Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1900-10-12
THE LUMBER BUSINESS.
Argus.

am in receipt of "post hole" care
from a man who is saving up money
enough to come out here, second-class
He has been busy at this for six years
and wants to know if our winters will
require him to invest in suit of un
derclothes. If not, he thinks he can
make start, as his wife's folks live on
the way out. He has had hot winds,
weavil, army worms, hail, Hessian
flies, smut, early frost, cold rains and
sciatica. He wants to locate in some
place where early fall and late spring
do not run together and CONCEAL.
He wants to know how long a shin.
gle weaver has to serve at his trade to
weave shingle? And, if the mills
out here weave anything else?
lam not up to very high peak my
self on the lumber business. but do
know that they take log in out OF
the wet; the head sawyer looks at it
scowise" like hungry hen stalking
through damp grass after June bug
lays it out in his mind like a woman
who is negotiating for a remnant at a
marked down sale-and cuts it up into
full breadths, sleeves, collars, belts,
etc., at a glance. Then the bark is re-
moved and the dogs let loose. In ex.
planation, ought to say that these
dogs and these barks are in no way re-
lated. ! am not describing a sausage
factory. In about q minute there
isn't enough of the log to make Stats
for hen coop.
The way logs are turned into houses
that rent for cash-providing there
are no children in the family--makes
even booze butcher" who is being
backed up by the local brewery, feel
that he is wasting time. There are
we'll authenticated instances at hand
where men have voluntarily aban.
doned the saloon business to 60 to
numbering, owing to feverish desire
to get rich on the run-log run, as it
were.
/ have also known men who hadn't
enough energy to get up and make
the kitchen fire, who have made a
brown stone front with steam heat
in the cellar, out of timber, and stol g
it at that. 1t used to make me regret
that had lead or followed, as the case
may be, an earnest and upright career,
when l saw the timber thief stopping
at our best hotels and having it
brought up to his room; but years OF
journalistic rectitude have made me
feel different about it. A man can
become so numb that even animosity
will not make him warm.
On the other hand-if the mill man
is fortunate enough to have another
the sawmill has its drawbacks, or, in
other words, its failure to draw back
at the right moment. As result, the
average sawmill town is populated by
citizenship which often has to take
an oath or drink with just one finger.
The balance of the fingers have been
contributed to the exigencies OF the
profession. Indeed, it is not consid-
cred that a man is up in his business
the real thing, as it were-unless he
has felt the teeth of a saw while it was
buzzing about him and left from one
to four fingers as an evidence OF faith,
to be swept out by the janitor.
There are mill owners who would
not hire a man with full hand. A
railroad man who has on pinch,
given up a finger in the interest oi
the stockholders, can get work in a
mill when others fail. 1t makes the
average mill man nervous and expec'
tant to see q man with full and COM
plete hand squaring himself at one oi
the circular saws.
He sees before him a damage suit
that will keep some prominent young
barrister busy-until the next conven'
ton meets-filing complaints and
other things, when he ought to be en-
gagged in filing saws. Then too, there
is the danger of interrupting business
1t is extremely irritating to have tt
shut down the engine just because
knot sawyer has fed finger to saw
and then quit for the day in huff.
AT Skagway, a few days ago, )
Solomon, of 1888 Sutter street, Sar
Erapcisro was accidentally burned Il