Sherman law, La Follette'said in
part:
"There is one class of so-called
restraint of trade that was not
intended, or at least not under
stood, to come under the Sher
man law. That is organized la
bor. "Yet it is a curious fact that
while the courts have carefully
protected investors in trusts
against loss ofvalues, the only in
stance where the extreme pen
alty of threefold damages has
been imposed is in the case of a
labor organization.
"The court has gone to the ex
tent of seizing upon the savings
of a labor organization and order
ing that these little investments
should be paid over, as far as they
went, toward giving the employ
ers three tames the damages that
the union had caused them.
"It is strange that when the
court goes to the limit in impos
ing penalties on combinations of
capital, all the capitalist owners
get away with the full value of
their property even although the
court explicitly states that these
capitalist owners committed
crimes in getting that property;
and when the court goes to the
same limit in imposing penalties,
on combinations of labor, it takes
away the homes and small sav
ings of the union members.
"A law which treats investors
as innocent if they form a trust
and. guilty if they form a union,
does not command the respect of
the American people.
"The fact is, the law was not
understood by the people to ap
ply to labor organizations. It
should "be amended so as to take
out from under its operation all
labor organizations and employ
ers' associations, according to the
nrip-inal intent of the law.
"Such combinations do not
regulate prices of commodities,
but the wages and conditions of
labor.
"The people are just as much
interested in having a high stand
ard of living for Jabor as they are
in having a low cost of living in
their purchase of commodities.
"Labor is at a tremericlous dis
advantage in bargaining unless
organized. Even when organ
ized, it is at a disadvantage, inas
much as capital is more easily or
ganized. "The law should be amended
so as to affirm positively that, so
far as wage contracts are con
cerned, an act which would not
be criminal in any individual,
shall not be criminal if committed
by any association of individuals.
"The laws designed to prevent
industrial monopoly have been
used to suppress the unions and
the co-operative efforts of wage
earners and farmers to protect
the value of their labor against
the moneyed monopolies.
"Where farmers and working- (gj)
men are compenea 10 organize to
protect their labor, we favor the
most complete liberty of organi
zation under laws promoting
publicity, collective bargaining
and voluntary arbitration."
In other speeches, delivered in
Lee O'Neil Browne's -home coun
ty of La Salle, La Follette talked