William O. Douglas

“ When we assume that all the steelworkers are producing steel for defense when in truth only a fraction of them are, we are fulfilling the dreams of those who sponsored the House bill and failed in their efforts to have Congress legislate so broadly.
Though unlikely, it is possible that, had the District Court given the problem the consideration that it deserves, it could have found that the only way to remove the peril to national safety caused by the strike was to issue the broad, blanket injunction. ”

“ Yet if 'national health' includes the public welfare, injunctions will issue whenever any important industry is involved-whether it be steel or automobiles or coal or any group of industries where one union makes collective agreements for each of the component unions.
It is a fact of which we can take judicial notice that steel production in its broadest reach may have a great impact on 'national health.' Machinery for processing food is needed; hospitals require surgical instruments; refrigeration is dependent on steel ”

“ If production is not quickly resumed, severe effects upon the economy will endanger the economic health of the nation.'
It is plain that the President construed the word 'health' to include the material well-being or public welfare of the Nation. When the Attorney General moved under § 208 for an injunction in the District Court based on the opinion of the President and the conclusions of the board of inquiry, the union challenged the conclusion that 'the national health or safety' was imperiled, as those words are used in the Act. ”

“ Manufacturing industries directly dependent on steel mill products account for the employment of approximately 6,000,000 workers and normal annual wages and salaries totalling approximately $34,000,000,000. The products of these industries are valued at over $125,000,000,000. The national health will be imperiled if the strike is permitted to continue.'
Here again it is obvious that 'national health' was construed to include the economic well-being or general welfare of the country. The Court of Appeals, in sustaining the injunction, was apparently of the same view. ”

“ I think that Congress, when it used the words 'national health,' was safeguarding the heating of homes, the delivery of milk, the protection of hospitals, and the like. The coal industry, closely identified with physical health of people, was the industry paramount in the debates on this measure. The coal industry is indeed cited on the Senate side in illustration of the need for the measure. ”

“ The District Court found otherwise, stating five ways in which the strike would, if permitted to continue, imperil 'the national health and safety':
' (a) Certain items of steel required in top priority military missile programs of the United States are not made by any mill now operating, nor available from any inventory or from imports. Any further delay in resumption of steel production would result in an irretrievable loss of time in the supply of weapons systems essential to the national defense plans of the United States and its allies. ”

“ Nuclear Submarines and the naval shipbuilding program other than submarines, including new construction, modernization, and conversion, have been affected by reason of the inability to secure boilers, compressors, and other component parts requiring steel. Products of the steel industry are indispensable to the manufacture of such items and delay in their production will irreparably injure national defense and imperil the national safety. ”

“ Over 500,000 steel workers and about 200,000 workers in related industries, together with their families, have been deprived of their usual means of support. Present steel supplies are low and the resumption of full-scale production will require some weeks. ”

“ There has been no sifting of the facts to determine whether defense needs can be satisfied by practical means short of sending all men back to work.↑ The particularized findings necessary are illustrated by those in United States v. ”

“ S.Rep.No.105, 80th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 14. There were those in the Senate who wanted to go so far as to outlaw strikes 'in utilities and key Nation-wide industries' in order to protect the 'public welfare.' 93 Cong.Rec. ”