The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1917-03-17
WAGE EARNERS'
BUYING POWER
Should Be Used to Strengthen
Position Of Organized Labor.
SUPPORT ALL UNION LABELS

WI Ult1 HkA UVlUW kHDAAV
Were the Wages of Workers Universal
Iy Spent For Union Made Products
the Effect Would Be of Great Benefit
In Maintaining Scales and Prices.
Progress of the Label Movement.
1t does not require more than aver
age intelligence to understand that If
all wage earners could be persuaded to
concentrate their purchasing power on
behalf of union label products and In
support Of union labor conditions the
cause of organized labor would be very
materially advanced, says the Shoe
Workers Journal.
Much has been printed and spoken
upon this subject. 1t has been explain
ed how the wages Of labor, when spent
for the necessaries or luxuries of life,
constitute the great volume Of the mar
ket in which the goods and wares Of
merchants and manufacturers are sold;
in other words, the payrolls of the fac
tories, workshops and mines and in
dustrfes of all kinds constitute the
great home market in which all those
products are sold.
Therefore the wage earners are, in a
large sense, their own employers. The
workmen in a shoe factory, in mar
row sense, do not employ themselves,
but with proper organization Of the
purchasing power Of all the wage earn
ers of all trades and callings the shoe
workers, acting in concert with all
their fellow workers in other trades,
would become the employers, in col
lective sense, of the shoe manufacturer
for whom these particular shoe work
ers were working.
If the combined wage earners thought
that that particular shoe manufactures
was fit to be employed by them and If
they were satisfied with his goods
they could continue to give him en-
ployment, but If they did not like his
goods and were not satisfied with his
general conduct they could discharge
that shoe manufacturer just as easily
by Withholding their patronage from
his goods as the shoe manufacturer
could discharge the humblest work
man in his employ.
We have repeatedly set forth In our
! frequent discussions OF this subject
| that the conditions of competition and
of trade are such that no merchant o.
storekeeper can afford to haiieiIe dguDls
| lines Of goods or to handle lines Of
| goods that are penalized by being mac.
ceptable to a very large proportion Of
the consuming public.
This reasoning applies to all sorts Of
merchandise, and the same purchasing
power can be exercised in every indus
trial line. The application may be diff
ferent In some cases, and in some par
| ticular trades the workers must rely
upon the general strength Of union Ia
/ Dor sentiment in the community, but
the more the wage earners cooperate
in the exercise of their purchasing
power in the expenditure Of theil
wages the stronger the organized move
ment will be in every community anG
the more numerous and enduring bene
! fits the members thereof will receive
The right of the employer to hire anG
discharge can be exercised by us. W.
can hire and discharge the employer as
we will. 1t is not question of what
we can do, but what we will do. We
have it in our power to discharge al
the nonunion employers, and we wan
to remember that when we spend one
Of our union dollars for a nonunior
| product we have helped to discharge
some union brother and to put a non
union man in his place.
We would not like to have one of oul
brothers in another trade do that to us
therefore we should be very certain
not to do 1t to him, for when we weak
en- sister union we weaken ourselves
| Every time one of us by purchasing (
nonunion product takes dollar away
from union man in another trade hi
is preventing that man from spending
that dollar in support Of our trade.
Now, the union label cause has pros
pered and progressed. If that were
not so our union would very likely no
be in existence today. There are othel
strong union label organizations thu
existence of which, like ourselves
proves that the union label cause ha'
progressed, but we all know that oul
progress has been snail-like compared
with what it might have been haG
there been a greater degree of cooper
alton between wage earners of al
crafts in the exercise of their purchas
ing power or in the spending of tn,
wages they earn.
MiduaIa A. ra;4e < "a, y,Iouaea