George Sutherland

“ Persons in other states were directly prevented or discouraged from shipping building materials and supplies into California.
It will be well, in limine, to emphasize certain clearly established general facts, in the light of which these grounds must be considered. Interference with interstate trade was neither desired nor intended. On the contrary, the desire and intention was to avoid any such interference, and, to this end, the selection of materials subject to the permit system was substantially confined to California productions. ”

“ The unions rigidly enforced the 'closed shop'-that is, they denied the right of the employer to employ any workman, however well qualified, who was not a member of a San Francisco union; and this applied to a member of a labor union in another locality, who, moreover, practically was precluded from joining a San Francisco union by reason of the cost and onerous conditions imposed. ”

“ It is only when the intent or necessary effect upon such commerce in the article is to enable those preventing the manufacture to monopolize the supply, control its price or discriminate as between its would-be purchasers, that the unlawful interference with its manufacture can be said directly to burden interstate commerce. ”

“ At these meetings it was resolved that the work of building must go forward, and that, if San Francisco mechanics refused to work, others must be employed from the outside. Funds were raised and placed in the hands of a committee of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, and under its direction workmen were brought in from the outside with promises of employment at the wages fixed by the arbitrators. Subsequently the Industrial Association of San Francisco was organized to take the place of the committee and carry on its work. ”

“ It was held that this was not a conspiracy to restrain interstate commerce within the Anti-Trust Act, even though the goods, to the knowledge of the strikers, were to be shipped in interstate commerce to fill orders already received and accepted from the company's customers in other states, since there was no actual or attempted interference with their transportation to, or their sale in, such states. ”

“ To render this restriction effective, the person concerned was required to obtain a permit from the Builders' Exchange, specifying the kinds and quantities of materials to be furnished and the particular job on which they were to be used. The materials specified were cement, lime, plaster, ready-mixed mortar, brick, terra cotta and clay products, sand, rock, and gravel. Substantially all of these were California productions and were deliberately selected for that reason, in order to avoid interference with interstate commerce. ”

“ Prior to February 1, 1921, the unions had adopted and enforced, and were then enforcing, many restrictions bearing upon the employment of their members, which the employers, and a large body of other citizens, considered to be unreasonable, uneconomic, and injurious to the building industries, resulting, it was asserted, in decreased production, increased cost, and generally retarded progress. ”

“ In the United Leather Workers Case there was a strike, accompanied by illegal picketing and intimidation of workers, to prevent, and which had the effect of preventing, the continued manufacture of goods by a trunk company. ”