VOL. XXII. No. 40
By JAMES O'CONNELL
President, Metal Trades Department
^f the American Federation
of Labor
CHAOS OF JUDGE-MADE LAWS
The business of permitting every
federal judge in the United States
to make his own law covering indus
trial matters has its disadvantages,
not the least of which is hopeless
confusion resulting from lack of team
work on the part of the judicial law
makers.
By way of illustration:
Congress in the Clayton act de
clared that picketing is a lawful right
of strikers.
Supreme Justice Taft, in the Tri
City case, ruled that while picketing
may be lawful the number of pickets
at any point should be limited to one.
SUPREME JUSTICE TAFT MAKES ONE RULING ON
WORKERS' RIGHTS WHILE FEDERAL JUDGE
WILKERSON MAKES ANOTHER
Federal Judge Wilkerson, in his fa
mous Chicago injunction, outlawed
picketing entirely, along with a num
ber of other rights which workers
and some very capable lawyers re
gard as inalienable, and eliminated
Judge Taft's lone guardian.
Now comes Federal Judge Charles
F. Amidon, of North Dakota, with
an injunction against shop strikers,
in which he declares that both Taft
and Wilkerson are wrong and that
the number of pickets should be lim
ited to three.
Now Comes Federal Judge Amidon in Another Guess,
Holding Both Are Wrong and—There You Are
Judge Amidon's guess is as good as
Judge Wilkerson's, both having equal
judicial authority and jurisdiction,
hence the result is that while
North Dakota three men may picket
the same number would go to jail if
they attempted any such thing
other places.
The North Dakota jurist has been
regarded as a liberal. In any event,
the law he laid down to striking shop
men is more liberal than that of
Judge Wilkerson. The latter restricts
the workers to "a life of silent medi
tation and prayer," as the New York
Times puts it. Judge Amidon says
they may do*a number of things, and
marvel of marvels, puts a few perti
nent restrictions on the Great North
era railroad, which obtained the in
junction.
In addition to permission to employ
three pickets, Judge Amidon says the
strikers may "have a small tent im
mediately at hand to protect such
For Men's heavy
Jersey Work
Shirts, worth $1.
—Suits are single
and
£9 AA For Men's Dark Cassimere and Wor
sted Pants.
AA For Men's All-Wool Dress Pants.
Values up to $4.00. .•
d»y| AA For Men's All-Wool Worsted Dress
«P Pants worth $5.00.
d»/| CC For Boys' School Suits. Values to
p4*DD $6.00.
QO For Men's Ribbed Union Suits. Sizes
UO 34 to 46.
d»1 iO For Men's B. & L. Union Made Rib
bed "Union Suits.
99c ^or Chambray Work Shirts.
00 For Men's Blue Cheviot Work Shirts.
211
I
ST.
pickets from the weather while they
are on duty, but there must not be
present in or about it at any time
anyone but the pickets who are i
duty."
Pickets in the performance of their
duty are granted the privilege of
recommending, advising, or persuad
mg others by peaceful means from
not entering the plaintiff's service and
to quit said service if they have al
ready entered thereon."
That is legal heresy to Judge Wil
kerson, whose law not only prevents
the strikers from talking to strike
breakers, but forbids them to even
But Judge Amidon goes much far
ther in framing his law for the strike,
discuss the strike among themselves
He holds that while the pickets "con
fine themselves to a peaceful and
orderly excrcise of their rights" the
railroads shall be enjoined from do
ing any of these things:
(1) From using toward them
threatening or abusive language or
epithets, a variation of the "scab"
inhibition of the Wilkerson decree.
(2) From inflicting upon them any
personal injuries or attempting
do so.
(3) The armed guards of the rail
roads are enjoined especially from
"drawing or exhibiting firearms or
other dangerous weapons for the pur
pose of intimidating said pickets and
from using firearms or other danger
ous weapons at all except in the pres
ence of immediate peril such
threatens very serious injury."
If Justice Taft is right Judge WiK
kerson is wrong. If Judge Amidon
is right both Taft and Wilkerson are
wrong. If congress is still the law
making body of the nation, then all
of these self-constituted judicial leg
islators are wrong.
RAIL STRIKE IS COSTLY
New York.—The Chicago, Rock
Island & Pacific railroad reports that
it has set aside $250,000 for main
tenance of equipment on account of
the shop men's strike.
But for the strike the company
would have a net income of $619,750
during November, as compared with
$47,963 for November, 1921.
THE. OLD
THE. OLD
January Sale!
Dependable Merchandise at Lowest Prices
But For Cash Only
49c
E 1
E 1
For Men's Rib
Shirts and Draw
ers, worth r..75e.
$15.00 Men's Suits and Overcoats
and sport styles. The Overcoats of smooth and rough finished woolens.
