I Cft BANCROFT LIBRARY 0> THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA THE UNION LABEL Its History and Aims PRIZE ESSAYS PUBLISHED BY American Federation of Labor 8O1-8O9 G STREET, NORTHWEST WASHINGTON, D. C. EPIGRAMS By SAMUEL GOMPERS Persistence wins ! No power, however strongly intrenched, was ever able to with- stand a rightful cause when persistently pressed forward. Show your interest in your own welfare by organizing, attending the meetings of your union, and living every day the prin- ciples it inculcates. All the efforts of antagonists against the cause of labor simply arouse greater inter- est among the wage workers, who are real- izing more clearly every day that their only hope for protection against injustice now, and for their liberty in the future, lies in their more thorough organization. If the wage earners would only realize and understand what force and power there is in organization and unity of action, and how unconquerable and invincible would be the hosts of labor so united, surely they would join the union in greater numbers and the organized would cease their strife and unite in one solid body. All labor would then be in a position to receive that justice from the capitalists' class and from modern society to which it is so justly entitled. 6 H Biaa Union Label Prize Essays FIRST PRIZE ESSAY By WALTER MACARTHER THE power of the union label is proved by its progress. The union label signifies the application in industrial life of those rules which every good citizen applies in indi- ^^^^ vidual life cleanliness, mo- rality, honesty, chivalry toward woman, and care for the young. Originating in 1874, in the white label of *i the San Francisco cigarmakers, followed in ^ 1875 by the red label of the same craft in "\ St. Louis, and permanently established in - 1880, at the convention of the Cigarmakers' J International Union, by the adoption of ^ "the other color in the flag" the familiar " blue label of today the union label has be- ^ x come the emblem and guarantee of fair labor in three empires, the United States, o Great Britain, and Australia. During less than 25 years' use in national " trade unionism the scope of the union label ^ has extended from a single industry so that j .it now includes more than fifty crafts in T North America, whose products enter into almost every article of household and per- sonal use. The union label derives its power from the fact that it is based upon the first law of nature, the law that "motion seeks the line of least resistance." Stated in concrete terms, the union label is powerful because it accomplishes by peaceful means, with absolute certainty and at little cost, that which the strike and boycott seek to accomplish, always at great cost and sacrifice. The workers who strike in protest against their wrongs may be defeated, but the public protest registered in the demand for the union label is invincible. The union label enlists and arms in labor's cause those elements which determine the issue of every cause in civilized society namely, the women and children. The instincts of woman and the interests of labor are conjoined in the union label. Both stand for cleanliness, morality, the care of the young, the sanctity of the home ; both stand against strife and force. The union label makes woman the strongest, as she is the gentlest of God's creatures. The mistress of the household represents the "purchasing power." She cannot go on strike, but she can obviate the necessity of striking by demanding the union label. With the "purchasing power" in her pocket and the union label in her heart, woman reigns with the olive branch. She is mistress of the situation. To the woman of the trade unionist house- hold the union label affords a guarantee that the wages earned under union condi- tions are expended upon union products and for the maintenance of union condi- tions, to return with interest in improved conditions for all. By demanding the union label the wife of the trade unionist becomes truly the help- meet of the breadwinner, her powerful in- fluence being thus extended from the home to the workshop, from which she is other- wise totally excluded. The child who demands the union label wields more influence than the man or woman who strikes. The strikers' place may be filled, but there is no substitute for the union label. The union label transforms the women and children of the working class into towers of strength. Without it they are often elements of weakness in the struggle for bread. The union label is the unmistakable sign of practical co-operation between employer and employe. The demand for the union label completes the relationship necessary to the most effective practice of co-opera- tion by making the purchaser also a part- ner in the business. The union label unites all interests that lie in the improvement of industrial condi- tions through the abolition of the sweat- shop, tenement house, insanitary factory, convict labor, Chinese labor, night labor, and child labor. Each of these evils has its antidote in the union label. Each circle formed in the interest of a particular reform expands toward the oth- ers, until all meet and merge in one great body, constituting a purchasing power quickened by conscience, directed by in- telligence, and concentrated with unerring precision. The union label, symbolizing as it does the conditions which the union itself is es- tablished to secure and maintain, is proof that these conditions obtain in the making of the article upon which it appears. Firm