Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-02-28
EMBRYO WOODSMEN.
DisconsoIate Men Roaming the WiIds
Of The State Of Maine.
Brought Here by Employment Agents
and Left to starve.

Scattered through the numbering
camps of northern Maine is a yeritable
army of disconsolate workmen. Prob
ably on the headwaters of the
Kennebec and Penobscot rivers there
can be found 1000. of the most
miserable feeling men in the
whole State. The natives call them
"galoots." They are the '1andlubbers"
of the grea: ocean of spruce. "snang-
haied'' by the employment office sharks
and left to the mercy of the rough
woods bosses and rougher crews of
French Canadian, Indian and native
woodsC1en.
The fall of 1901 will long be remcm-
bered by Maine lumbermen as the year
when there was a famine for help.
There was a time when only the sound
est and ablest of choppers, swampers,
sled tenders and teamsters were picked
out of hundreds of applicants, and then
at whatever wages the employers
might name.
When last November came. and it
was time to send men to the woods,
there were few to be had. The eX-
perienced woodsman commanded and
received high wages. Then it came to
hiring almost anything in the shape of
man and sending him into the woods,
and still there was scarcity. The en-
ployment agents here We're in diem
ma. and finally a syndicate was formed
and representatives Were sent to Bos-
ton and New York for men. Copious
and attractive advertising brought in
a mob of hohoes, panhandlers and the
rag tag and bobtail of the cities.
They were told that life in the Maine
woods was a veritable paradise; that
they would be lodged in class
boarding houses. go to their work in
ances, and have an eight-hour day at
wages of $40 to $50 per month and
everything furnished. Carload after
carload of these men was dumped into
Maine within few weeks They were
fed en- route. and finally woke up from
a dream of bliss to find themselves
on the platforms of the rail-
road stations in the Maine wilderness
and told ito foot it lively" for the
camps, which might be anywhere from
10 to % miles off through the forests.
There was nothing for them to do but
foot it." The men were scantily clad,
ana it seems a miracle that some of
them did not die from exposure on
their way through the woods, but the
"wangin" saved them. The "wangin"
is the big chest of stores, which is the
most profitable part Of the operators
outfit. From this the unfortunate was
clothed in toggery at ''wangin" prices,
which meant from one to two months
wages for an outfit.
When it came to beginning work the
men were all at sea. Not one in 90
could handle an ak: not one in so could
drive a team. and, in short not one in
q dozen was Of any earthly use for any
thing. But there was nothing for them
to do but stay and be made the butt
and ridicule Of all the woodsmen. BY
degrees some We're taught to swamp"
and limb out" and others made very
fair "cookees,' or assistants to the
cook
These city men are the legitimate
prey of the camp jokers. They are
told blood-curdling tales of bears and
wolves. of 'Injun-devils' and wild men
Of the forest. One poor victim at the
his AK and fled in terror for the camp.
While these men would make any of
their camp-mates very, very tired in
che by-ways of New York city, in the
Maine woods they are as helpless as
children. Such is the queer condition
Of labor in the forests of the Pine Tree
State-a condition that was never
known to exist before in this great
numbering region. The working season
is gradually drawing to a close and if
ever there was a Shipwrecked crew
yearninE for the sight of a sail. it is
these castaways longing for the pave
mentS once more. They will have
tales to tell if they ever see the city
again that will forever shut off the
Maine employment offices from doing
business in the big cities. Many of the
men will come out of the woods in the
spring with just enough money to get
them home, as their wages will be
nearly. if not quite all. taken up with