it told its memr
bers not to tell the company they
had joined the union. Also, the
court said the right to strike was
not the right to instigate a strike,
that by shutting down a mine by
strike they tried to coerce the COM
pany into recognizing the UNIV,
and that the injunction was right
and proper.
Justice Brandeis, in minority
opinion, said the union had a right
to solicit members among Hitch
man workers, that neither the
union nor its activities were illegal,
and that the ends and means it
used We're also legal.
However, the majority opinion
made the yellow dog" contract the
law of the land. Before, a worker
felt that it was "just something he
signed" and he didn't hesitate to
join a union. The Supreme Court
ruling said he had no right to join
a union after signing a "yellow
dog" pledge because he had en-
tered into an individual contract
with his employer and that by sign
ing with the union he violated the
contract
While this opinion spurred de
velopment of company unions, it
also gave added impetus to the
growing resentment among work
ing men against the judicial sys-
tenn which still based its reasoning
on feudal concepts. 1t was the cry
stallization Of this resentment that
led to the labor reforms we have
had so far.