conventions of the American Federation of Labor, and in the same city where the conventions of the Federation are held.

7. The officers of each department shall report to the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor what action, if any, has been taken by the Department, either through its Executive Board or through conventions upon any and all matters that have been referrend to the Department of the Federation.

8. The officers of the various departments shall submit a quarterly report to the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor of the work done by their department, and its general conditions.

9. At all regular meetings of the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor, there shall be present during some period of the council meeting either the President or Secretary, or both, of each department, to take up with the Council matters that may be of mutual interest.

10. A page of each issue of the "American Federationist" to be available to, and to be used by, each department for official report or for publication of some subject identified with the Department.

11. National and international unions affiliated with the A. F. of L. shall also become affiliated with any department in which they may be eligible.

We recommend that the foregoing General Rules for departments be incorporated in and made a part of the Constitution of the American Federation of Labor.

BUCK'S STOVE AND RANGE COMPANY INJUNCTION SUIT-CON

TEMPT PROCEEDINGS.

On March 11th, 1909, the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia rendered a decision upon the appeal of the American Federation of Labor et al. from the injunction which Justice Gould of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia issued Dec. 18, 1907, upon the petition of the Buck's Stove and Range Company, of St. Louis.

The decision modified the original injunction. It eliminated the prohibition of free press and free speech printing discussing "anything"

or

as

to in

relation to the Buck's Stove and Range Company, or discussion of the injunction itself, but it still restrains freedom of the press, in that it forbids by injunction the publication of the "Buck's Stove and Range Company" on the "We Don't Patronize" list. This decision of the Court of Appeals, and the accompanying opinions form a most important addition to the history of judicial action in relation to labor.

The original injunction not only prohibited the publication of the Buck's Stove and Range Company in the "We Don't Patronize List" of the American Federation of Labor, but also enjoined the right of free press and free speech, forbidding any reference whatever to the Buck's Stove and Range Company, either oral or printed, and prohibiting the publication and mailing of the AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST or any other printed or written matter containing any reference to the Buck's Stove and Range controversy. The discussion of the injunction itself and the principle upon which it was based, were prohibited by the very terms of the order.

It will be remembered that the American Federation of Labor immediately complied with the original injunction issued December 18, 1907, which became operative December 23, 1907, to the extent of removing the Buck's Stove and Range Company from the "We Don't Patronize List." Editorially and by speech and circulars and in convention the officers of the American Federation of Labor, however, continued to protest against the deprivation by injunction of the constitutional liberties of free press and free speech.

President Gompers, Vice-President Mitchell and Secretary Morrison, upon the petition of the Buck's Stove and Range Company, were subsequently required to show cause why they should not be punished for alleged contempt of the court, because they had exercised these rights, and on December 23, 1908, were sentenced by Justice Wright to imprisonment for twelve, nine and six months respectively. The appeal by the American Federation of Labor against the original injunction was then pending. It is upon this appeal that the decision of March 11th, 1909, was rendered. An appeal from Justice Wright's opinion and sentence in the

contempt case was taken to the same Court of Appeals.

In the April, 1909, issue of the AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST there were published the full text of the decision and the widely differing opinions of the three judges.

The Court of Appeals on Tuesday, November 2nd, 1909, handed down its decision, the majority and minority opinions. Much to our disappointment and contrary to our expectation, the majority opinion affirmed the decision and sentence of Justice Wright. President Gompers having fully covered the subject matter in his report, we do not deem it necessary to enter upon it in further detail.

We recommend that an appeal be taken from the decision rendered in both the original injunction, as well as the contempt cases growing out of it. We cannot permit these decisions to go unchallenged. They affect fundamental rights, and either the courts or Congress must safeguard them.

We again enter our protest against the application of the writ of injunction in labor disputes (unless where an injunction would lie if there were no labor dispute). We hold that the ordinary use of the injunction writ in contentions between workers and employers is an unwarranted interference with the rights and liberties of the workers and is intended and its influence used to intimidate workers, especially when they are engaged in a struggle for improved working condition. is a fact, however, that such injunctions are issued.

It

It should be borne in mind that in these proceedings, Messrs. Gompers, Mitchell and Morrison did not have the constitutional and traditional right of trial by jury. All the circumstances in this case go to prove that conviction would not have followed if the case had been submitted on its merits to a jury of their peers. We hold that, excepting where contempt is in the presence of the court, the liberty of no citizen should be committed to the keeping of any one man, regardless of who he may be or what position he may hold; on the contrary, we hold that citizen charged with violating an injunction. the penalty of which involves imprisonment, should have the same legal right to a trial by jury that is always ac

a

corded to a person charged with violation of the criminal law. To deny the right of trial by jury is to take from the people the protection and priceless heritages which were secured by them after centuries of perseverance, struggle, sacrifice, exile and even martyrdom. Whatever differences of opinion may exist among men as to any controversy between labor and capital, no good citizen of our country who treasures freedom can rest secure until trial by jury becomes SO well recognized and SO firmly established in our legal jurisprudence that no man will ever again attempt to deny this essential and historic right. No class has suffered so much from the tyranny of autocratic power as the working people; none struggled more heroically than they to secure the blessing of true liberty, free government, free speech, free press and trial by jury, and it now devolves upon the wage earners to protect, defend and maintain inviolate this priceless principle of equity and justice.

For convenience we give a bibliography of the principles involved in our contention:

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON BUCK'S STOVE

AND RANGE CO. INJUNCTION.

Comprising Editorials and Extracts from American Federationist and References to Convention Proceedings of the American Federation of Labor 1907, 1908, 1909.

Oct., 1907-Editorial-American Federationist-"Van Cleave seeks injunction against A. F. of L."

