The Commonwealth. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1911-1914, 1914-01-15
OFF LAND PEoNAGE
A New Wrinkle.
(By John McSlarrow.)

conceded. But that an old dodge can
be worked in such way as to have
the same effect as a perfectly new ar
rangement, is also true.
The latest plan of the lumber bar
ons to offset the ever-growing power
of unionism is somewhat of a novelty,
to say the least.
Last June the timber workers, under
the guidance Of the I. W. W., went out
on strike.
Their demands were for shorter
hours, better pay, and more sanitary
conditions in the camps.
The bosses would not grant any of
these demands outright; and after
about four weeks the l. w. w. called
the strike off and the men returned to
work. (That is, those who were not
BLACKLISTED0
SO the boys put on their WOODEN
SHOES and went back into the camps.
AND THE BOSS CAME THROUGH.
That is, in nearly all of the camps
the bunk houses have been renovated,
and made comparatively respectable.
Not what we asked for of course, but
whole lot better than we ever ex-
pected to get.
Wages were not increased; in some
instance they were CUT a trifle; but
the labor necessary to earn those
wages was cut very considerably. Al
most any kind of a tenderfoot can
hold job now.
Now, almost all of these lumber
companies have immense tracts of
"logged-off land" This land, as every
one familiar with Washington land
knows, is of Indifferent productivity.
But it is perhaps about as good as
the average. l have no wish to criti-
else the land, for all Western Wash
ington land will produce quite as much
as the land in any other part Of the
Union. BUT this land is thickly stud
ded with stumps, varying in size from
four feet to nine feet in diameter, and
to get this land ready for the plow re-
quires lots of work, and an expendi-
ture of from three hundred to thou
sand dollars per acre.
The logging companies have adver-
tised throughout the East the fact that
this land can be bought on easy pay
ments, and that the purchaser can get
work in the sawmills while paying
for it.
In the sawmills and logging camps
they have posted notice to the effect
that preference will at all times be
given to such employees as have pur-
chased land from the company"
Every day have statements to this
effect coming from those who have
lost their jobs because they refuse to
buy a parcel of this STUMP WILDER
NESS.
Last Tuesday (Oct 14) a fellow
worker was fired from the Big Lake
camp to make room for one of these
STUMP SUCKERS.
He was warned some time in ad-
vance that if he wished to hold his
job he would have to buy some of this
land; refusing to do so, he
was fired PRONTO.
OF course I can say nothing against
those who do buy the land; they are
just IGNORANT TENDERFEET, that
is all; but we all know that there is
no slave quite so submissive as the
fellow that is trying to improve little
home for himself, and does not dare
call his soul his own, for fear that he
may loose all that he has already ex-
pended.
What do want, is that every reader
of this will write to his friends back
East and ask them for Gods sake
please don't come to Washington for
the purpose of buying any of this
logged-off land, for if they do they
will simply have bought job without
end and at very small wages.
This BIG LAKE of which l speak is
near Woolley, in Skagit county,
Washington, and is the place where
short time ago they had huge placards
posted stating that the time had come
when the employer and employe must
get together to fight the common
enemy, the I. w. w. NUF SED.
The man who was fired from the
Big Lake camp because he refused 10
buy any of their logged-off land is
named C. sicdes. He is a member Of
81S of the I. w w. Card numbered
51l54. He stated that he had worked
for the Big Lake company for several
years, and he is a man in whom I have
the utmost confidence. He says that
his is not a peculiar case, but that
this kind of business IFS going on at
that camp all the time. have similar
statements from a great many others,
but win not mention any names be-
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