$19.00 Suits and Overcoats
—Young Men's Sport models and conservative Suits,
good style of the season.
if & QP Men's Union Made Mole
skin Pants. The best
working pants made.
double breasted conservative styles young men's fitted models
Overcoats Odds and Ends $10, $12, $13.50
ODD PANTS
v^r
WHtN A
\WAV
(Copvriuht W N "tl.i
Mr. Bell was formerly assistant tol
the attorney general, handling with
drawn oil land cases, and understands)
the situation thoroughly.
Mr. Fall's statement was madel
9c
For Men's Cotton
Dress Sox. Navy
and Brown.
Overcoats ihclude just about every
S O E S
Men's Dress Shoes, odds and ends, PA
worth $4.95
Boys' Heavy School &*) AA
Shoes $£.UU
Molders' Shoes, Union Made, d»0 Of
tan or black
Men's Dress Shoes, odds and ends. "7C
Worth up to $3.95 $£»•§
Men's and Boys' Sweater
Men's Racine Flannel Shirts, IO
Men's Heavy Black Ribbed OO
Union Suits
Wilson Bros., Rugby and Atlas d*1
Worsted Union Suits
Nelson Bros. Tuf-Toe 1
Dress Sox *vC
RELIABLE
RELIABLE
'RUN K
'RUN K
HAMILTON'S REAL "HE STORE"—THE WORKWOMAN'S STORE
rt*^"~xT*'i'V**''
i
NICKLE WENT A LONG?
IN A CANOy STORE, BUT
SOME OF
Those N
'n These
HiS 60
IN'
\oQXX A
UJHOt-E"/
SICKLES
.WORTH
211
I
ST.
.- ."V-
THE BUTLER COUNTY PRESS.
i.
When Secretary of the Interior! prior to his recent announcement of
Albert B. Fall, recently made a public I resignation, that announcement hav
statement explaining the Teapot ling been made only after his state
Dome oil deal, International Labor! ment as to the fulfillment of plans
News Service asked Robert C. Bell to I involving what congress intended as
prepare an analysis of that statement|a perpetual reserve for the American
for the labor papers of the United]
States.
v. ^7-
R'member
HAVE VOU
ANVTHIK6
FOR.
A mcute
HOW OIL OCTOPUS HAS
TAKEN NAVY'S SAFETY RESERVE
CHEATING POSTERITY
NINE THOUSAND BARRELS DAILY RUN INTO CONTROL
MONOPOLY-SECRETARY FALL'S WORK ANALYZED
BY EXPERT BELL
navy, but which suddenly passed into
private monopoly hands with only the
shadow of auction block formality.
Herewith is Mr. Bell's careful anal
ysis, to be published in two install
ments, of which this is No. 1.—Editor.
By ROBERT C. BELL
formerly Special Assistant to the
Attorney General in Charge With
drawn Oil Land Matters
The secretary of the interior re
ently entered into a contract with
he Sinclair Crude Oil Purchasing
Company for the sale of the govern
ment's royalty oil from the Salt
eek field in Wyoming amounting to
tpproximately 9,000 barrels daily for
i period of five years. Simultaneously
vith the letting of this contract the
secretary announces that it is the
successful completion of his program
to place Wyoming crude oil on
orice parity with similar oil from the
Mid-Continent field" and that the
'acceptance of the Sinclair bid wipes
out, as far as the government is con
cerned, the price differential between
the two fields."
The secretary then gives data to
show how much more the government
will receive for its royalties under this
contract in the future than it has re
ceived in the past.
To those who do not know the facts
and few indeed do—this announce
ment conveys the impression that the
secretary, by his program, has forced
the oil companies to pay .the govern
ment what its oil is worth, that he
has driven a remarkable bai-gain, that
he has won a tremendous victory in
battle with the oil financiers but
to those who are familiar with the
true situation, and with this "pro
gram" of the secretary, the letting of
this contract is only a sequel to the
most discreditable act of a thorough
ly discredited administration, namely
the leasing of the Teapot naval re
serve, Wyoming, to the Standard oil
monopoly.
As a matter of fact, this last num
|ber on the secretary's "program1
the act that completes the monopoly
of the Standard oil interests in Wy
oming.
How Leasing Began
A brief resume of the facts
necessary.
The great Salt Creek field in Wy
oming covering about 15,000 acres
a part of the public domain, was with
drawn from entry or location, by
President Taft by executive order of
September 27, 1909, with a view to
(conserving to the future generations
a valuable national resource. Cer
tain locations had theretofore been
Imade in these lands but a large ma
|jority of them had long before been
abandoned, and the others were
I thoroughly fraudulent that all rights
claimed thereunder were unworthy of
I consideration.
v
Nevertheless certain oil companies
-vrw-
v
•.
HAMILTON, OHIO, FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 1923 ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR
OF
in individual operators asserted
claims to various parts of the field.
These claims were of such character,
however, that the claimants rather
than undertake to establish them or
defend them, in the courts under ex
isting law, sought congressional re
lief, which was granted by the a^t of
February 25, 1920, commonly known
as the Leasing law.
Under this law the claimants sur
rendered all claims to title and were
granted leases to the lands by the
secretary of the interior. The royal
ties under these leases, according to
the secretary, at present amount to
approximately 9,000 barrels of oil
daily.