names, brands, trade-marks, and other de- vices by which products are advertised may lose their original significance through changes in the fortunes of those who own them. The union label, being owned by the union and subject exclusively to its control, represents the same thing always, namely, fair wages and hours, clean workshops, and good workmanship. The union label stands always for the facts of today, never for a tradition of yesterday. The union label stands primarily for union industry. As such it is an indispensable complement of "home industry," or other shibboleth of business, in the mind of the purchaser who holds principle above local pride. The union label is, indeed, the only guarantee that the products of any industry are fit to enter decent and cleanly homes. The distinguishing characteristic of the union label is its assurance against decep- tion. When an article ceases to be union- made it ceases to bear the union label. In a word, the union label is a weapon with which the trade union arms the fair employer and disarms the unfair employer. Uses of the Union Label to the Trade Union. It disarms opposition and conquers preju- dice. It commands the respect and protection of the courts and state. It is invulnerable to the injunction, the lockouts, and the blacklist. It supersedes the boycott by concen^- trating the purchasing power upon union products. It facilitates organization by increasing the demand for the products of organized workers. It constitutes recognition of the union by making certain the recognition of union products. It protects the trade union against attack by constituting the purchaser the real em- ployer. It makes the strike unnecessary by mak- ing compliance with union conditions an advantage in business. It is the most economical agency of trade union work, its cost being little compared to its results. It is a constant reminder of the common interest and common duty of all trade unionists in and toward each other, and a certain guide in the discharge of that duty. It is a weapon that profits the employer equally with the employe, but only so long as both aim at the same object. It can never be turned against the employe, be- cause it is the latter's exclusive property, to be given or withdrawn at pleasure. Uses to the Employer. It is the best medium of advertising. It is advertising that costs nothing. The union pays for it. It guarantees full returns on the outlay in the form of increased business. It enlists the unions, their members and friends, in the interest of the employer. It insures stability in business, because the principles it stands for are sound, en- during, and unchangeable. It saves time and talk in making sales. It sells itself, and it never deceives the pur- chaser. It signifies merit in the article the merit of good, clean workmanship as well as the principles of fair play in the treatment of employes. Uses to the Public. It is essentially an emblem of peace, both in suggestion and in practice. It educates, organizes, and directs the public, making the purchaser the intelligent ally, instead of the indifferent foe, of labor. It directs and concentrates public senti- ment against the evils peculiar to certain industries and against the evils common to many industries. It is the medium through which the pub- lic may enforce its rightful power of ar- bitrament between employer and employe. It is the inspiration, the guide-post, and the rallying point of the energetic and con- scientious women in every community. It gives us the Woman's Union Label League, It is peculiarly adapted to the nature of that factor which typifies the highest mo- rality and controls the purchasing power of every community, to wit, the mistress of the household. It appeals not to force, but to reason; establishes confidence in place of fear; makes no one ashamed ; but, on the con- trary, invites and encourages the people to take pride in well-doing. It is a standing declaration of the moral duty devolving upon the purchaser to in- quire into the cost at which an article is produced, as well as the cost at which it is sold. It organizes the purchasing power upon lines of fair conditions of labor, as against those conditions that destroy the health and morality of the producer and endanger the well-being of the purchaser. It is an appeal to principle principle that is above price ; the principle that a dol- lar expended in the maintenance of fair labor is worth more in the end than a dol- lar saved at the bargain counter. It is the "In Hoc Signo Vinces" of the crusade to rescue the child from the work- shop, factory and mill; the woman from the sweatshop and tenement house, and the millions of labor from the clutches of greed, degradation, and poverty. 