timber workers

The only thorough canvass ever made of the amount and ownership of standing timber in the United States was that made in 1910 by the Bureau of Corporations, U. S. Department of Commerce and Labor. The findings of this investigation are given in the report known as "The Lumber Industry, Part 1, Standing Timber." Some extracts from this report follow and they convey some idea of the degree of centralized control that exists in the lumber industry.

Letter of Submittal - Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of Corporations, Washington, Feb. 13, 1911:

The facts given in this chapter were obtained from an article entitled "A History of the Logging Industry in the state of New York," by Wm. F. Fox, Superintendent of Forests in that state, and a collaborator of the Bureau of Forestry. This article was published in 1902 as Bulletin 34 by the US Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Forestry.

Logging

The facts given in this chapter were obtained from an article entitled "A History of the Logging Industry in the state of New York," by Wm. F. Fox, Superintendent of Forests in that state, and a collaborator of the Bureau of Foresty. This article was published in 1902 as Bulletin 34 by the US Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Forestry.

From the light that science projects into the obscurity of the remote past we have every reason to believe that not only the progress but the very existence of the human race was dependent on timber. The trees provided a refuge for our ape-like ancestors and thus saved them from destruction by the monstrous beasts and reptiles that then inhabited the earth. The first weapon of primitive man was a wooden club. Without wood the discovery of fire, which started man on the road of civilization, would have been impossible.

A Job

Shortly after the strike was transferred to the job, the government placed Colonel Disque, with headquarters in Portland, Oregon, in charge of spruce production. Although the production of spruce was little interfered with by the strike, the lumber companies purposely held it back, to discredit the strikers and make it appear that they were striking against the government, and to force it to aid in breaking the strike.

For some time an idea had been gaining headway among the strikers; that it was time to make use of new tactics, that they had stayed off the job long enough, and that it was time to get back to the camps and mills, and carry the strike with them. Many had been opposed to a long drawn out strike, from the first, and grill had advocated an early return to the job, and tire use of the job strike. As the strike progressed the wisdom of these tactics became more apparent.

March the 5th and 6th, 1917 a lumber workers convention was held in Spokane, for the purpose of forming an industrial union in the lumber industry. This convention was composed of thirteen delegates representing all the AWO branches in Eastern Washington, Idaho, and Western Montana, thenceforth known as the Spokane district; two delegates representing the organizer! lumber workers of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, the Middle West district; and two representing Nos. 432 of Seattle, and 338 of Tacoma. Lumber Workers Industrial Union No.

Many attempts at organization among the lumber workers have been made with varying success. In 1902 the Western Labor Union, an organization closely allied with the Western Federation of Miners, began to gain a foothold among the lumber workers of Western Montana. In 1905 this organization which had changed its name to the American Labor Union, was one of the unions which went to make up the IWW By that time it had a considerable membership among the lumber workers of Western Montana and the union charter hung in many bunk houses.

Let us investigate the causes of the miserable condition of the lumber workers. We find that the lumber companies are in business for one purpose-to make profits. They care nothing about the welfare of the workers; that is none of their business. They do not care how rotten conditions are in the camps as long as the men are able to do their work. To them it is immaterial how many men die from disease or accident, so long as they are able to get others to take their places. The longer the hours, the lower the wages, the harder the work and the more inhuman the conditions, the bigger.