United labor bulletin., 1909-11-19


package of scab tobacco also, constitutes
a union man. we want to say just this
that some day, when it is too late for
YOU you will wake up to realization
that you have in reality been scab.
What kind of intellects such men have is
beyond our comprehension-if they have
any at all. How can man make great
big noise about his unionism and what
he is doing for labor when all the time
he is spending his money in such way
as to give employment to those who are
outside the union and consequently act
ing as the weight holding back more
rapid progress for the trade union. We
have all heard the story of the man try
ing to pull himself out of the mud by pull
ing on his boot straps. The opinion is
expressed that he must have been
thick head. There would be an awful
shrinkage in the numerical strength OF
organized labor if the thick" heads were
removed or dropped from the rolls.
Some day if the fortune of industry
ever gives us the opportunity to employ
men of craft they will have to be
union" men, not cardholders. They will
have to attend their meetings and see
to it that they do not come around kick
ing at some action of the union because
they were not there to help vote it down
or UP as the case may be. Then, too,
they will have to wear union label
clothes, and not smoke scab cigars or to-
bacco.
There are men in the labor movement
who know in their hearts that they are
not in any sense union men, but who still
parade themselves before the public as
such. When one of the kindred organi-
cations (or their own maybe) has labor
difficulty the chances are that they will
be found scabbing the job. Then they
will want a coat of whitewash. If the
union men (the real ones) resfused to
be buncoed longer by this class of
sponges (not soaks) they and the move
ment would be better off. Union man,
wake up, and don't be a bull any longer
they are led around by the nose. Be
men and think for yourselves and when
stand for that whether anybody else
agrees with you or not-until you can be
shown that your course is not right or
that the other course would be better
for the trade union movement (and con-
seuuently for yourselD in the long run.
Shortsighted hysteria is apt to prove a
bad disease for those duped by the "1''
,,1,
but can't deliver the goods.
If you don't believe what has been
said call for a show of-we were going
to use that old expression and say
Misunderstanding apparel and tobacco,
and then look over the records and see
what they have to say of the past of the
individuals You say that tells the story
for the politician. There are politicians
in the union and some just as self-seek-
ing and unprincipled as those who seek
your vote to send them to Beacon Hill at
the public expense. Look into these
things and be shown. True blue acts
speak louder than words. The union
label on your collar speaks story of bet
ter conditions for the girls in that indus
try. The label on your tobacco says that
children were not employed and that the
trust did not reap any profit from its
manufacture. The label on your suit
coat pants and vest-protects you from
the disease of sweatshop as well as non
union manufacture. You can get the
union label on everything you need to
wear, so there is no excuse for buying
union label broom to sweep the floor with
and know that you are not employing
prisoners in the penitentiaries. Wake up
and put on a union label hat and know
that the hatters on strike received your
valuable support. We have heard recent
ly union man give as one of his reasons
for buying a scab hat that he could get
it for so cents while the union-made hat
would have cost him dollar and half
No thought of the difference in quality
or conditions of manufacture or of the
hatters entered his mind, that is, the
thought did not reach to his pocketbook
BY the way, that is where many union
mems unionsm begins and ends. Do you
know any of that class? If you do make
him loosen up-wake up.-The Artisan
Holyoke, Mass.
- r + +
UNION MEMBERSHIP.