THE INDUSTRIAL COURT

Mr. Gompers in his recent attack against the capitalists, criticises the industrial court of Kansas as an institution seeking to inject into American life a device through which they may annual constitutional guarantees and deprive workers of the freedom and right to function through their organization. This would seem to be a biased opinion and in truth does not represent the real significance of this new feature in our judiciary system.

The Industrial Court referred to, has been active recently in the state of Kansas under the leadership of Governor Allen. It was established by a state law in an effort to control strikes. Where labor deliberately ties up industries, especially public-service corporations, in order to portray itself as invincible, thereby causing unnecessary suffering among the people, it is time for the law to intervene. Test cases have been brought before this Kansas Industrial Court and several officials of labor unions have been convicted as violators of the industrial court law in wantonly instigating a strike among the miners. Labor claims that this action of the court deprives them of one of the constitutional rights of a citizen and that such a right is an essential factor in a true democracy. In reality, an industrial court offers an opportunity for the public to voice its opinion as to whether or not it desires a strike. It gives the law a chance to determine whether such a strike is legal, thereby preventing serious industrial upheavals in our economic life. If industrial courts in the United States are conducted under proper supervision and limited in their jurisdiction, preferably to public-service industries, there is little doubt that they will do much in establishing justice in the struggle of labor against capital.