I get only well-made clothing. It costs a little more than cheap stuff, of course, but I consider it as cheap as scab-made of the same grade. I show my customers that I handle only reliable goods, free from sweat-shop diseases, and that they are cheapest in the long run. I believe in unions, and have helped them through several strikes. But they don't stand by me. I don't expect anything from them, for I have learned better. They will not support me."
This shows the position of the union merchant. He has carried on a successful business, thanks to his own business ability, but certainly not to the fact that he has maintained the only union store in the city.
Conditions in the remaining twenty-five stores were as follows:
Strong demand for union-label goods - 3
Small demand - 16
No demand - - 6
The largest stores reported "no demand." The label went with cheaper grades of goods; in fact, some merchants declared it a badge of cheap goods. This suggests an important truth, patent to any investigator, namely, that the label should be a trademark of good workmanship, but is not. It enhances the price, necessarily, for it stands for union wages and union hours. The merchant must pay more for the goods, however he sells them.
The label clothing in greatest demand was workingmen's overalls. In some cases purchase of these was compulsory, by reason of the one-dollar fine imposed by the union for wearing so-called "scab" overalls.
A few typical interviews will shed considerable light on the whole subject.
One merchant in the working district said: "I began with a small store in a factory suburb. Union men came in and asked for union-label goods. Their unions were strong, and so I ordered a big stock of union-label overalls and jumpers, which I sold on a narrow margin at fifty cents each, one dollar a suit. I sold them well till a store opened near by and put in a line of non-union overalls and jumpers at seventy-five cents a suit. That
