interfered with the free conduct of the
business; that plaintiffs did not claim
that defendants had by violent means
invaded their rights, and that if that
kind of picketing were charged and established by proof plaintiffs would be
entitled to relief to the extent of prohibiting violence in any form.The effect of this ruling is that, under
the statute, loss may be inflicted upon
the plaintiffs' property and business by
"picketing" in any form if violence be
not used, and that, because no violence
was shown or claimed, the campaign
carried on, as described in the complaint and exhibits, did not lawfully invade complainants' rights. . . .The complaint and its exhibits make
this case:The defendants conspired to injure
and destroy plaintiffs' business by inducing their theretofore willing patrons
and would-be patrons not to patronize
them and they influenced these to withdraw or withhold their patronage:
| (1) By having the agents of the union walk forward and back constantly during all the business hours in front of plaintiffs' restaurant and within five feet thereof, displaying a banner announcing in large letters that the restaurant was unfair to cooks and waiters and their union. | |
| (2) By having agents attend at or near the entrance of the restaurant during all business hours and continuously announce in a loud voice, audible for a great distance, that the restaurant was unfair to the labor union. | |
| (3) By characterizing the employees of the plaintiffs as scab Mexican labor, and using opprobrious epithets concerning them in handbills continuously distributed in front of the restaurant to would-be customers. | |
| (4) By applying in such handbills abusive epithets to Truax, the senior member of plaintiffs' firm, and making libelous charges against him, to the effect that he was tyrannical with his help, and chased them down the street with a butcher knife, that he broke his contract and repudiated his pledged word; that he had made attempts to force cooks and waiters to return to work by attacks on men and women; that a friend of Truax assaulted a woman and pleaded guilty; that. . . Truax's treatment of his employees was explained by his friend's assault; that he was a "bad actor." | |
| (5) By seeking to disparage plaintiffs' restaurant, charging that the prices were higher and the food worse than in any other restaurant, and that assaults and slugging were a regular part of the bill of fare, with police indifferent. | |
| (6) By attacking the character of those who did patronize, saying that their mental calibre and moral fibre fell far below the American average, and enquiring of the would-be patrons -- Can you patronize such a place and look the world in the face? | |
| (7) By threats of similar injury to the would-be patrons -- by such expressions as "All ye who enter here leave all hope behind," [and] "Don't be a traitor to humanity"; by offering a reward for any of the ex-members of the union caught eating in the restaurant; by saying in the handbills: "We are also aware that handbills and banners in front of a business house on the main street give the town a bad name, but they are permanent institutions until William Truax agrees to the eight-hour day." | |
| (8) By warning any persons wishing to purchase the business from the Truax firm that a donation would be necessary, amount to be fixed by the District Trades Assembly, before the picketing and boycotting would be given up. . . . |
Plaintiffs' business is a property right ( Duplex Printing Press Co. v. Deering, 254 U.S. 443, 465) and free access for employees, owner and customers to his place of business is incident to such
-479-
Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information:
Book title: American Constitutional Law:Introductory Essays & Selected Cases.
Contributors: Alpheus Thomas Mason - Author, William M. Beaney - Author.
Publisher: Prentice Hall.
Place of publication: New York.
Publication year: 1954.
Page number: 479.
This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.
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