St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1886-01-14
BOYCOTTING.

The method of furnishing" manu-
facturers and traders known as boy
cOtting has, unfortunately, become
prevalent among the working classes
in this country as means of redress
ing what they choose to consider their
wrongs at the hands of certain pro-
ducers and middlemen. 1t is meth
cd which is directed against individu
ais in the main, and is intended to de-
prive offending manufacturers and
traders of the support of the labOring
class. To boycott trader or manu-
facturer is to withhold from him, as far
as possible, the patronage upon which
he depends for his success. AS boy
cOtting is endorsed by most, if not all,
of the trades unions in the country,
and all are bound to withhold support
from any business concern which has
been placed under the ban by any one
of the unions, it is easy to see that the
system must work most disastrOusly to
the welfare of any producer or trader
who has proved offensive to the labor
ing classes. The withdrawal of the
patronage of SO large number of per-
sons cannot but injure the business of
any individual or firm.
The boycott is sometimes a more eff
fectual means of bringing capital to
terms than the strike. 1t is, in fact, II
turning of the tables, which enables
labor to impose very much the same
conditions upon capital which capital
imposes upon labor. The manufactur
or or trader is dependent upon the
market for the means of subsistence,
Just as the labOrer is dependent upon
the payroll for his. So long as the
market, or considerable share of the
public patronage is withheld from the
producer, he is in IL condition of help
lessness much like that of the striking
laborer deprived of his pay.
But there is an objection to the pro-
cess, even on the side of labor, and a
very serious one, too. 1t is simply
robbing Peter to pay Paul. What the
boycotted individual or firm loses goes
to the credit of other producers and
traders, for the goods in question must
he obtained from some source. Thus
the end, and labor only enforces its
own dependency upon trade. The Ie
lief is only temporary, and increases
the liability to the disease.
A recent number of Bradstreet's con-
ltIuS jill INSTRUCTIVE luGcIcSGIIIS It.
view of the principal cases of boycott
ting which have occurred in this cOun-
try during the last two years. Boy
cotting, according to the writer, has
been resOrted to 237 times i'm this peri
cd. Of this number forty-One boy
colts were against employers of Chi
ne labor, twenty-six against cigar
manufacturers who employed non
union men, and the remaining cases
against newspaper publishers employ
ing frat" printers and manufacturing
concerns which have discharged men
for one reason or another. About
thirty per cent. of the above cases of
bOycOtting have proved successful,
twelve per cent. have failed, and fifty
eight per cent. are still undecided.
The principle upon which boycott
ting depends is a perniciOus one, and
cannot long receive the sanction of in
telligent and honest men. 1t assumes
the right of demagOgues to control the
wOrkingman's right to spend his own
money. 1t demands of him an agree
ment to deliberately injure, so far as
he can, at the command of the trades
union, the prosperity of a man or firm
against which he may have no person
nj grievance whatever. 1t turns every
mans hand against his neighbOr, thus
reversing the very law upon which so
ciety is based. There is an element,
ut least, of Openness and squareness
about the strike, which the underhand-
ed and indirect method of the boycott
does not possess. The trades unions
which adopt and endorse the latter
method, will be likely to find it react
ing upon themselves sooner or later.