A long and bloody labor
struggle in the coal fields of Colorado, which was slowly drawing to an
unsuccessful end in spite of sacrifices of the heaviest kind, seemed
only to set into bold relief the generally inauspicious outlook. Yet the
labor movement could doubtless find solace in the political situation.
Owing to the support it had given the Democratic party in the
Presidential campaign of 1912, the Federation could claim return favors.
The demand which it was now urging upon its friends in office was the
long standing one for the exemption of labor unions from the operation
of the anti-trust legislation and for the reduction to a minimum of
interference by Federal Courts in labor disputes through injunction
proceedings.
During 1914 the anti-trust bill introduced in the House by Clayton of
Alabama was going through the regular stages preliminary to enactment
and, although it finally failed to embody all the sweeping changes
demanded by the Federation's lobbyists, it was pronounced at the time
satisfactory to labor. The Clayton Act starts with the declaration that
"The labor of a human being is not a commodity or article of commerce"
and specifies that labor organizations shall not be construed as illegal
combinations or conspiracies in restraint of trade under Federal
anti-trust laws.
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