The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1903-05-23
1IEELY PRESET lMONOP
MERITS .0R Union LABEL.
WORKERS >cAN3AID THEIR OWN
CAUSE VERY DEMANDING
THEIR. OWN PRODUCT. l..

CAUSE VERY DEMANDING
THEIR OWN PRopUcT. l.
The union label is device stamped
or printed on the products Of union
labor to distinguish it from unfair or.
sweat shop products. Its use not only
conlrnends the article on which it is
used to the union man, but to the
public in general. 1t lis not = only a:
guarantee that such goods were manu-
featured ussder faif wage conditions,
but also a guarantee of the cleanliness
Of the factory in which it was made.
IF: the public could but see some of
the dirty, damp: cellars in which their
crackers, bread, cakes, ETC., were
baked, or see the stuffy garrets where
diseased men are underpaid, half-fed
women and children roll out their ci-
gars, if they could but hear the pitt
full walls of a hungry babe as it tugs
at the empty breast of a mother who
sews shirt waists, and .underclothes
for fifteen cents per dozen to deck
the bargain counter of our department
stores; if they could but know the
one-hundreth part of the immortality,
depravity, misery and distress caused
by the ever present Shylock who de-
mands from defensless labor his
pound of flesh, that his money bags
may be filled to overflowing, they
would rise up as one man and thank
the men who devised the union label
which protects both humanity and
themselves, and they would all de-
mand it.
I have little faith in the religion of
a man who breaches or prays on the
Sabbath day, but who beats, swim
dies and cheats his fellow men the
other six, about the same faith I have
in the unionism of a, man who carries
the union card of his craft in his
pocket but sonsumes nothing but the
products Of the sweatshop. The one is
hypocrite, the other is "wolf in
sleeps clothing The man who car
ries union card, but does not pat
rontze the union label, is like unto the
union as the ichen is to the tree:
1t may set green and pretty to look
upon, but it saps from the tree it's
life blood and gives back to the tree
will die, as our union will die, if we
out or converting them.
We sometimes hear a so-called I'M
ion man say, II can not use union
TASTE" or "style.'' will refuse to be-
lieve that any one can not use these
goods If they try. 7 would have to be-
lieve that a just God had inflicted on
any one such a curse as to create a
man a natural born scab, as such ar.
gument would prove a man to be. 1t
is true that a little sacrifice to taste
or fashion Is sometimes required, but
the principles Of a man must indeed
be weak if he will not make this small
sacrifice for his principle. --
Again we sometimes hear Of so-called
union man say, Il forgot to call for
the union card" or union label'.SsS*'
/ !: Whenever I. hear a union man say.
this IL puts me, III mind t,f d. story f
heard about 8. man going to war but
forgot to bring his gun, he told the
boys to go ahead and do the shoot
ing a~~ - would afterwards collect
the spoils; as the story goes, the boys
got rid cf him. There Is a moral in
this story that believe would pay us
to learn and practice.
Let us judge ourselves by the same
rule by which we Judge others. II the
butcher shop, the merchant or the
bakery apply to us for the union shop
or store card, the first question we
would ask them is, do you employ
union labor exclusivelyT' II their an
swer be NO." we would refuse them
the union card, would sa yto them,
3e ~ sf<>n HAI><
Let us ask ourselves the same quest
ion. Some OF us may say that I'VE are
not employers, we are the employees"
In answer would say that there is
not a man, woman or shild living in
civilization who Is not an employer in
a direct or indirect sense of the word.
Certain necessaries, such az food and
clothing, which takes some kind Of
labor to produce are requisites of CIV
ilization, and to have the right, and by
the aid of the union label can decide
on ~:t>~A '-'cd of labor you will employ
to produce the daily necessities and
luxuries of life, union or scab (the only
effective right Of the American wage
Garner tina has ever been curtailed by
injunctions of court). AS honest an
swers to this question I feel would
put us in a bad light, as the present
market affords so little of the neces-
stiles and luxuries that is the product
OF union labor, but brothers, let us
demand that our merchant supply us
with the union label goods that are
now manufactured, and feel encourag-
ed by the fact that we are steadily
gaining ground, as each month some
new product of union labor makes it's
appearance on the market. We will
thus encourage the manufacturers who
are willing to do business with their
hearts as we'll as their heads, other
union factories will spring up, and by
this union label instead Of the shot
gun and strike we will settle the wage
question forever and soon find, our
selves men and women in the true
sense of the word, as judged by our
own rule.-Cripple Creek colorado
Press. 49,.
, CONVENIENT DEAENEsa.