The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1920-10-29

ly Dealers having exhausted their
stocks to some degree are BEGINNING
to buy, though cautiously We wish
to thank organized labor for the sig
mficant fact that, generally speaking.
the factories using the union stamp
have suffered less than the average
The demand for shoes bearing the
union stamp has been of benefit to
factories using it and to our members
therein employed.
But there are sinister influences.
now at work, which threaten the fu-
ture and it is because of these that we
now ask organized labor for an eveG
greater measure of support. Some of
the very largest manufacturers n
non-union shoes are seeking to use
| the recent demorahzed conditions Of
the shoe market for their own future
advantage. One of the very largest
is opening retail stores in large cen
ters of population and will seek tie
patronage of working men and VIC
men. They will probably seek to ad
vertise in labor papers as they have
in the past. This concern operates
strictly non-union factories.
We regret to say that this concern
must have received the patronage of
many hundreds of thousands of work
ing people in the past or ii could not
have built up so large volume OF
business. Emboldened by its past
success in that line it now proposes
to enlarge upon it by opening it's own
stores. 1t remains for the union men
and women of the country to say
whether this non-union product shall
receive the patronage of the men and
women of labor-whether union men
and women will withhold their patron
age from union stamped shoes and
give it to the most noted anti-union
concern in the shoe industry.
Another almost equally large con
cern is beginning an extensive cam
raign of national and local adverti :
ing to capture the retail trade of the
country for it's product which does not
bear the union stamp. A material
gain in the sale of the products Of
this concern is a direct blow at the
legitimate trade union movement.
Increased sales by either of the two
large concerns or by others of similar
non-union policies will be injurious to
the trade union movement, first be
cause it will tend to check the growth
Of the American Federation of Labor
and second, and more important, be
cause it will signify that an increas
mig percentage of organized labor is
becoming Indifferent to its union la
bel obligations The weakened mo"
ale, that the latter would indicate,
would be an element of future weak
hess that would take years of hard
work for all union labels to make re-
covery of lost ground
In spite of any plausible or deceit
full statements that may be made by
clerks in non-union shoe stores, or in
pretentious and bombastic advertise
ments, the basic fact remains that the
only way Of identifying shoes that are
made in factories where the workers
have a voice in determining the con
ditions under which their labor is sold
is in buying shoes that bear the
union stamp"-the recognized union
label of the shoe industry and so rec
ognized by the A. f. of L. and its
affiliated unions since 1895
The price Of shoes is matter OF
material markets beyond our control.
We believe these material markets
are fairly equal to all manufacturers
Makers of leather or other shoe ma
terials or machinery are not generally
disposed to undersell to large con
Germs because if they do that they
would destroy the smaller concerns
and thus narrow their own market
For these reasons the claim of any