The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1909-10-22
RAWLINGS OF
{. W. POST
Battle Creek Manufau-
turer an Adept at Ad-
vertising Methods.

The daily papers at regular intervals
contain voluminous articles published
as advertisements and signed by G. w.
Post, of Battle Creek, Mich 1t is not
necessary to recite the contents of
these advertisements; they are suffi-
GENTLY familiar to make q reprint un-
necessary. The substance of them is a
virulent attack upon organized labor,
full of misrepresentation and the
grossest fabrications.
They serve the purpose of keeping
Post before the public, and are not a
vain expenditure of time and money,
for they advertise indirectly the Post
products, in giving publicity to which
the manufacturer has spent hundreds
of thousands of dollars.
However, it happens fortunately for
him that his patrons are not to any
extent workingmen, and, therefore, he
can take the position he does without
injury to his business.
OSO manufactures L OSbuln b0 1t
substitute for coffee, and in advertis-
ing his decoction he makes most vicious
attacks upon coffee, which, as we all
know is one of our most important
commercial commodities. His asser
tions as to the injurious effects of
coffee have no scientific value, but they
serve the purpose for which they are
printed among a certain class of people.
He also manufactures various brands of
breakfast food of which DIR. Charles
Mccormick, a noted medical authority
of Chicago, says:
Throw away the sawdust breakfast
foods, for they kill more people in one
year than does all the alcohol that was
ever manufactured into whisky
OF this class of foods are the Post
products. They are used mainly in the
families OF clerks and people employed
in sedentary occupations, and are very
convenient for lazy housekeepers who
desire to avoid the trouble of furnish
ing their families with properly cooked
and nourishing meals.
Postum" as drink is similar to
these breakfast foods-a practically
tasteless liquid when prepared for the
table, which would never be used except
for belief in the deception advertise
ments which declare it to be every
thing that it is not. 1t serves the pur
pose only when the imagination has
been affected in its favor.
If we could get a picture of the pa
irons of his Postum and breakfast
foods and compare it with the users
of solid, substantial, nutritious food
products, such as are placed on the ia
BILE of the average farmer and work
ingman, it might serve to nullify the
effect produced upon the imagination
by the glowing tribute Post pays to his
productions
In contrast to Posts opinion of la
Dor unions is that of President Taft,
recently expressed in an address in Chi
cago in which he says:
81 know there is an element among
employers of labor and investors of
capital which is utterly opposed to the
organization of labor l can not sym
pathize with this element in the slight
est degree, I think it is a wise course
for laborers to unite to defend their
interests 1t is wise course Cor them
to provide a fund by which, should
occasion arise and strikes and lockouts
follow, those who lose their places may
be supported pending an adjustment of
difficulties.
81 think the employer who declines
to deal with organized labor, and to
recognize it as a proper element in the
settlement of wage controversies is be
hind the times.
The effect of organized labor upon
such abuses as the employment of child
labor, as the exposure of laborers to
undue risks in dangerous empioyments,
to the continuance of unjust rules of law
eXempting employers from liability for
accident to laborers, has been direct,
immediate and useful, and such reforms
in these matters as have taken place
would probably be long delayed but for
the energetic agitation of the question
by the representatives of organized
labor"
Mr.. Taft's statement contains the
gist of the whole matter, and is a posi-
tive refutation of the position occupied
by the manufacturer of postum"
At present Mr.. Post is exploiting a
real estate boom in a section of the
State of Texas where he owns vast
tract of land The impression created
by the various publications relating to
this mater is radically extravagant, for
none of the things said to have been
accomplished in-the section referred TO
have any actual existence. They are
simply another advertisement of this
successful promoter.
POST ought to be liberal contributor
to the prohibition propaganda, for by
the aid of the fanatics he might secure
the enactment of laws compelling us all
to drink Postum and eat excelsior
and sawdust
We trust that our workingmer
friends win keep posted on Post and