The New York Boycotter, a
journal devoted to this form of coercion, declared: "In
boycotting we believe it to be legitimate to strike a man
financially, socially, or politically. We believe in hitting him
where it will hurt the most; we believe in remorselessly crowding
him to the wall; but when he is down, instead of striking him, we
would lift him up and stand him once more on his feet." When the
boycott thus enlisted the aid of blackmail, it was doomed in the
public esteem. Boycott indictments multiplied, and in one year in
New York City alone, over one hundred leaders of such attempts at
coercion were sentenced to imprisonment.
The boycott, however, was not laid aside as a necessary weapon of
organized labor because it had been abused by corrupt or
overzealous unionists, nor because it had been declared illegal
by the courts. All the resources of the more conservative unions
and of the American Federation of Labor have been enlisted to
make it effective in extreme instances where the strike has
failed. This application of the method can best be illustrated by
the two most important cases of boycott in our history, the
Buck's Stove and Range case and the Danbury Hatters' case. Both
were fought through the Federal courts, with the defendants
backed by the American Federation and opposed by the Anti-Boycott
Association, a federation of employers.
The Buck's Stove and Range Company of St. Louis incurred the
displeasure of the Metal Polishers' Union by insisting upon a
ten-hour day.
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