Show THE RIGHT TO LABOR There was a rather interestlnsr casein case-in Philadelphia the other day in which the rights of strikers and nonstrikers were defined It grew out of the recent cent trouble on the Philadelphia electric elec-tric car lines Motorman Charles W Banes had refused re-fused to go on strike and had been subjected sub-jected to many annoyances in consequence conse-quence his wife and children being subjected to insult whenever they appeared ap-peared on the street On the particular occasion In question after he had arrived ar-rived at the depot from a trip he went into the motormens room for a drink of water There were a number of men in the room among them a motorman mo-torman named Nicholas Walther Banes Dlaced his controller on the table ta-ble and as he did so he was struck in the face with a cigar stub As he turned to leave the room he saw that Walther had the controller in his hands and refused to give it up The superintendent was notified and after a struggle Banes got it again Then Walther abused him calling him vile names and struck him in the face twice Banes not caring to have any trouble started for his car when Walther came towards him and struck him on the back of the head When arraigned in court Walther pleaded guilty making some plea in extenuation which was taken by the court to be an attempt at evasion He was sentenced to two years and a half in the penitentiary Before pronouncing pronounc-ing sentence Judge Yerkes said I have given your case careful consideration con-sideration lest it might be confounded with others tried at the same time Accepting your plea of guilty as truer true-r am bound to believe the statements I I of the prosecutors rather than your apparently weak attempt at evasion and must believe that you purposely and maliciously Inflicted grievous bodily bod-ily harm upon your fellowworkmen for no reason other than because they refused to abandon the pursuit of an honest livelihood under threats of injury in-jury Ordinarily an aggravated assault and battery is regarded as a serious offense and unfortunately the circumstances circum-stances here call for the highest penalty pen-alty prescribed by the legislature The products of the soil and labor are the source of all material prosperity and whoever seeks to obstruct their development strikes not at the individual individ-ual alone but at the peace and contentment con-tentment of society which prosperity best assures A riotous disturbance of the peace tending to obstruct the execution of the laws has always been considered II as an offense allied to treason and avery a-very high misdemeanor You must not I make the mistake of supposing that your offense is severely punished because be-cause it occurred In contemplation oran or-an impending strike You are not a martyr to any such condition Strikes for the improvement of the conditions of any cla s engaged in them are lawful law-ful and so long as confined within the limits prescribed by law may invoke and are entitled to the protection of the law and the court That violence such as yours sometimes some-times attend upon them Is an incident due to the fact that whenever competing com-peting labor or skill seeks employment and idle hands are willing and able to take the place of dissatisfied workmen work-men no strike can succeed without a resort to viblence and unlawfulness The law is administered to preserve order and peace and punish crimes against these as it finds them and this in Its ordinary course meets all emergencies emerg-encies Punishment is graded according accord-ing to the motive and grade of the offense of-fense The right of the individual to labor and thereby promote the fortune and welfare of himself and his family is a sacred privilege upon which the security of society largely depends and one who by violence would deprive de-prive a citizen of its enjoyment Is in my opinion a more dangerous crim inal than he who merely takes the property of another In your case there is not even the weak and cowardly excuse sometimes urged that the assaulted person accepted ac-cepted a position which you or others voluntarily surrendered You came here recently when you knew there was Trouble from a city where none ex isted under circumstances that arouse the suspicion that your purpose was to ir itate again the dissatisfied workmen work-men The men whom you dare d-are men of character and Intelligence 0 who for a number of years were in I I the service from which you attempted to drive them C jr OBy What right dared you lay violent hands upon these industrious and honest J hon-est laborers l By what authority did you assume to say they should not be permitted to earn bread for their families I fam-ilies You assaulted oneof them while carrying provisions home for their daily meal They are good citizens obedient to the laws of their state in which you are a stranger and where you have not earned the right of citizenship citi-zenship Better citizens than you they concede the right of competition they do not demand that others shall be deprived de-prived of their property the right to labor that they may reap the benefit bene-fit of such injustice but they only ask that without interference through violence vio-lence they may have fair competition You are a tyrant and bully who would forge chains on the hands of your fellow fel-low laborers and would imprison their minds to conform to your selfish and arbitrary notions This you attempted to do by violence vio-lence and force under cover of an excitement ex-citement due to a purpose of others to exercise a lawful right All the power of the law may be invoked to maintain the right of free and unrestricted I unre-stricted labor against the aggression of tyranny and violence such as yours and I can conceive of no higher duty than to administer the law in such a way as to warrant others of the serious seri-ous nature of your offending More such utterances from the bench in times of riots consequent upon strikes would have a salutary effect upon those engaged in or who contemplate contem-plate engaging in them Strikes are lawful and frequently commendable but when strikers seek to deprive others of their rights then the law must step In and preserve those rights and punish those who would infringe upon I them |