(1) See Judicial Code, Sec. 207, conferring jurisdiction upon the
commerce court over cases brought to enjoin, etc., an order of the
Interstate Commerce Commission. Upon the abolition of the com-
merce court this jurisdiction was placed in the district court, 38 Stat.
L. 219, and an application for interlocutory injunction must be pre-
sented to a district or circuit judge, and heard and determined by
three judges, similar to cases arising under Judicial Code, Sec. 266.
Notice must be served upon the Interstate Commerce Commis-
sion and the attorney-general of the United States. 38 Stat. L. 220.
See also Judicial Code, Sees. 208, 209, 210, and 212, the latter permitting
the Interstate Commerce Commission to appear as of right by its
own attorneys in such proceedings.
In this connection consult also general provisions of the Clayton
Act, October 15, 1914, 38 Stat. L. 737. 738, Sees. 17, 18, 19 and 20.
1468 SUITS IN EQUITY.
No. 981.
Bill Requesting Injunction Against United Mine Workers of
America to Prevent a Strike.
[Caption.]
The United States of America, by its attorney for the dis-
trict of Indiana, acting under the direction of the attorney
general, brings this bill of complaint against the following
defendants, both as individuals and in their representative ca-
pacities as officers of the International Union United Mine
Workers of America, as indicated in the following list, which
also shows the citizenship and residence of the defendants :
[Here follow names and residences.]
This bill of complaint is brought to restrain the said defend-
ants, and other persons whose names are unknown to plaintiff,
from further engaging in and carrying out a conspiracy, com-
bination, agreement and arrangement (a) to restrict the sup-
ply and distribution throughout the United States of a neces-
sary within the meaning of the act of Congress of August 10,
1917, entitled "An act to provide further for the national
security and -defense by encouraging the production, conserv-
ing the supply and controlling the distribution of food prod-
ucts and fuel" namely, bituminous coal and (b) to restrict
the distribution of such coal in the interstate commerce
throughout the United States, and (c) to restrict the operation
by the United States of the railroads of the country by means
of the consumption of such coal.
Bituminous coal is the most important fuel consumed in the
United States. It is used throughout the United States in the
generation of steam and electricity for motive power; in the
operation of railroads, steamboats, lighting and power plants,
street-car lines, factories and industrial plants of all kinds,
and in the generation of heat in hotels, office buildings, apart-
ment houses and private dwellings for the purpose of protec-
tion against cold. It is mined and produced from the ground
to the extent of approximately 500,000,000 net tons annually,
in the aggregate, in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Colo-
rado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, .Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky,
INJUNCTIONS. 1469
Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, North
Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas,
Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming;
in varying amounts, however, the largest production being in
the states of Pennsylvania, Illinois and West Virginia. It is
mined from the ground by human labor in the aforesaid states,
particularly in the three last-mentioned states, and is shipped
and distributed from the mines, in the interstate commerce,
into all the states of the United States for the above-described
uses in the generation of heat and power, including the opera-
tion of the railroads of the country.
Approximately 615,000 miners and mine workers are en-
gaged in the United States in the production of bituminous
coal, of whom upwards of 400,000 are members of local trade
unions and of district unions of the International Union Uni-
ted Mine Workers of America, an organization of all the
members of the aforesaid unions and of certain local and dis-
trict unions of bituminous coal miners and mine workers in
Canada.
The said act of Congress of August 10, 1917, as originally
enacted on that date and as amended by the act of Congress
of October 22, 1919, entitled "An act to amend an act entitled
'An act to provide further for the national security and defense
by encouraging the production, conserving the supply and con-
trolling the distribution of food products and fuel,' approved
August 10, 1917, and to regulate rents in the District of Co-
lumbia," provides as follows :
"That by reason of the existence of a state of war, it is
essential to the national security and defense, for the success-
ful prosecution of the war, and for the support and mainte-
nance of the army and navy, to assure an adequate supply and
equitable distribution, and to facilitate the movement, of foods,
feeds, fuel, including fuel oil and natural gas, and fertilizer
and fertilizer ingredients, tools, utensils, implements, ma-
chinery, and equipment required for the actual production of
foods, feeds and fuel, hereafter in this act called necessaries.
