The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-05-01
UNION LABEL,
ITS WEAPON
Il Is Used BY Millions and Indi-
Gates the Strength Of
Organization.
LABELS | i, :: =. FOR EVERYTHING J
LABELS FOR EVERYTHING e
Union Work for Horses and Bot
tie Babies-IIow Dock Build
ers Handle the Capitalist.
BY Frank, G. Carpenter.

ny FRANK, ". NdTPeIlteI.
Especial Correspondence to The Times
Dispatch)
WASHINGTON, D. c., April 30-Take
Off your hat and look inside the band
f It. has a union label pasted there 1t
was made by union labor. Pull off your
shoes, and you may find the union stamp
on them; and If you go over your cloth
ing, bought In ready-to-wear shop, you
will, in all probability, find the union
label OF the Garment Workers sewed In
side the pocket or under the collar.
David NJ. Parry, the anti-union organ
zer, was surprised the other day when
he was told that his clothes were union
made, and he would not believe 1t until
the label was shown him.
The Horses Must Patronize the
Union.
If you are a horscman look well at
the shoes on your steed before you so
to the blacksmiths, for@lf they are not
union-made your horses feet may so
bare I talked the other night with a
Philadelphia millionaire who has five
thousand-dollar team. He was driving
last week on the outskirts of the City
OF Brotherly Love, when one of his
horses dropped shoe. Tho coachman
picked it UP, and the team was slowly
walked to the nearest blacksmith shop
and the man asked to nail on the shoe.
He looked at the horses and examined
their feet and blankly refused the job,
He said the shoes were non -union, and
that the horses had been shod by nom
union labor, and that he would not touch
them for love nor money. They then
| walked the horses to the next blacksmith
shop, where they met with similar treat
ment. and then to a third, where the
smith replaced the shoe, but only on
condition that he be paid four times the
ordinary rate, because the work in the
| first place had not been done by union
men. The first two men were told that
| that If the shoes were not put on the
horse might go lame. One man said he
couldn't help that, and the other did not
| care.
Labels for Everything.
| am surprised at the growth Of the
union label In all sorts of business. 1t
makes its appearance on the loaf OF
bread that comes to me with my break
fast. There is a union card in the shop
where ! get shaved. and Il a little baby
| friend of mine could read 1t might see 1t
| in the bottle from which 1t sucks its
| condensed milk. was told tho otley day
lat the American Federation of Labor
here that that body sends out twenty
| five million labels every year, and that
each OF these finds a place on union
made article. The United Garment Work.
| crs. who make a large part of the cloth
| ing OF the country spend $4,000 Il year
advertising their label and warning nco-
| pie not to buy goods upon which 1t Is
! not used. There are nifty different labels
Endorsed BY the American Federation OF
| Labor, and those trades which cannot
usc labels have union cards hung up In
their shops. The statesmen. barkeepcrs
and walters all have cards OF their own
and labels are used by coopcrs. hattcrs.
shoemakcrs. laundrymen. leather work
crs cigar ma kers and every union manu-
facturer under the sun. The first label
was used by tho cigar makers in 1850,
the first hatters' labels were put out In
1885, the first printers. labels In 1871 and
tho first garment workers In 1891, I am
not arguing for or against these labels
but merely stating facts.
! Mitchell and the Union Label.
There is question In the minds OF
many as to whether INC union label Is not
4; kind of boycott and some believe both
| the label and the boycott an outrage up
on the public In n recent talk with
| John Mitchell asked I'm what he
| thought about II. Said he;
"rhc union label is perfectly lcglti-
mate and It is one of the chief weapons
OF organized labor In It's warfare against
the unjust employer. 1t was started by
the California cigar makers to protect
their work against Chinese cheap labor.
and II has now spread To every branch
! OF the cigar trade. The Cigar Makers
Union put It's labels oil twenty-five mil
4 Hon boxes Of cigars last year. The label
shows that those cigars were made BY
union men who worned for union wages
under sanitary conditions.
",rhe union label Is now used by all
sorts OF ind,lstrIcs,Y Mr. Mitchell con-
tnucd, THE JIatters' Union alone is
sues something Ike million new labels
every month, and every one goes into Il
unIof.made hat. Tho merchant tailors
| have n union label and so have the brck-
layers. Tho number OF men who viii
use nothing but union goods Is con-
siapty Inrreasins, and Il now embraces
many million outside those who belong
10 labor organizations
The Right to Boycott,
n "But" said T. do you think ne trades
unions have tho right 70 boycott whom
"of course they have, replied John