The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1922-05-06
STEEJ. PLANT BOYCOTTS.

Inc people OF DuIutn "oie
=" given. another example of "open
shop meanness this week when
they learned that S. H. Sheldon,
vice president of the Minnesota
Steel company had issued an or.
der to the manager of the COM
pany's commissary store at Nor
gan Park to throw out all union
made bread and to use only the
non-union product Of the Purity
Bread company, the only scab
bakery In Duluth.
The people of Morgan Park
s have been partial to bread made
4 by the Zinsmaster and BiQrlin
6 bakeries in which union men hap
pen to be employed. They can
. not purchase such bread any more
p at the pluck-me store of the steel
company. 1t is against the rules
4 Of the big trust for worker to
partake of any food-product that
. union men have had anything to
4 do with In the making.
i Judge Gary has been loud in his
declaration that the plants of the
HU1ited States Steel corporation are
'open shops" thus conveying the
Expression that they we're open to
II workers irrespective of their
ccial, religious or industrial at
E;iiatio3S. That is not true. Their
a"; Mr.. Sheldon, the local master
o. steel. makes no bones about it.
"iuudreds of men employed at the
Euluth plant have been summary
dismissed after it had been re-
ported to the KAISER of the Prus-
s:an-like institution that they had
at some time in their lives been
identified with organized labor.
There is good story in the max
ing of the tyranny of Sheldon at
his "Feudal Castle of Steel at
Morgan Park. His secret service
and his army of spies; his spotting
of employees; his inquiry into their
, social companions; his brutal at
titude; his lack Of gratitude to
! loyal and faithful superintendents
/. who had vexed him in some trivial
1 manner; his attempt to compel
Employees to reduce their stand
rds of living by prescribing the
. lind Of foodstuffs that shall be
sPld at the company commissary,
! ahd a number of other activities
that have completely cowed the
workers at the plant, will make in
l4sSresting reading when the facts
;, 4s.hsn have been compiled and pub
lishca That Il another story.
=, This story should have: a moral
for all union men. and for. all
4 ;:.ends of justice. Organized la
4 zor In Duluth has not given the
4 Minnesota Steel company any
\ trouble. No attempts have ever
4 been" made to organic its en-
II 'plOyes, although, we confess,
b there are no workers anywhere in
4 America in more need or organ
Il ization than the steel workers.
They probably will have union
| there some day. 1t will come
with bang. In all probability
when it does come the pent-up
| vengeance Of a decade will be let
loose: Cars have had their day,
but they are gone now, and like
ste WI come to the cars of in
dustrt sooner or later. Such is
IN the march of human progress.
The Labor World has had little
( to say about the non-union pro-
duct of. the Purity Bread company
which is being widely advertised
among the anti-unionists by the
Citizens Alliance. We have not
knocked any particular product;
J we have been content to advocate
among our friends the purchase
Of ,union-made products, but now
the. time has come to strike back.
! s Union workers and friends OF
workers must see to it that the
loss Of the Morgan Park trade
suffered by the two union baker.
lbs ID more than made up by their
4 patronage. Union men can buy
I more bread than non-union men.
lnion man getting 80 cents or
n dollar an hour for his labor
4 makes q better customer than a
steel worker at Morgan Park who
i iSs!plid 80 cents an hour.
| LSS And h remember. too, that, the
3lPurity Bread company is non.
! funIon. It Is more than non-union;
I'LL sis viciously anti-union. When
tsny worker uses that product he
fis hut contributing to- the. cause
8Itkatt is undermining bis standard