* * *"
1470 SUITS IN EQUITY.
And as follows:
"Sec. 4. That it is hereby made unlawful for any person
to conspire, combine, agree or arrange with any other person
(a) to limit the facilities for transporting, producing, har-
vesting, manufacturing; (b) to restrict the supply of any
necessaries; (c) to restrict distribution of any necessaries,"
etc.
And as follows:
"Sec. 24. That the provision of this act shall cease to be
in effect when the existing state of war between the United
States and Germany shall have terminated, and the fact and
date of such termination shall be ascertained and proclaimed
by the President."
For the purpose of carrying out other provisions of the
said act of Congress of August 10, 1917, there was sub-
sequently established by the President of the United States
and recognized by presidential proclamation an administra-
tive body known as the United States Fuel Administration,
at Washington in the District of Columbia, which body pur-
suant to the authority of such proclamation exercised a large
measure of control and supervision over the production and
distribution of bituminous coal throughout the United States.
With the official approval and sanction of the United
States Fuel Administration there was entered into at Wash-
ington, in the District of Columbia, on October 6, 1917, a
supplemental agreement (the so-called Washington wage
agreement) between the operators and the union miners and
mine workers of the so-called central competitive fields, com-
posed of western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois,
for the increase in the production of bituminous coal and an
increase in wages to the miners and mine workers over the
then existing scale of compensation. The said agreement
provided for an advance of 10 cents per ton to miners, and
for advances ranging from 75 cents to $1.40 per day to
laborers, and for an advance of 15 per cent, for yardage and
dead work, resulting in an increase to miners of 50 per cent.
INJUNCTIONS. 1471
of the best-paid laborers of 78 per cent, over the wages of
April 1, 1914. The said agreement also provided for the
establishment of automatic penalties to be imposed upon
miners for working less than eight hours per day as stipu-
lated in the then existing wage agreements, in order to avoid
a shortage of coal it being considered that no such short-
age would develop if the miners then at work would work
for eight hours per day during five days of the week. This
agreement also contained the following provision :
"Subject to the next biennial convention of the United
Mine Workers of America, the mine workers' representatives
agree that the present contract be extended during the con-
tinuance of war, and not to exceed two years from April 1,
1918."
Subsequently, from January 15, 1918, to January 26, 1918,
there was held at Indianapolis, Indiana, the twenty-sixth
consecutive and third biennial convention of the International
Union United Mine Workers of America, which convention,
on January 19, 1918, duly ratified and approved the said
Washington wage agreement of October 6, 1917.
From September 9, 1919. until September 23, 1919, there
was held at Cleveland, Ohio, the twenty-seventh successive
constitutional and fourth biennial convention of the Inter-
national Union United Mine Workers of America, consisting
in a meeting of delegates selected to represent the various
local and district unions, together with and under the auspices
of the officers of the International Union United Mine Work-
ers of America, comprising the above specified defendants.
The principal subject considered and dealt with by the said
convention was the formulation of new and further wage
demands which the miners were to place before the operators
of the central competitive field at a joint conference with
such operators at Buffalo on September 25, 1919.
At the said convention the vice-president and acting presi-
dent of the International Union United Mine Workers of
America, in the absence of the president, read a report in
1472 SUITS IN EQUITY.
which he recommended that this convention take action de-
claring the Washington wage agreement officially terminated
at a date not later than November 1st; that the automatic
penalty clause of the Washington wage agreement be elimi-
nated in the next contract, and that if a basic agreement for
the central competitive field should not be negotiated by
November 1st there should be a complete cessation of mining
operations by all the members of the United Mine Workers
of America.
