The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1922-02-10

FRANK sWltte, OF CInclnnatI, repre-
senting the Axton-F Fisher Tobacco
Co, Louisville, KY, appeared before
a number of local unions last week and
made a strong plea that union men
smoke and chew only union made
goods. He said, among other things,
sAs long as we continue to purchase
commodities that are made and pre-
pared by scab labor we ought not con-
denim the open shopper because it is
we who are purchasing their pro-
duets and who are cooperating with
them to make their movement to
crush and disrupt organized labor
success"
He passed out samples of Clown
cigarettes, product of the Axton-
Fisher Company, and said to be the
best cigarette on the market to day.
Ele also distributed samples of Old
Hill Side smoking, Booster, Axton's
| Natural Leaf and White Mule Twist
for chewing, all products of his COM
Ipany and which bear the union label.
Mr.. Witte was well received wher-
ever he appeared and was pledged the
support of the trades unionists
| He told of Mr.. Wood F. Axton par
ticipating in the last Labor Day pa
rade in Louisville. Shortly there
after Mr. Axton received the follow
ing communication:
Louisville, KY, Sept. Z, 1921.
Dear Wood
Il was much surprised at your iden-
tifymg yourself so wholly with the
unions yesterday
Did you mean it? or was it just
for advertising purposes? If the lat
| ter do you think it was we'll to do
this in an avowedly open shop town? :?
The town that on account of it's open
shop principles, is easily the best busi-
ness town today Wholesale and re-
tail) of any comparative city in the
world.
| oCOl ~
In reply Mr.. Axton sent the follow
ing, which undoubtedly shows his
views:
AXTON-FISHER TOBACCO co.
Louisville, KY, Sept 8, 1921.
=" Furniture Co, City.
'Dear Sir:
81 have your letter of the 9th inst,
and contents carefully noted.
thought you knew me too well to ask
me when | do thing, if / really
|-meant it and in reply to your inquiry
will say that | meant it.
For over twenty-five years / have
been in the tobacco business and /
have employed union labor and in all
that time | have found union labor
absolutely fair and ready to listen to
reason. On the other hand | have
been approached nd reapproached by
many men who claimed the right to
conduct their business as they saw
fit, but who objected to my conducting
my business as | saw fit, and in sum
ming up these men, | find that they
are a parcel of men who have simply
gone to seed on the subject of labor
| sometimes have a great deal of sym
pany for them, always afraid of trou-
bic with their employees, most of them
never having learned how to get along
with their employees, most of them in
competent Of conducting their own
business, but willing to help other
men conduct their business; continual.
ly stirring up discomfort between EN-
ployes and employer by sending out
such circulars as you sent me; of .
man who fifteen years ago had some
carpenter tell him to slow up ON the
job down in North Carolina and
doubt very much if there was any car.
penters' union at that time affiliated
with the American Federation of La.
) Dor in North Carolina. This won.
derful story that you sent out re.
: garding the Missouri and North Ar.
kansas railroad now being closed dowr
on account of labor is fair exam.
pie of the propaganda receive here
every day.
when | go to buy pair of shoes
and | am asked $1,000 to $500 fol
them and leather is cheaper than il
has ever been and / am told it is or
: account OF labor, yet, did you know
that on the finest shoes made for mel
the laborer gets less than $125 .
pair for making them?
ut is very much like the textile
manufacturer who opposed the mini
mum wage bill for women last year
at Frankfort, who at that time was
getting over 100 per cent more fol-
converting cotton into cloth than they
received before the war. They sale
they were now paying their labor sc
per cent more than they did before
the war, and any further advances
would have to be added to the cost oil
the cloth Another one of them wrote
) a letter in which he said that working
girls having a surplus after contrib
uting their share of the upkeep of the
home began to lead a larger life anc
were imperiled thereby. / do not