George Sutherland

“ And, indeed, on the argument, in answer to a question from the bench, counsel for respondents very frankly said that, unless petitioners' interstate trade in the so-called unfair stone were injuriously affected, the strikes would accomplish nothing.
That the means adopted to bring about the contemplated restraint of commerce operated after physical transportation had ended is immaterial. ”

“ And, since these strikes were directed against the use of petitioners' product in other states, with the plain design of suppressing or narrowing the interstate market, it is no answer to say that the ultimate object to be accomplished was to bring about a change of conduct on the part of petitioners in respect of the employment of union members in Indiana. A restraint of interstate commerce cannot be justified by the fact that the ultimate object of the participants was to secure an ulterior benefit which they might have been at liberty to pursue by means not involving such restraint. ”

“ In cases arising outside the Anti-Trust Act, involving strikes like those here under review against so-called unfair products, there is a sharp conflict of opinion. On the one hand, it is said that such a strike is justified on the ground of self-interest; that the injury to the producer is inflicted, not maliciously, but in self-defense; that the refusal of the producer of deal with the union and to observe its standards threatens the interest of all its members and the members of the affiliated locals ”

“ There had been an unsuccessful strike to enforce the 'closed shop,' the eight-hour day, and the union scale of wages. The strikers and the local organizations to which they belonged were affiliated with an international asociation having a membership of more than 60,000. They entered into a combination to restrain complainant's interstate trade by means of a 'secondary boycott,' in pursuance of which complainant's customers in another state were warned not to purchase, install, or operate its printing presses and threatened with loss and sympathetic strikes should they do so. ”

“ The strikers threatened a trucking company with trouble if it should haul the presses, incited employees of the trucking company and other men employed by complainant's customers to strike in order to interfere with the hauling and installation of presses, notified repair shops not to do repair work on the presses, threatened union men with loss of union cards and the blacklist if they assisted in installing the presses, and resorted to other methods of preventing the sale and delivery of complainant's presses in interstate commerce. ”

“ The stone sold in interstate commerce comes into competition with other kinds of natural and artificial stone. The principal producers of artificial stone are unionized and are located outside of Indiana. Before 1921, petitioners carried on their work in Indiana under written agreement with the General Union, but since that time they have operated under agreements with unaffiliated unions, with the effect of closing their shops and quarries against the members of the General Union and its locals. ”

“ Tested by these principles, the propreity of the unions' conduct can hardly be doubted by one who believes in the organization of labor
Neither the individual stonecutters nor the unions had any contract with any of the plaintiffs or with any of their customers. So far as concerned the plaintiffs and their customers, the individual stonecutters were free either to work or to abstain from working on stone which had been cut at the quarries by members of the employers' union. So far as concerned the association, the individual stonecutter was not free. ”

“ The association, its locals and officers, were clearly innocent of wrong doing, unless Congress has declared that, for union officials to urge members to refrain from working on stone 'cut by men working in opposition' to it, is necessarily illegal if thereby the interstate trade of another is restrained. ”

“ Most of the stone workers employed, outside the state of Indiana, on the buildings where petitioners' product is used, are members of the General Union; and, in most of the industrial centers, building construction is on a closed shop union basis. ”

“ The members of the General Union and allied locals throughout the United States are stone cutters, carvers, curb cutters, curb setters, bridge cutters, planermen, lathemen, and carborundum moulding machine operators, engaged in the cutting, patching, and fabrication of all natural and artificial stones ”

“ The plaintiffs are not weak employers opposed by a mighty union. They have large financial resources. Together, they ship 70 per cent. of all the cut stone in the country. combined in a local employers' organization. And their organization is affiliated with the national employers' organization, called 'International Cut Stone & Quarrymen's Association.' Standing alone, each of the 150 journeymen's locals is weak. The average number of members in a local union is only 33. The locals are widely scattered throughout out the country. ”

“ Petitioners, Bedford Cut Stone Company and 23 others, all, with one or two exceptions, Indiana corporations, are in the business of quarrying or fabricating, or both quarrying and fabricating, Indiana limestone, in what is called the Bedford-Bloomington district in the state of Indiana. ”

“ An act which lawfully might be done by one may, when done by many acting in concert, take on the form of a conspiracy and become a public wrong, and may be prohibited if the result be hurtful to the public or to individuals against whom such concerted action is directed (Grenada Lumber Co. v. Mississippi, 217 U.S. 433, 440, 30 S.C.t. 535, 54 L. Ed. 826) ”

“ Whatever additional facts there may have been in that case, the decree enjoined the defendants from using-'even persuasion with the object or having the effect of causing any person or persons to decline employment, cease employment, or not seek employment, or to refrain from work or cease working under any person, firm, or corporation being a purchaser or prospective purchaser of any printing press or presses from complainant, * * *.' Page 478 (41 S.C.t. 180) . ”

“ This was held (pages 292, 294 (28 S.C.t. 303) ) to be a combination falling 'within the class of restraints of trade aimed at compelling third parties and strangers involuntarily not to engage in the course of trade except on conditions that the combination imposes,' and an unlawful restraint of interstate commerce as defined by the Anti-Trust Act. ”

“ Their combined investment is about $6,000,000, and their annual aggregate sales amount to about $15,000,000, more than 75 per cent. of which are made in interstate commerce to customers outside the state of Indiana. The Journeymen Stone Cutters' Association of North America, sometimes called and hereinafter referred as the 'General Union,' is an association of mechanics engaged in the stone-cutting trade. ”