Subsequently, under date of September 22, 1919, the de-
fendants constituting the so-called scale committee submitted
a report to the said convention recommending, amongst other
things, that the convention demand a 60 per cent, increase
applicable to all classifications of day labor and to all ton-
nage, yardage and dead-work rates throughout the central
competitive field, and that all new wage agreements replacing
existing agreements should be based on a six-hour work day,
from bank to bank, five days per week ; the abolition of all
automatic penalty clauses; that all contracts in the bitumi-
nous field should be declared to expire on November 1, 1919;
that no agreement for the central competitive field should be
concluded until the convention should have been reconvened
at Indianapolis, Indiana, on a date to be designated by the
resident international officers and until it should have ratified
such contract; and that
"In the event a satisfactory wage agreement is not secured
for the central competitive field before November 1, 1919, to
replace the one now in effect, that the international officials
be authorized to and are hereby instructed to call a general
strike of all bituminous miners and mine workers through-
out the United States, the same to become effective Novem-
ber 1, 1919."
The acting president thereupon explained to the conven-
tion that if the general strike should be called for November
1, 1919, the convention would not be reconvened, and that
the international officials were clothed with full authority to
INJUNCTIONS. 1473
handle the strike, whereupon the report of the scale commit-
tee was adopted by the convention and the convention was
declared closed.
Subsequently, at Buffalo, on September 25th, certain of the
delegates to the above-mentioned convention who had been
designated and the members of the said scale committee par-
ticipated in a joint wage conference with the operators of the
bituminous mines of the central field. After prolonged nego-
tiations a motion was made in behalf of the miners and wine
workers that their demands be adopted as a whole, including
the 60 per cent, wage increase, and a motion was made in
behalf of the operators to continue the existing agreement in
effect until March 31, 1920. Both motions were defeated.
Thereupon a sub-committee of representatives of both the
miners and mine workers and of the operators was appointed
to conduct negotiations and adjourned to meet in Philadel-
phia on Thursday, October 9, 1919. The representatives of
the miners and mine workers were then and there unsuccess-
ful in having their demands granted, and the sub-committee
adjourned without having reached an agreement.
Subsequently, at Indianapolis, Indiana, within this district,
the defendants, being officers of the International Union
United Mine Workers of America, and other persons whose
names are unknown to plaintiff, in an effort to enforce and
coerce the operators of bituminous mines in the central com-
petitive district to grant the above enumerated demands of
the officers and delegates of the said union, including the
demand for a 60 per cent, increase in wages for the miners
and mine workers in the central competitive field who are
members of the said union, in violation of the aforesaid act
of Congress of August 10, 1917, and against the public
policy of the United States of America, unlawfully and
knowingly conspired, combined, agreed and arranged to-
gether to restrict the supply and distribution and to limit the
facilities for transporting and supplying bituminous coal
from all the mines where such coal is produced, as herein-
1474 SUITS IN EQUITY.
above described, to and throughout all the states of the
United States for the various uses hereinabove described, by
means of declaring-, enforcing and maintaining the said gen-
eral strike or cessation of labor on the part of all bituminous
miners and mine workers who are members of the Inter-
national Union United Mine Workers of America.
Pursuant to their said conspiracy, combination, agreement
and arrangement, the defendants, at the city of Indianapolis,
within this district, on October 15 or 16, 1919, under the
authority conferred upon them as officers of the said Inter-,
national Union United Mine Workers of America, issued so-
called strike orders, signed by defendants, John L. Lewis
and Wm. Green, to the various local unions and members of
local unions who are members of the said international union,
to cease all work in the mining of bituminous coal at mid-
night on Friday, October 31st, and until further orders, and
they have issued supplemental instructions and orders neces-
sary to the fulfillment of such orders to cease work.
