The Union Hat Inspection
Everett shingle weavers take a stand to enforce union purchasing power.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Acting upon a suggestion of the Trades Council, the shingle weavers at their last meeting concluded to see how many of their members were helping the United Hatters in their fight by buying hats with the union label in them. So they appointed a committee to wait upon the boys and examine their hats, revising any that were not decorated with the sign of union conditions in the hat factories. To the credit of the boys it must be chronicled that of nearly a hundred hats examined, only a half dozen or so were found label-less.
“So they appointed a committee to wait upon the boys and examine their hats, revising any that were not decorated with the sign of union conditions.”
This reflects the early 20th-century 'buy union' campaigns that were central to labor solidarity in Everett's mill-town economy. Today's movements for ethical consumption often echo these efforts to leverage collective purchasing power to force better working conditions.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.