The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1916-05-26
The TALISMAN
OF Good OMEN
Union Label Most Direct Meth
cd of Helping Labor
SIGN OF HIGH STANDARDS.
Serves Notices to Purchasers That the
Article 1t Adorns Was Made Under
Sanitary Conditions-Used to Its Full
Power, the Label Would Go Far To-
ward Rendering Strikes Unnecessary.
BY SAMUEL GoMPERs.


ward Rendering Strikes Unnecessary.
BY SAMUEL GoMPERS.
The trade union movement first of
all endeavors to organize the producing
power of the workers. Associated eff
fort that enables workers to direct
and control their producing power gives
them an influence which the industrial
and commercial world must recognize
and deal with as an elemental fact In
business life.
There is another field that gives
workers supplementary power. The
wages which workers earn must be ex-
pended upon articles produced either
by themselves or by fellow workers.
Although the purchasing power and
influence of an individual worker and
his family may be comparatively small,
yet when the purchasing power of all
workers is organized and directed 80
as to promote union standards it be-
comes an important, potential power
Nearly every product has some mark
Of Identification, trademark or copy
righted label. The organized workers
In adopting a union label have follow
ed the intelligent part of business In
dividuality
In order to organize purchasing pow
er completely and consequently effec-
lively every product made under union
conditions ought to bear some mark
that would serve as guide to purchas-
ers. Many Of the unions have adopted
trade labels. These are placed upon
some portion Of the article upon which
they work and are readily discernible
by the purchaser. The union label
serves as a sign from the makers to the
purchasers that the article III question
was made under union conditions and
In accord with union standards of la
Dor.
To organize purchasing power in fur
therance of a general demand for I'M
ion labels requires associated effort of
a high order and highly developed fra
ternal spirit. 1t Is movement whose
strength depends upon the loyalty of
every individual, manifested in all of
his purchases.
Some manufacturers may be some
what averse to using union labels even
upon goods made under union condi-
tions, but when there Is a strong, In
sistent demand for union label arti-
cles and when nothing else will be ac-
cepted, not even union made goods
without the union label there Is re-
Yealed to every shopkeeper and tndi-
rectly to every manufactures the ad-
vantage and the financial benefit TO
be derived from the privilege of using
the union label. Business men win
gladly sell the articles demanded.
The philosophy Of the union label is
so simple, so general and so farreach-
ing that We're the demand for the un-
ion label general enough and insistent
enough the purposes of the trade un-
ionist could largely be achieved with
out recourse to strikes or trade union
movements that entail some degree of
suffering and financial loss to the wage
earners. !,
Products must be sold in order that
manufacturers may secure profits from
production. If they are taught by ex-
perience that they cannot sell their
products unless they bear the union
label they will be anxious to establish
conditions that will enable them TO
have the privilege of using the label.
There can be no more direct method
OF helping the trade union movement
than by insiStence upon the union la
bel. 1t is sure, direct; it requires no
legislation, no recourse to judicial
procedure, and it involves no menace
! to the employment of workers. On the
| other hand, the union label Is q guar
antee that products were not produced
under sweatshOp conditions, but were
made under sanitary environment; 1t
means that hours of work have been
shortened, that child labor has been
abolished that safeguards have been
taken for life and limb
Insistence upon the union label is
an economical way to achieve many OF
the purposes Of trade unionism. 1t
requires no expenditure of effort, time
] or money; 1t requires only the express
sion of a moral will in desire to fur
ther the best interests of the workers.
| And when the best interests of the
| workers have been furthered the en-
tire community, aye, the entire coun-
try's interests, have been concerned.
In order to make the use of the union
label most effective the trade union
workers must see to 1t that the label is
used upon the best products of their
| toll and that no fraud, deception or
counterfeits are permitted. Some man
ufacturers, with the hope OF discredit-
ing the union label, use it only upon
their cheaper, more shqddy articles.
This is practice that the trade union
movement will not tolerate.
May l not urge, yes, appeal to all
members OF organized labor to inau-
gurate new campaign for organiza-
tion and for union labeled products. to
the families and friends OF trade un-
ionists to give their patronage to the
products Of union labor bearing the
union label, to shun all products which
do not bear the union label when Ia
bel exists to adorn the product?