Further means of carrying out the said unlawful con-
spiracy, combination, agreement and arrangement agreed
upon by the defendants as a part of such conspiracy, com-
bination, agreement and arrangement will consist in the issu-
ance of further and supplemental orders and instructions
covering and arranging for all necessary details of a suc-
cessful enforcement of the strike; and in the continuous and
repeated issuance and promulgation by the defendants of
messages. of encouragement and exhortation to continue to
abstain from work and not to return to the mines: and in
the issuance and distribution to the striking miners and mine
workers of so-called strike benefits or sums of money pre-
viously accumulated and subsequently acquired for the pur-
pose of assisting the striking miners and mine workers to
subsist without their wages temporarily and long enough to
produce a shortage of bituminous coal so acute as to cause
widespread national distress and thereby to enforce compli-
ance with the defendants' aforesaid demands.
INJUNCTIONS. 1475
At Washington, in the District of Columbia, on or about
October 15, 1919, and thereafter, there was held at the
instance of the Secretary of Labor of the United States a
conference between the defendants and the operators of the
bituminous mines in the central competitive field, in the course
of which the President of the United States proposed to the
conference that the defendants' above-stated demands should
be submitted to negotiation and arbitration. The operators
consented to such proposal of the President of the United
"States, but the defendants present at such conference refused
to submit their demands to arbitration and declared that un-
less they were granted on or before October 31, 1919, the
strike would take effect
The aforesaid strike and cessation of work ordered by the
defendants to begin at midnight on Friday, October 31st, will,
as the defendants publicly and authoritatively declare as of-
ficials of the said International Union United Mine Workers
of America, be successful in reducing the production of bitu-
minous coal in this country by at least 80 per cent., and will
result in a widespread shutting down of factories and indus-
trial operations, and consequently in enforcing idleness and
cessation of wages to vast numbers of workers throughout
the country; in the curtailment of production of many neces-
sary articles and commodities and of gas and electricity, and
in widespread suffering from cold in large sections of the
United States, so as to constitute a national disaster in those
respects.
Moreover, pursuant to the act of Congress of August 29,
1916, entitled "An act making appropriations for the support
of the army for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1917, and
for other purposes," providing as follows :
"The President, in time of war, is empowered, through the
Secretary of War, to take possession and assume control of
any system or systems of transportation, or any part thereof,
and to utilize the same, to the exclusion as far as may be
necessary of all other traffic thereon for the transfer or trans-
1476 SUITS IN EQUITY.
portation of troops, war materials and equipment, or for such
other purposes connected with the emergency as may be need-
ful or desirable,"
the President of the United States, acting through the Secre-
tary of War and the Director General of Railroads, by presi-
dential proclamation of December 26, 1917, took possession
and assumed control of the railroad systems of transportation
and the appurtenances thereof within the United States, and
has continuously thereafter operated such railroads by virtue
of such possession and control.
The act of Congress of March 21, 1918, entitled "An act
to provide for the operation of transportation systems while
under federal control, for the just compensation of their
owners, and for other purposes," provided as follows :
"That the President, having in time of war taken over the
possession, use, control and operation (called herein federal
control) of certain railroads and systems of transportation
(called herein carriers), is hereby authorized to agree with
and to guarantee to any such carrier making operating re-
turns to the Interstate Commerce Commission, that during
the period of such federal control it shall receive as just
compensation an annual sum, payable from time to time in
reasonable installments, for each year and pro rata for any
fractional year of such federal control, not exceeding a sum
equivalent as nearly as may be to its average annual railway
operating income for the three years ended June 30, 1917."
A presidential proclamation dated March 29, 1918, author-
ized the Director General of Railroads in the name of the
President, or in the name of the director general or such
agencies as he might designate, to agree with the owners of
the railroads upon the amount of compensation to be paid
pursuant to law. Pursuant to such authority, the Director
General of Railroads at various dates entered into contracts
with the owners of the principal railroad systems of the
country, guaranteeing to them annual compensation calcu-
lated upon the basis of and approximately equivalent to the
INJUNCTIONS.
1477
average annual railway operating income for the three years
ended June 31, 1917, which contracts are still in full force
and effect.
