A Local Judge Stays the Injunctions
How Judge W. W. Black’s common-sense ruling in a Snohomish mill strike earned him the support of organized labor.
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Organized labor has had to storm many an embattlement behind which lay the forces of organized greed. But of all the ingenious devices ever employed, the use of the injunction in industrial disputes is the most diabolical. A temporary restraining order is secured and then the hearing for a permanent order postponed from time to time. The shingle weavers of Western Washington had presented demands for an increase in wages. The demand had been almost universally met but the Cascade Shingle Co. of Snohomish proved stubborn. Strike breakers were employed and the weavers made the usual attempt to induce them to quit work. Judge Black was applied to for a temporary restraining order against the International Shingle Weavers' union. The order was granted and the date for final hearing set. The mill company came well fortified with affidavits charging the union men with everything short of murder and arson. But the strike breakers, when placed upon the stand, failed absolutely to substantiate their carefully prepared affidavits. So farcical was the whole case from the complainants' standpoint that Judge Black dismissed the case without argument from the attorney for the defense.
“It is the most ruthless weapon ever employed by organized capital. Through it the man upon the Bench becomes judge and jury, prosecuting attorney and witness for the state.”
The use of court injunctions to break strikes was a major point of contention in the early 1900s, often pitting local judicial power against union organization. This story documents a specific instance where a local judge’s refusal to weaponize the courts made him a hero to the labor movement, a stark contrast to federal judges of the era.
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