Nov., 1907-Convention ProceedingsReport of President Gompers, p 35-38.

Nov., 1907-Convention ProceedingsReport of Executive Council, p. 90-91.

Nov., 1907-Convention ProceedingsReport of Committee on Injunction suit (Buck's Stove and Range Co.), p. 6, 212215.

Feb., 1908-Editorial-American Federationist-"Free speech and free press invaded by injunction against A. F. of L-Review and Protest."

Feb., 1908-Order granting the injunction (Buck's Stove and Range Co.)

Aug., 1908-Editorial-American Federationist-"Essence of Labor's Contentions on Injunctions."

Aug., 1908-Editorial-American Fed

erationist-"Van Cleave hales us to court for contempt."

Sept., 1908-Petition of Buck's Stove and Range Co. (Contempt Proceedings.) Oct., 1908-Editorial-American FedContempt Pro

erationist-"Injunction

ceedings."

Nov., 1908-Convention ProceedingsReport of President Gompers, p. 14-16. Nov., 1908-Convention ProceedingsReport of Executive Council, p. 80.

Nov., 1908-Convention ProceedingsResolution No. 72 in re Buck's Stove Co. Injunction Suit, p. 158.

Nov., 1908-Convention ProceedingsReports of Committee on Buck's Stove Co. Injunction Suit, pp. 217 and 233.

Jan., 1909-Judge Parker's Argument on Contempt Proceedings. (American Federationist.)

Feb., 1909-Justice Wright's Decision and Sentences. (American Federa

The American Federation of Labor authorized and levied an assessment, as well as an appeal, for voluntary contributions, so that we might be provided with sufficient funds to warrant a thorough defense of the officers of our Federation through the established legal tribunals.

The receipts from all sources, that is, assessment and voluntary contribution, netted the sum of $52,713.60. Up to the present we have expended for attorneys fees, retainers expenses, stenographic court reports, printing appeals, etc., $14,689.23. Much of the expenditure is yet to be made, but for the present

additional financial assistance for legal defense is unnecessary.

LEGISLATION.

The Denver Convention had under consideration various subjects of legislation in the interests of labor, all of which, in due course of time, being placed in the hands of the Legislative Committee of the A. F. of L., with instructions to use their best endeavors to secure the enactment of the several measures. The report of the Legislative Committee upon these several subjects is published in full in the American Federationist of this year. For a fuller understanding of the effort to secure laws at the hands of Congress in the interest of the workers, it is suggested that the reports of the President and Executive Council to former conventions, and the reports of the egislative Committee, as published in the American Federationist in recent years, be considered in connection herewith. President Gompers has already reported to you in detail upon these several measures, and, therefore, it is unnecessary for us to make further reference to them in this report.

LIBEL SUIT.

Volunteer Organizer Aybar, Porto Rico.

We reported to you at Denver the case of the libel suit against Organizer Aybar, editor of a labor paper in Porto Rico, and that it has been appealed to the United States Supreme Court. Upon investigation we found that this case was entered on the Supreme Court Docket, September 21, 1908, and that the number of other cases docketed ahead of the case of Organizer Aybar showed that in all probability it would not be reached this year.

UNIFORM LAWS TO PROTECT
HUMAN LIFE.

You directed the Executive Council at Denver to continue the investigation of this subject, compiling and tabulating such data as can be secured for the information of the Convention and the trades enumerated in general. In connection therewith, we would say that a meeting of the governors of the several states has been called for the purpose of. among other things, devising ways and means to establish uniform laws to protect life in the various states. This conference will be held in the City of Washington, January 5, 6, 7, 1910. We recommend that you should authorize

the Executive Council to appoint representatives of the A. F. of L. to attend this conference.

SOME SUPREME COURT DECISIONS.

The Denver Convention having under consideration that portion of President Gompers' report, dealing with the decisions of the Supreme Court of the Unite States in many labor cases, and particularly in the Hatters' case, directed that there should be compiled and published as widely as possible, the decisions of special interest to and affecting labor which have been rendered by the Supreme Court within the last fifteen years. We directed President Gompers to proceed with this compilation. For your convenience and the convenience of the committee to which this matter will be referred, President Gompers' report to us of his investigations into and compilation of this matter is hereby quoted in full. It is as follows: "Washington, D.C., April 12, 1909. Executive Council,

Το the

Federation of Labor..

American

Dear Sirs and Brothers,-In compliance therewith (the Denver Convention action) I herewith report 101 cases, dating from Jan. 16th, 1893, when the first decision coming within the period mentioned was recorded. It is an Employers' Liability case (Kohn vs. McNulta), and may be found in United The States Report No. 147, page 263. last case is also a decision upon Employers' Liability; it is the Standard Oil Company vs. Edward Anderson, and this will be recorded in United States Report 212, page 215, when printed.

For your convenience, and as a method which I think will enable you to see at a glance the range of subjects which appear to me to be strictly labor decisions, appended hereto are the titles in alphabetical order and the number of cases which are noted under the same. Following it I specify the cases in detail, under each title giving the citations from the United States reports, the first number of which represents the number of the volume and the second the page at which the decision is to be found.

As you are aware, we have a few of those decisions already in print in a public document, and I have three others,

namely, the Anderson Liability, the Moyer False Imprisonment, and the Oregon Woman's Laundry Case in pamphlet form for copying, if directed. Herein are cited a number of cases, and it would be necessary to make some direction as to which in your judgment it is advantageous to compile verbatim. Arrangements with some law office or law library will be necessary to be made for the use of United States reports from which authentic copies may be made. With the assistance of Our Legislative Committee every effort has been exerted to collect all of the citations of cases which have been deemed of interest and applying to labor. However, it may be possible that, with our limited knowledge of the law, additional cases may have been omitted.