The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1927-10-14
By E. LEWIS EVANS,
President, Tobacco Workers Interna-
tional Union.
Most Plants Now Non Union

| was in dealers shop the other
day, and while there drummer came
in and asked him how much of this
and that and the other brands he
wanted, and was quite autocratic
about it, sensing the idea that the
dealer must take them. The fellows
attitude nettled me, and / ventured a
question, asking him why he did not
have a union label on his goods, and
he laughed, saying:
"What's the use of being bothered
with the union in our factories, when
union men buy our goods anyway"
What do you know about that shot ?
Well, it hit the mark and started me
| to thinking some on the question, and
searching, find that last year there
were 84,0OO,O0O,00O cigarettes made,
and over 80 per cent of this cast num-
Der were produced by the big non
union corporations in the trade, and /
have been wondering how many of
these non-union cigarettes were
bought by the 100000 members of
our Organized Labor movement, and |
convinced myself that it was burn
ing shame that the cigar makers and
tobacco workers do not get more con-
sistent support from the other trades.
Every time we buy non-union tobacco,
cigars or cigarettes we are giving
employment to non-union men.
Millions Spent for Tobacco
We are spending millions of dollars
each year trying to organize, and on
the other hand, and then we turn
around and spend millions for non
union smokes and chews, and the Lord
knows in how many other lines of
purchases we make. In short, we are
spending millions to build with the
right hand and with the left hand
spending as many, and perhaps more,
millions to tear the structure down
again. The more | thought on the
question the madder | got, as the
whole thing began to come into re-
view in my mind, and | thought it was
no wonder that the drummer gave me
the shot he did. I guess he thought
we are fine bunch of treadmill
workers, walking the whole year long
and getting no further up the hill,
since the treadway moved backwards
under our forward efforts, and the
machine attached to the mill grinding
out dollars for the ants. Say, fellows,
do you think we are sane? Or, how
far from it have we wandered? What
is your opinion?
/ am told that there are about 100,-
600 people employed in non-union to-
bacco and cigar factories that need
organization as badly as any of our
other trades, and here we are, by our
own actions, preventing these people
from organizing by spending our un-
ion-earned money for non-union
smokes and chews, and at the same
time holding ourselves up to ridicule
by the general public, as a bunch of
inconsistency. Say, fellows, don't
you think it is time we looked into the
moral and material effects of the fool
stunt we have been pulling for some
time past?
Union Support Needed
If organized labor in this country
were true to it's interests, the cigar
makers and tobacco workers would be
as strongly organized as most of our
trades. There are about 100000 peo-
pie in our organized movement, and in
members who enjoy the delights of
tobacco would consistently demand to-
bacco, cigars and cigarettes bearing
the union label both organizations
would nearly, double their member
ship.
| venture to say if the pipe and CT
garette smokers in our great move
ment would refrain from spending
tnelf unlon-earned money Wltnout
proper discrimination and consistently
demand, and get brands of tobacco
and cigarettes bearing the label for a
period of six months, the five giant
branches of the Tobacco Trust would
be looking for place to get in out
of the wet, as their trade would sc
diminish that they would decide that
something had to be done. They, like
all other trade trusts, don't want, and
won't have, any Labor organization
on their premises if they know it, and
still we, or a large percentage of oul
members, thoughtlessly keep on help.
ing the trust to keep organization OF
. the tobacco workers out Of the big cor.
porations' factories.