8 SECOND PRIZE ESSAY By P. H. SHEVLJN EMERSON says that an in- stitution is the "lengthening shadow of some one man." Many of the world's most majestic achievements were once nothing but vague ideal- isms, compassless and pur- poseless, in the brain of some one man. Within the skull of a Fulton, a Howe, or a Morse were once coursing around, uncontrolled and undestined, thoughts that are today the motors of the world. So it is with the labor movement. When the historian of the future shall take as his subject the "American Federation of Labor," upon his pen point will continu- ously fall the lengthening shadow of one man, Samuel Gompers. The union label or "union stamp" is strictly American in origin. Many Cana- dain trade unionists have utilized it for some 13 years, and British organizations, heretofore apathetic, have within the past 18 months taken up the subject with prom- ising seriousness. San Francisco was the birthplace of the label in the year 1874. To the cigarmakers 9 belongs the glory of first employing this potent instrumentality of organized labor. During the sand lot agitation for Chinese exclusion, a firm of cigar manufacturers took on coolie labor. The unionists present- ed an intelligent and determined resistance. Assured of public patronage, the perplexity arose as to how the purchaser could dis- criminate between a union cigar, manufac- tured under sanitary conditions, and the rat-shop, coolie-made, filthy product. The solution came all boxes must be certified. From this sprang the greatest idea of the grandest institution on earth the label of the labor movement. At first a white label was used, to indi- cate that the cigars were made by white labor, as opposed to the yellow of the Orient. During a strike of the cigarmakers in St. Louis, the following year, the color of the local union label was printed in red. In the Chicago convention of 1880, a wran- gle having arisen between the "whites" and the "reds" on the subject of label chro- matics, a ready-witted delegate restored harmony by shouting: "Stop squabbling and take the other color on the flag." Thus the present blue label was adopted. From the foregoing it will be noted that sanitation was the original basis of the label. And while the years have expanded 10 the uses, aims, purposes, and aspirations of the workingman's trade-mark, the question of healthful conditions still remains one of the primal reasons for its employment. President Roosevelt, referring to filthy ten- ement workmanship in New York City, once declared in a speech in the Assembly of the New York Legislature, of which he was then a member: "I have visited these pest holes personally, and I assure you if smokers could only see how these cigars are made we should not need any legisla- tion against this system." Other unions, noting the label's success, set about adopting trade-marks. The hat- ters' label appeared in 1885; the garment- makers' the following year, and in 1891 the label idea was appropriated by the printers, ironmolders, shoemakers, horseshoers, and other crafts. Following this utilization came efforts to secure statutory recognition. The cigarmakers' label has been legalized in 31 states ; other labels have been ex- tended similar recognition, and the tendency of up-to-date legislation is to pass one stat- ute, embracing all labels used by legiti- mately organized wage earners. Moreover, many of these statutes are of a quasi- criminal character, providing penalties for counterfeiting and for unauthorized use. Appelate courts have declared these laws 11 constitutional and not class legislation. Quite a number of cities have ordinances requiring the printers' label on city print- ing. Some states have a like requirement as to state printing. Similarly, the ordinances of many municipalities make it imperative that the city's horses be shod in union shops, and that the shoes bear the stamp of the horseshoers' union. In fact, the label's reputation for rationality is securely es- tablished. The aims and purposes of the union label are: (a) The assurance that the work is done under sanitary conditions. '(b) The assurance of the payment of a reasonable wage and of a steadily improv- ing wage. (c) The assurance of reasonable hours. Reasonableness to signify that after the eight-hour day is a completed victory, then may come the seven-hour day and the six- hour day; ever remembering that labor's grand purpose is the economic and social betterment of the masses. (d) The assurance that child labor, the menace as well as the disgrace of modern civilization, has not entered into the product. (e) The assurance that so long as the intense and deplorable and inequitable forms 12 of competition, as evidenced in our present- day industrialism, shall make it necessary for woman to earn her bread in shop and factory, she shall continue to enjoy eco- nomic equality with her male co-employe. (f) The assurance that the conditions of the workers are safer as to life and limb than are the surroundings of non-label toilers. (g) The assurance that the product is not prison made. (h) The assurance that the products are superior in workmanship and quality to the unlabeled articles. (i) The assurance that the label is the concrete expression and hallowed scutcheon of conscientious men, organized for the purpose of securing these results and main- taining them when secured. The aspiration of the label knows no bounds. Its ambition is to redeem a world. Nothing in the whole realm of unionized labor is capable of such effective and con- tinuous utility. Other agencies have vary- ing degrees potentiality, and are intermit- tent in effectiveness. Unhappily, they some- times fail to win public sympathy, trans- late indifference into Perryism, intensify the suspicion of employers, and energize auction pens into a malevolent assault upon the labor movement. 