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The Commoner
VOL. 14, NO. 12
20
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Labor's New Magna Charta the
Clayton Antitrust Law
In a late issue of the Chicago Her
ald, William L. Chonory tolls the
etbry of labor's fight against "gov
ermont by injunction" and tho mean
ing of its final triumph through the
passage of tho labor section of tho
Clayton antitrust bill. The article
follows:
" 'The labor of a human being is
not a commodity or article of com
merce.' That sentence written into
tho law of tho land through the Clay
ton anti-trust bill marks a turn in
tho industrial development of the
nation. Tho paragraph which it in
troduces Is more significant for mil
lions of Americans than the Magna
Charta or tho Declaration of Inde
pendence. It is indeed a' declaration
of freedom, and asseveration that
never again can men be treated as
inanimato objects of commerce,' that
never again can men bo debased to
tho level of things.
If you are plodding along in a dull rut under
paid gnashing your teeth with an unfulfilled
ambition to "get ahead" to be somebody, I can
vmctt itfAlir littlrv vaii In Ka ttiA etifACcfi1 mnn xmn
1vT;TT' want to be. I nave helped thousands of others who
ftladly testify for me. I will help YOU. Read and
earn for your own sake. J. E. MARKUS, Prea.
American Correspondence School of Law,
IS YOUR
0 L A
NEW TRUST ACT A RE-
nRMPTION OF DEMO-
CRATIC LABOR
PLEDGE i ,.
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"Tho labor section of the Clayton
bill has been won, subject always to
the approval of the supreme court
at the end cf an enormous struggle.
Once before it passed through both
houses of congress only to be vetoed
by President Taft. More than any
act of the government within years It
is a peace measure. It gives to labor
the liberty to struggle peacefully for
tho upbuilding of millions. It gives to
men much the same rights in indus
try which their fathers secured cen
turies ago in politics. It is a mark
of the new epoch.
' THE COURTS AND LABOR
"Every one eyen faintly in sym
pathy with the labor movement long
has been aware of the aloofness be
tween law courts and labor. Rightly
or not, labor has felt that the courts
have not seen its point of view nor
appreciated its urgencies. This sep
aration between working men and
judges has been perhaps an inevit
able development in the history of
courts whose foundations were laid
and whose limits were determined
generations before the modern doc
trine of collective bargaining was
formulated.
"Every one knows the way in which
the injunction has been used against
labor unions. The injunction was of
course an emergency device invented
to prevent the lops of property rights
which could not be protected by ordi
nary litigation. The injunction has
grown in theory and in practice un
til it shoots as broadly as a gatling
gun. The Sherman anti-trust act
had grown similarly into a weapon
against labor. Its ineffectiveness
against trusts had been proved abun
dantly; its effectiveness against, la
bor unions as. .generously had been
demonstrated.
"Through its terms the officers of
the united Mine Workers were in
dicted in West Virginia, in Michigan
ODDOrtunitV ana ln Colorado during strikes. I
ViJWI IMlll.Jf TL,,m.i Ml nan .mirf ,. At
blows were struck at the very vitals
of the labor movement and indeed
at the heart of free institutions.
The simplest civil rights in these
states were attacked and miRnfinfi0.fi.
Even the right to a trial in some
cases by jury was taken from the
striKers.
"Tho constitutional guarantee of
the habeas corpus' was denied them.
Constantly military rule was sunor-
seding civil government. The men's
organization was their only bulwark
of defense against these encroach
ments and the organizations were
being outlawed by the Sherman act.
The situation was acute.
A FAR-REACHING CHANGE
"The Clayton bill remedies this
situation. Here are the memorable
words: 'That the labor of a humim
being is not commodity or article of
commerce. Nothing contained in the
antitrust laws shall be construed to
forbid the existence and operation of
labor, agricultural or horticultural
organizations instituted for the pur
pose of mutual help.' The section
uonuuues providing in detail and
generally against the kind of action
which was begun against the United
Mine Workers in three states.
