osal.

_Unfavorable Features of the Indirect Boycott._--The boycott we have
thus far had in view is a direct confining of union laborers'
patronage to union-made goods. Why this is a thing to be encouraged we
shall presently see. What we have said in favor of it does not apply
to boycotting merchants on all their traffic because they deal in
certain goods. If a brand of soap is proscribed, the workers are
justified in concurrently refusing to use that variety; but it is not
equally legitimate to prevent a merchant, whose function it is to
serve the public, from selling this soap to the customers who want it.
To refuse to buy anything whatsoever from a merchant because he keeps
in his stock a prohibited article, and sells it to a different set of
customers, is interfering, in an unwarranted way, with the freedom of
the merchant and of the other customers. Indirect consumers' boycotts
have little to commend them, but those of the direct kind have very
much.

_The Merits of the Trade-label Movement._--This appears most clearly
in connection with the trade-label movement. As a result of this
movement union laborers will, as is hoped, buy only union-made goods.
The existence of such a movement in itself implies that there are
goods of the same sort to be had which are not made by union labor.
The shop that is run by the aid of independent labor is the cause of
the existence of the union label. If all the labor in a group were
organized, the label would have no significance. At present the trade
unions offer to an employer a certain amount of patronage as a return
for limiting himself to union men, and so long as the cost of making
his goods is not much increased, the inducement may be sufficient to
make him do it.

_The Movement as affected by Extravagant Demands on
Employers._--Unduly high wages mean, of course, unduly high prices.
Without here taking account of the "ca'-canny" policy, which aims to
make labor inefficient, extravagant wages for efficient labor increase
the cost of goods. This opens the way, as we have seen, for the free
shop and the labor which is willing to sell its product at a cheaper
rate. If union labor then firmly resolves to buy only the goods with
the label, it proposes a heroic measure of self-taxation.

_Trade Labels and the Quality of Goods._--The experience of the
trade-label movement thus far has been, that in some instances the
label vouches for prices which are high, if quality be consid