Words on the Picket Line

During a strike at a wood-preserving plant, the union kept a picket line of two posts, six to eight men each, around the plant day and night for several weeks. The union's president was on the picket line when a non-union employee approached. According to the evidence, the president told him that the workers were on strike and did not want anybody to go up there to work. There were no threats, and witnesses agreed his manner was peaceful. He was charged under a state law making it a misdemeanour to loiter about or picket a lawful business to induce others not to trade with or work for it. He was convicted and sentenced to a fine or 73 days in jail. The defence argued the law made peaceful discussion of a labour dispute a crime, violating free speech.