onal institution, have at least made it
immune from destruction by employers, however general or skillfully
managed the attack. In 1920 the total organized union membership,
including the 871,000 in unions unaffiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, was slightly short of 5,000,000, or over four
million in the Federation itself. In 1921 the membership of the
Federation declined slightly to 3,906,000, and the total organized
membership probably in proportion. In 1922 the membership of the
Federation declined to about 3,200,000, showing a loss of about 850,000
since the high mark of 1920.

The legal position of trade unions has continued as uncertain and
unsatisfactory to the unions, as if no Clayton Act had been passed. The
closed shop has been condemned as coercion of non-unionists. Yet in the
Coppage case[95] the United States Supreme Court found that it is not
coercion when an employer threatens discharge unless union membership is
renounced. Similarly, it is unlawful for union agents to attempt
organization, even by peaceful persuasion, when employes have signed
contracts not to join the union as a condition of employment.[96] A
decision which arouses strong doubt whether the Clayton Act made any
change in the status of trade unions was given by the Supreme Court in
the recent Duplex Printing case.[97] In this decision the union rested
its defense squarely on the immunities granted by the Clayton Act.
Despite this, the injunction was confirmed and the boycott again
declared illegal, the court holding that the words "employer and
employes" in the Act restrict its benefits only to "parties standing in
proximate relation to a controversy," that is to the employes who are
immediately involved in the dispute and not to the national union which
undertakes to bring their employer to terms by causing their other
members to boycott his goods.

The prevailing judicial interpretation of unlawful union methods is
briefly as follows: Strikes are illegal when they involve defamation,
fraud, actual physical violence, threats of physical violence, or
inducement of breach of contract. Boycotts are illegal when they bring
third parties into the dispute by threats of strikes, or loss of
business, publication of "unfair lists,"[98] or by interference with
Interstate commerce. Picketing is illegal when accompanied by violence,
threats, intimidation, and coercion. In December 1921 the Supreme Court
declared mere numbers in groups