Douglas Island news., 1909-09-22
Ebert Hubbard on Boycotts
IFrnm the Sonnre Deal Magazinel

From the Square Deal Magazinel
 The Philistine, The Fra, and other of Hubbard's publications were placed on the unfair list" by the American Fed eration of Labor because they adver- tised goods made by the Postum Com pany which was on the unfair list"
 One O'Sullivan, a manufacturer of rubber heels, was cowsrdly enough to yield to this un-American demand and withdraw his patronage.
 Mir. Hubbard's reply is quoted as follows:
 "Note"-The man who cancelled his order with us, when he was notified by his local union that we were on the un- fair list, is Mir. Humphrey O'Sullivan, of Lowell, Massachusetts, a manufac- turer of rubber heels.
 "I hesitated about presenting Mir. 0'Sullivan this extra advertising. Then ! thought it possible that we might have to give list of parties who had broken with us, when it was generally known that we had been officially de- elared unfair and duly placed on the Index Expurgatorius of the Federation of Labor, so l would put lem all in together.
 "However, Mir. O'Sullivan enjoys the distinction of being the only man who gave us the double cross on the dicta- ton of organized labor. In very truth, our business has grown since the boy. eotte announcement. The April issue of the Fra carried more advertising than we ever had before.
 "I do not think that Mir. O'Sullivan was iutimidated into this action. He is himself member of Typographical Union No. BIO, and proudly carries a union card. The rubber heel idea came to him late in life.
 "The fighting, boycotting, secreting, scheming plan of life was in his mind. He was laboring under the hallucina- tion that he was going to be oppressed, and therefore the secret conclave, the unfair list and the boycott. Also, later, if you please, the brick-bat and the shillalah The boycott is for the bene- it of those who cannot be caressed with the blackthorn In America if we do not like man we need not buy his product.
 "But this does not constitute boy colt. it is only the exercise of your nat ural right of choice. The boycott reaches out and smites the man who sells to or buys of the man you do not like. For instance: The Roycrofters are not on the unfair list because we are unfair to labor We have never had the slightest trouble in East Auro- ra on the subject of hours or wages. We pay more than the union scale and we do more for our helpers than any union demands.
 "Then why do Gompers, O'Sullivan and their friends attempt to injure us? Why, simply because we carry the ad- vertisements of Charles w. Post, and have spoken we'll of him and certain other men in print. The union at tempts, you see, to throttle free speech. am not to be allowed to express my self. My manuscript must be cen sored by Gompers.
 Secondly, we are teaching trades to an unlimited number of young men and women. Could tyranny go farther?
 "So O'Sullivanl cancels his orders with us, after having written us ex- pressing great satisfaction with the service rendered him. He intimstes that must get in step in order to re- ceive his patronage. MT. o'Sullivan is a man of considerable ability, but he is marking time and imsgines he is marching. He hasn't had the training to allow him to see the other side. He lacks imagination when he demands that I shall do as the union says, or suffer. My liberty and my pursuit of happiness are as nothing to him. He C..