Labor Organizations in Legislation

During the first months of the current year, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down three decisions on important questions in labor legislation.1 The Employers\u27 Liability Act was declared unconstitutional, but on grounds that may be avoided by subsequent legislation; the boycott was decided to be an unlawful conspiracy against interstate commerce, and in violation of the Anti-Trust Act and the congressional enactment providing criminal punishment for the discharge of an employee because of his membership in a labor organization was also held unconstitutional. These decisions have been unjustly spoken of by some, as unreasonably severe on labor organizations. The benefits that have come to laborers through the labor unions are recognized by the Court, but it is also pointed out that they can not secure their ends, however desirable they may be, through unlawful means and cannot abridge the constitutional personal rights of others through state or national legislation