64 Opinion of the Court. the building industries, resulting, it was asserted, in decreased production, increased cost and generally retarded progress. Among the restrictions complained of, were rules limiting the number of apprentices, limiting the amount of work, limiting or forbidding the use of laborsaving devices, and interfering with the legitimate authority of the employer. The plumbers' union, for example, enforced the following, among others: no union plumber, whatever the emergency, was permitted to work on non-union material or to work overtime on Saturday without permission of the union; detailed reports were required showing the number of fixtures set each day, and men who exceeded the standard fixed by the union were disciplined; the time which any employer was permitted to stay on a job was limited to two hours a day; as many men as the union saw fit could be ordered on a job regardless of the wishes of the employer. Among the restrictions imposed by the painters' union were these: wide brushes with long handles for roof painting were prohibited, and it was required that all such work should be done with a small brush; certain labor-saving devices were prohibited; and union painters declined to paint non-union lumber. 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. They were confederated under the name of the Building Trades Council, by means of which their combined power was exerted in support of the demands and policies of each, until they had acquired a virtual monopoly of all kinds of building trade labor in San Francisco, and no building work of any consequence could be done in that Opinion of the Court. 268 U.S. city, except in subordination to these demands and policies. Early in 1921, serious differences having arisen between. the unions and the employers in respect of wages, hours and working conditions, an agreement for arbitration was made and a board of arbitrators selected. The board, after a hearing, made a tentative award reducing the scale of wages for the ensuing six months. Challenging the authority of the board to reduce wages, the unions refused to be bound by the award and repudiated and abandoned the arbitration. Strikes ensued; efforts to bring the strikers back to work failed; and building operations in San Francisco practically came to a stand-still. Thereupon, in an endeavor to find a solution of the difficulty, mass-meetings were held by representative citizens in large numbers and from all walks of life. 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. The strikers, however, returned to work, and for a time no objection was made to the employment of nonunion workmen. But later, demands were made by certain of the unions for the discharge of all non-union workmen and the restoration of the "closed shop." These demands were disregarded, and there was another strike. A boycott was instituted and acts of violence against persons and property committed. In the meantime, one of the appellants, the Builders Exchange of San Francisco, with a membership of more than one thousand building contractors and deal 64 Opinion of the Court. ers in building materials, in coöperation with the Industrial Association and other appellants, devised and put into effect what is called the "American plan." The basic requirement of the plan was that there should be no discrimination for or against an employee on account of his affiliation or non-affiliation with a labor union, except that at least one non-union man in each craft should be employed on each particular job as an evidence, it is suggested, of good faith. In effect, the "American plan" and the " open shop" policy are the same. The principal means adopted to enforce the plan was the "permit system," the object of which was to limit sales of certain specified kinds of materials to builders who supported the plan. 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. The only material exception was plaster, which was brought in from the outside, but consigned to local representatives of the manufacturers or to local dealers in San Francisco, and brought to rest in salesrooms and warehouses and commingled with other goods and property, before being subjected to the permit rule. A suggestion was made at one time that, if necessary, the rule would be extended to all other materials used in the building trades; but it does not appear that this was done. It is said that lath of various kinds, wallboard and Keene cement also were put under the rule; but we think the record discloses that, in fact, this was never agreed upon or carried into effect. Opinion of the Court. 268 U.S. There is evidence of efforts to extend the "American plan" to other cities and states. Permits were extensively withheld in respect of buildings where the "American plan" was not adopted or not enforced. Builders and contractors were constantly urged to observe the plan and were warned that failure to do so would result in a denial of future permits. A check was kept upon shops and building jobs by inspectors, and daily reports were made as to whether the plan was being observed. Whenever it appeared in any case that the plan was not being lived up to, a warning letter was sent out. Under appropriate by-laws, members of organizations subscribing to the plan who violated it were fined and in some instances expelled; and other methods, not necessary to be recited, in part persuasive and in part coercive, were adopted and enforced in order to secure a thoroughgoing maintenance of the plan. With the conflict between the policy of the "closed shop" and that of the "open shop," or with the "American plan," per se, we have nothing to do. And since it clearly appears that the object of the plan was one entirely apart from any purpose to affect interstate commerce, the sole inquiry we are called upon to make is whether the means employed to effectuate it constituted a violation of the Anti-Trust Act; and, in the light of the evidence adduced, that inquiry need be pursued little beyond a consideration of the nature of the permit system, what was done under it, and the effect thereof upon interstate commerce. The bases of the decree, which, in the opinion of the court below, were established, may be briefly and categorically stated as follows: 1. Permits were required for the purchase of building materials and supplies produced in and brought from other states into California. 2. Permits, even if limited to California produced materials, nevertheless, interfered with and prevented the 64 Opinion of the Court. free movement of building materials and supplies from other states into California. 3. 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 thing aimed at and sought to be attained was not restraint of the interstate sale or shipment of commodities, but was a purely local matter, namely, regulation of building operations within a limited local area, so as to prevent their domination by the labor unions. Interstate commerce, indeed commerce of any description, was not the object of attack, "for the sake of which the several specific acts and courses of conduct were done and adopted." Swift and Company v. United States, 196 U. S. 375, 397. The facts and circumstances which led to and accompanied the creation of the combination and the concert of action complained of, which we have briefly set forth, apart from other and more direct evidence, are "ample to supply a full local motive for the conspiracy." United Mine Workers v. Coronado Co., 259 U. S. 344, 411. But it is not enough that the object of a combination or conspiracy be outside the purview of the act, if the means adopted to effectuate it directly and unduly obstruct the free flow of interstate commerce. The statute is not aimed alone at combinations and conspiracies which contemplate a restraint of interstate commerce, but includes those which directly and unduly cause such restraint in fact. See American Column Co. v. United |