13 But the battles of the label are won with- out blood. It is more powerful than strikes and picketings; and is a potent warning to tyrannical employers. It is as puissant in the hands of woman or child as the menac- ing declaration of a labor convention. It is the boycott without publication. No in- junction can reach it, no militia or Pinker- tons dare touch it, no pen will revile it, no pulpit assail it. It aims to be the "schoolmaster abroad," the schoolmaster at home, teaching the women folks their primal obligation to the great cause, while steadily winning its way into the hearts of the general public. It would be an evangel with the world for a vineyard a freemason in universality, but benefiting all, withholding from none. It is the supreme teacher one that teaches by example; in store, hotel bar, and elsewhere the unionist and unionist's friends, ask for the label and insist on the label, thus bring- ing home a commercial lesson that no other method can impart. It seeks to -enlist woman as the chief auxiliary and trumpeter of the affiliated legions ; not alone the wife, mother, and daughter of the organized wage earner, but through them and their propagandism all other women. As a pleader before the bar of public opinion no elo- quence can match it, no sophistry can van- 14 quish it. To conviction its gives a soul the soul of enthusiasm ; and like the gifts of the gods of Perseus, it goes forth, full- armed to conquer the monsters of rapacity, injustice, and oppression. In peace it aims to be ever alert, ever accomplishing results. In defensive warfare it is the most powerful weapon in the arsenal of labor, and when the battle is on it attacks the enemy in his rear, captures his base of supplies, and brings victory to the sacrosanct standard of unionism. It is the one and only fetich of the labor move- ment, an idolatry revealing the purest of hearts and the sanest of mindfe&ctoit Libra It aims to become the paramount attrac- tion and the imperative essential governing the saleableness of everything in the land that is made or mined or moved. The label seeks to be, by patronage or proscription, the great educator of manufac- turer and consumer, the trade semaphore of the one, the social arbiter of the other. The attitude of its advocates toward defiant tradesmen is to shun their stores and in- voke public following in the ostracism ; but that reprisal will bring many a merchant to his senses, and that invocation will make as big a dent in a cash account as the hammer of Thor made in the mountain. The label aspires to attain that might of 15 influence when to vend unlabeled goods will brand the vendor as a dealer in contra- band; a sweater; a business buccaneer; a Minotaur, fattening on the blood of women and children ; a mercantile Ishmaelite whom society will cast out as a thing too unclean for touch by honest hands. And all for the glory, the advancement, and the solidarity of the sacred cause of organized labor. The union label aspires to be the emblem of humanism, even as the cross is the sym- bol of Christianity. The one speaks to us of the world beyond and of the father- hood of God ; the other speaks to us of this world, this stern, rough-shod world in which we live, and of its redemption by the brotherhood of man. The charges which sophists and enemies make that the organization of labor in- creases the cost of living is absolutely un- true. Comparison will demonstrate that the relative cost of living, to wages, is highest always in countries where wages are lowest. Spread the gospel of unionism among the unorganized. In the same measure that it takes root it will benefit you. 16 THIRD PRIZE ESSAY By CHAS. D. HEMMING THE union label is the hall- mark of organized labor. Its origin began with the guilds of medieval times. Their worshipful companies, built on lines analogous to the trade unions of the present day, were essential to municipal liberties. The guilds were indirectly the check on monopolies, and left their impressions on the public minds of their day. Their hall-marks were moral standards and guides for discriminating buyers. Rights and privileges were associated with them. The guild, with its masters, journeymen, and apprentices, like its outgrowth, the unions, was a fraternity in which every member paid his share of the guild rent. The hall-mark corresponded to the union label with its per capita paid to advance its interests. The guild had its mission, which went with its hall-mark. So far as the times would allow, the members were bright, elevating, instructive, fearless, and aggres- 17 sive in defense of its liberties. Its craft was jealously guarded. Its hall-mark was blazoned with dignity. When Goldsmith's hall became a recognized authority, standing out distinct from the guild halls, its "mark" became synonymous with skill. When labor began its primal work of organization the rules and regula- tions of the guilds were adopted. The various crafts put particular seals and stamps on their products. From the hall- mark of the guild to the label the transi- tion was easy. The stamp of workmanship was recognized in just the same way as the hall marks of the guilds. The true dignity of the latter became the more ennobling. The principle of the label as an incQme producer became an educating force. The rent of the guild gave place to the per capita. The glass blowers used a union stamp against the trade-mark of the opposing forces. The potters, pioneers in unionization, insisted on distinctive marks "made by union labor," was often bracketed or enclosed. The typographical men were quick to see the distinction to be made by a regular union label. The prompt recognition of skill, selling capacity, and power to support the union treasury were among the first causes of its adoption. It gave a stimulus to healthy sen- 18 timent. The union label evolved from the hall-mark through the trade-mark or stamp was historic. The guilds emphasized skill and superior workmanship. Their various insignias are still in evidence in the many designs adorning the