Enormous and continuous supplies of bituminous coal are
essential to the continuous operation of the railroads by the
Director General of Railroads, the daily requirements for
such purpose being approximately 387,000 tons. The Di-
rector General of Railroads has approximately 1,237 con-
tracts with the operators of the bituminous mines for the
furnishing of bituminous coal for the purpose of the opera-
tion of the railroads, which contracts provide for the fur-
nishing of approximately 387,000 tons of such coal per day,
or approximately the aggregate actual daily requirements of
the railroads. Approximately 60 per cent, of such contracts
by volume are effective by their terms until March 31, 1920,
the remainder until later dates.
Details as to such contracts are shown in the following
tables :
STATEMENT OF CONTRACTS FOR PRODUCTION OF
RAILROAD COAL
REGION
Number of
contracts
Eastern 329
Allegheny 283
Northwestern 154
Central Western 138
Southwestern
Southern
Pocohontas
Total
92
195
46
1,237
Approximate fu- Approx. daily
ture daily re- tonnage covered
quirements by contract
97,193
75,000
58,300
15,820
387,313
100,000
75,152
52,000
60,000 66,000
27,000 50,000
54,000 30,602
14,120
387,874
Dates of expiration of
contracts
98% 3/31/20
98% 3/31/20
39% 3/31/20
43% 6/30/20
18% other dates
50% 3/31/20
41% 8/1/20
9% other dates
31% 3/31/20
51% 7/31/20
18% other dates
67% 7/31/20
17% 7/30/20
10% 5/31/20
6% other dates
60% 3/31/20
40% later dates
1478 SUITS IN EQUITY.
The terms "Eastern," "Allegheny," etc., in the foregoing
table comprise the following states :
Eastern: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Con-
necticut, Rhode Island, New York, Northern Pennsylvania, Ohio,
Indiana.
Allegheny: Part of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Penna. and B. & O.
Railroads as far west as Chicago.
Northwestern: Wisconsin, Northern Illinois, Northern Iowa,
Northern Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Mon-
tana, Northwestern corner of Idaho, Washington, Oregon.
Central- Western: Illinois, Southern Iowa, Northern Missouri,
Southern Nebraska, Kansas, Northwestern Oklahoma, New Mexico,
Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada, California.
Southwestern: Remainder of Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Re-
mainder of Oklahoma, Texas.
Southern: Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi.
Pocohontas: Virginia, West Virginia, Northeastern Kentucky.
If the aforesaid strike ordered by the defendants to begin
on midnight of October 31, 1919, becomes and remains effec-
tive, as defendants declare that it will, it will be impossible
for the operators of the bituminous mines to fulfill their
aforesaid contracts for supplying coal to the Director General
of Railroads for the operation of the railroads of the United
States, and it will thereupon become impossible for the gov-
ernment of the United States through the railroads of the
country and the operation to operate the passenger trains and
the transportation of persons and property by railroads
throughout the country will have to be discontinued and
abandoned. The operating revenues of the railroads for the
present year will thus be enormously reduced below the aver-
age annual revenues earned during the three years ended
June 30, 1917, and the deficit thus incurred will have to be
made up and supplied by the government of the United
States under its aforesaid guarantees to the owners of the
principal railroads of the country of annual revenues equiva-
lent to the average operating annual revenues for the three
years ended June 30, 1917, out of the public treasury and
out of other revenues derived by the government from tax-
INJUNCTIONS. 1479
ation. In addition to this, a suspension of the operation of
the railroads will make it impossible for the government to
continue the transportation of the mail, the army of the
United States, the food supplies of the people, the raw ma-
terials essential to the industries of the country, and the out-
put of its factories, and will paralyze both intra and inter-
state commerce.
The aforesaid defendants, or many of them, and persons
whose names are unknown to the plaintiff who are associated
with the defendants in their said unlawful conspiracy, com-
bination, agreement and arrangement on October 29, 1919,
assembled at the principal offices of the International Union
United Mine Workers of America at Indianapolis, in this
district, and considered a final message and appeal to them
made by the President of the United States on October 25,
1919, to refrain from enforcing the aforesaid strike order to
begin at midnight on October 31, 1919. Said defendants