Natural Oil Reservoir
Naval Reserve No. 3, commonly
known as the Teapot Dome, also was
withdrawn, and by executive order of
April 30, 1915, was set aside for the
United States navy. This reserve is
adjacent to or within a few miles of
the Salt Creek field, and covers more
than 9,300 acres, according to ex
perts it embraces the whole of a well
defined geological oil structure within
which are contained millions of bar
rels of high grade crude oil.
The physical characteristics of this
structure wei'e such that the oil, her
metically sealed, in its natural stor
age could have been conserved inde
finitely for the unborn generations—
possibly to a time when our success
in war might depend on it.
Last April the country was as
tounded to learn that Secretary Fall,
reversing the established policy of
conservation, had leased the whole
reserve to the Mammoth Oil Company,
a concern apparently organized by
Harry F. Sinclair and associates for
the purpose of taking the lease. This
transaction is nothing more or less
than a lease to the Standard Oil Com
pany of Indiana, because it has con
trol of the several Sinclair com
panies.
After the leasing of the Teapot re
serve let us review the situation in
Wyoming as to oil property owner
ship and control. The Ohio Oil and
Gas Company had the Grass Creek
field and other valuable holdings the
Midwest Refining Company and its
subsidiaries had the leases on practi
cally all the Salt Creek field and
owned the Big Muddy field and Sin
clair or his Mammoth Oil Company
had the Great Teapot reserve. These
three companies, all subsidiaries of
the Standard Oil Co. of Indiana, own
ed or controlled practically every
known acre of valuable oil land in the
state of Wyoming. They now own the
pipe lines and refineries, and have a
complete monopoly of every branch
of the oil industry in the state and the
whole Rocky Mountain region. The
Ohio Oil and Gas Co. has been en
trenched in Wyoming for many years,
the Midwest secured Salt Greek soon
after the passage of the Leasing law,
and Secretary Fall by his action last
April completed the monopoly with
the exception of the government roy
alties from the Salt Creek field,
which it was entitled to demand "in
kind." By accepting the bid of the
(Continued on last page)
J,:-^Vi^
~.^f
?'.
This statement is made by E. E.
Witte, chief of the Wisconsin legisla
tive reference library, in an article
in the current number of the Ameri
can Labor Legislation Review just
issued.
'When Attorney General Palmer,
in 1919, secured his injunction from
Judge Anderson directing the officers
of the United Mine Workers to call
off the nation-wide bituminous coal
strike," says Mr. Witte, "these offi
cers obeyed the court's order, but
coal was not mined until the miner's
demands were acceded to. Similarly,
the only effect of Attorney General
Daugherty's recent injunction against
the railroad shop men is likely to be
that it cost thousands, if not hundreds
of thousands, of votes to candidates
v"
"v 'a"
SELDOM DEFEAT LABOR
New York., N. Y.—"The history of
the use of injunctions in labor dis
putes is a record of failure to accom
plish any good to anybody. Injunc
tions have not minimized strikes nor
settled them but, on the contrary,
have promoted strife between labor
and capital."
HISTORY OF INJUNCTION S USE IN LABOR DIS
PUTES IS ONLY RECORD OF EXPENSE
AND FAILURE
Great Evil They Cause is to Create Distrust in All Courts
As Shown in Facts Submitted By Investigator
SALE!
BOYS' SHOES
SCHOOL OR DRESS SHOES
Made of Black or Brown Calfskin,
with sturdy leather soles. Some
have rubber heels. Just 82 pairs
in the lot. All sizes, 9 to 51 o.
Values to $3.50
ftfacJh
DINING SUITES
HaJi
THIS WEEK
Most every home-wife has no greater pride
than her dining room. And why not? The
gathering place of the family and the room
where, more than anywhere else, we delight
in entertaining our guests.
Special Price During This Week
SEE WINDOW DISPLAYS
K-R-E-B-S
V
New Location, 107 South Third Street
w&s.
ft
*&sa*mmw*
lliuun TMk
UNITED STATU
QOVTMUiMMT.
who supported the Harding adminis
tration."
Conservative and radical working
men are united in bitter opposition to
injunctions, Mr. Witte asserts, and the
increasing resort to injunctions is
having the effect of driving organized
labor more belligerently into politics
not only to reward their friends and
punish their enemies but also to bring
about recall of court decisions and im-,
peachment of judges. The general
public, he says, understands the con
spiracy theory of the courts no better
than does organized labor.
"More injunctions have been issued
in connection with labor disputes in
1922 than in any previous year," he
declares. "There have been at least
twice as many issued by the federal
courts in this year as there were is
sued in the entire ten years preced
ing."
Reviewing the results of injunction
in recent years, Mr. Witte finds that
adverse court decisions have seldom
defeated labor.
"The great evil of the use of in
(Continued on page four)
Ji&fev
nm of MT
V BITTER $}•',!.
ass
EE