"Tho right of federal courts to
issue injunctions is specifically lim
ited. The general injunctions
through the operation of which men
were driven to positive acts belong
now to the limbo of dead powers.
The property which is being protect
ed by injunctions in the future must
be described with 'particularity' and
sworn to. No injunctions can be
The 34th annual session
of the American Federation
of Labor convened in Phila
delphia, November 9. A
press dispatch contains the
following reference to the
passage of the Clayton anti
trust bill, a provision of
which is regarded by labor
leaders as a complete redemp
tion of the labor pledges
contained in democratic na
tional platforms:
"Pronouncing the passage
of the Clayton trust bill as
organized . labor's greatest
single accomplishment for the
last year, the executive coun
cil made its report to the fed
eration. The voluminous
document covers every ques
tion which has affected labor
during the year, including the
European war.
"Of the Clayton bill the
council's statement says- that
'it contains the most compre
hensive, enunciation of indus
trial freedom found' in any
legislative act in the history
of the world,' and that it was TO
obtained through' 'the organ-
ized economic power' repre
sented by the workers; of the
united stales.
eral courts.' Its enforcement will
mean that labor struggles can be less
volcanic that by discussion rather
than by violence, working agree
ments can be reached. The Clayton
bill is another step away from war
a step away from the most cruel of
all wars, that between blood brothers."
k
4 y
were once the frequent occasions of
the court orders. Some of. these ex
emptions are.. as follows:
" '.No injunction can be Issued to
prohibit people from ceasing work,
singly or incqneert, or from urging
others' to cease;'
"'No injunction can'bV issued to
prevent the holding of union meet
ings. " 'No injunction in effect can
be issued to prevent boycotts or, to
state it more circumspectly, "to pro
hibit anyone from withholding their
patronage from any party to a labor
dispute, or from recommending, ad
vising or persuading others by peace
ful and lawful means to do so."
" 'No injunction may be issued to
prevent any act which would be law
ful if no strike existed.'
PROHIBITION AND BIG BUSINESS
Apropos of Mr. Bryan's recent dec
laration that the democratic party
can not afford to remain, in partner
ship with the brewers, the Omaha
World-Herald calls attention to an
editorial of regret in the Johnstown,
Pa., Democrat, whose editor is a
radical democratic member of con
gress. The Democrat fears that an
excursion against the brewers would
leave a free field to the monopolistic
interests which radical democrats
have been opposing in the past. It
says:
"That big business would be glad to
have this issue the paramount one is
not to be doubted. With liquor at the
center of the stage, there would be no
room in the popular mind for consid
eration of monopolistic combinations
and the other vital matters which for
a score of years have engrossed the
thought of the country and shaped the
course of political parties. It is not
fr a moment to be conceived that
Mr. Bryan is animated by big busi
ness considerations in espousing the
cause of prohibition. Nothing could
be further from the fact. Yet the
effect is precisely the same. No mat
ter what the purpose or the inspira
tion, the inevitable and necessary
consequence of forcing this issue to
the front in national politics is to
divert attention from all the other
great issues and so to complicate the
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LABOR'S RIGHT TO JURY TRIAL
"Trial by jury is so fundamental a
part of our civilization, that at first
utterance it appears absurd to say
that labor unions have had to strug
gle to regain this basic right. Yet
such has been experience. This con
dition has arisen through contempt
proceedings. In industrial struggles
contempt of court has come to mean
a variety of things.
"In practice to disobey a court
order has been a more serious of
fense than the breaking of actual
laws. The law-breaker is entitled to
a jury of his peers. The violator of
a court order has been "in contempt."
He had no recourse to a jury. The
judge who issued the order alone had
the power of hearing the case and
passing sentence on the prisoner.
"In this way courts gained a power
greater than that of any other
branch of government. The acts of
a legislature can be vetoed by a gov
ernor. Except in the most unusual
cases the legislature can not mete out
punishment for the violation of its
iuws. a juage, however, up to the
passage of the Clayton bill, could
make a law technically issue an in-
K0vWat?!he,l eXMt "
"Jury trials are now nrm.unj
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