Buck's Stove & Range Company

In a six-year legal battle ending in the U.S. Supreme Court, the Buck's Stove and Range Company sought, and ultimately failed, to have an American Federation of Labor boycott declared illegal on the grounds of anti-trust law.

As a result of a strike against the Buck's Stove and Range Company in St. Louis, Mo., the American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) placed the company on the list of firms not solicited by organized labor in its official paper, THE AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST, in May 1907. The company responded by filing suit against the A.F. of L., alleging that the boycott was in violation of anti-trust laws, and, in December 1907, obtained an injunction against the boycott. When the leadership of the A.F. of L. refused to comply with the injunction, leaders Samuel Gompers (president), Frank Morrison (secretary), and John Mitchell (vice-president) were found in contempt of court and sentenced to jail terms. After drawn out legal proceedings, the Supreme Court overuled the contempt charge on a technicality (1913).