union label list. We have already seen what privileges were bound up in its origin. The cigarmakers fought a battle royal for its adoption. The printers did yeoman work to make of it a fixed revenue for protection. The first aims and purposes of the union label comprised ways and means of advanc- ing trade unionism apart from its ordinary resources. It primarily meant co-operation of the best kind. Out of this grew the stimulus for education. Education of the wives, daughters, sons, sisters, and sweet- hearts, and friends of union men to its use. The guilds in a measure fought monopolies. The hall-mark was a distinct guarantee. The union label, its outgrowth, becomes the foe of child labor, insanitary conditions, and the sweat shops. Its attributes shine with the cardinal tenets of fair play, shorter hours, and re- liable goods. From its inception it became a trade promoter. It gave work to its crafts- men, but its vital principle was education. Among its more modern points are these: It adds to business as a leading induce- 19 ment to union buyers and to union mer- chants. It keeps trade at home where there is local enterprise. It benefits the retailer as well as the wholesaler. It individualizes quality with price. It aids the newspaper and the union whose tenets it advertises. It is beneficial for stability. It defies un- scrupulous competition. It helps to estab- lish the wage scale. It insures a recogni- tion of rights. It is a profit producer. Its colors glow with humanity. Its insignias stand for health, skill, and dignity. It is the foe of the "open shop," and it points to a growing co-operation among the workers for the millennium of universal rights. It wins patronage on merit, indexes character, and promotes American individuality. It stands for some of the noblest feelings of mankind and womankind, the testimony of genuineness, the proof of excellence, the amelioration of the wage worker. The union label is a competent and im- partial record of aims and purposes. It is to a large extent a restraint on the trusts, for every purchase which goes with it, every label which bears the significant words, "eight hours," means employment to more men. It is the very acme of union co-op- eration. It aspires to educate in unity the masses through the unfaltering devotion of its 20 label leagues. It is a power for good to the rising generation, for their interests, their rights, and their liberties go with its tenets. It stands for the well-being and progress of all. It aspires to unity and federation. It gives energy and impetus to work, for it is ennobling, full of the highest conceptions of duty. It is the acme of good will and confi- dence, and its influence is unlimited. It is bound up with consistent, persistent, and aggressive movements, yet its mission is a federation of humanity. It has yet to be, recognized at its true worth, for it is des- tined to occupy one of the proudest places in the labor temple of the future. The union label is the symbol of human justice and human freedom, replete with honorable traditions, beautified by self- sacrifice, and brightened by intelligence and heroism. It is full of ideas, as well as information, for those who oppose criminal trusts that stand in the way of the inalien- able rights of the union workmen to the pursuit of happiness and progress. The economic and social importance of the eight hour movement is emphasized by the union label. It is a live factor in the industrial development of the United States. The label affords an opportunity for an educa- tion that will in time become world-wide. 21 It protects the purchasing public of all classes, as well as the union for which it stands. The union label of organized labor creates the trade agreement. It is a most glorious conception of equality, the very incarnation of those attributes which beautified the guild hall-mark. It is moving toward a plane of perfection, though at the present moment it has just reached the intermediate stage of progress. Its future stands for all that is noble; all that is sweet in life; all that is earnest for the elevation of mankind and womankind. It is the educator of the coming generation. Unity, federation, right and justice, legislation, a happy and pros- perous future go with the union label of organized labor. It is the highest type of patriotism which springs from the heart of man, and a factor in the ultimate attain- ment of real liberty. The formation of a trade union is a new Declaration of Independence. In the labor movement we hope to tear down nothing in this world that is worthy to stand. But we do propose to go deep, deep down into the fathoms of misery and de- spair and bring help to those who are seek- ing the light. 22 LABOR LITERATURE AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST Monthly Magazine of the A. F. of L. 10 cents a copy; $1.00 a year. A. F. OF L. WEEKLY NEWSLETTER OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS OF THE A. F. OF L. CON- VENTIONS 25 cents a copy. INDUSTRIAL UNIONISM IN ITS RELATION TO TRADE UNIONISM By EXECUTIVE COUNCIL, American Federation of Labor. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MANUFACTURERS EXPOSED, REVELATIONS OF SENATE LOBBY IN- VESTIGATION By EXECUTIVE COUNCIL, American Federation of Labor. INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM AND RECALL By EXECUTIVE COUNCIL, American Federation of Labor. THE AMERICAN LABOR MOVEMENT: ITS MAKEUP, ACHIEVEMENTS AND ASPIRATIONS By SAMUEL GOMPERS. 5 cents per copy ; 100, $3.00. TRADE UNIONS TO BE SMASHED AGAIN By