The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1916-12-22
BY HARRY CALL

OSiA'
diverse questions have been asked in
regard to their inception, tactics, etc.
Some people express surprise when
hasty and violent action is sometimes
taken by the wage earners.
I say the reason for this activity
does not come from any violent i'm
pulse on the part of the wage earners,
but because of the encroachments
made on them by capital. l herewith
produce a copy of a circular letter
sent out by the Clear Lake Lumber
Company to the several lumber manu-
facturers in this state, which is self
explanatory:
Clear Lake, Wash, Nov. 2S, 1916.
"Gentlemen: Owing to the high cost
of provisions, we find it necessary to
. raise our board. On and after Jan
uary /, 1917, the board at our mill and
l. at our camps will be $500 a week, or
$1.00 day. Forty cents per meal
will be charged for any time less than
one week. We are compelled to make
' keep from running at a loss in our
boarding houses.
For The past several years we
have charged six dollars a week for
board. while some OF our neighbors
have charged from S525 to $3.50. We
have experienced no disagreeable re-
suits in asking a fair rate for our
board. and trust that you can see
+ your way clear to join us and estab-
lish uniform rate throughout the
country. If you don't, it is simply an
> indirect way of boosting wages, and
we think all agree that the wages are
high enough at the present time, in
fact. higher than the lumber industry
can stand. We believe they are SO
high that it is lowering the efficiency
of labor instead of improving it.
1--WE take the above action on the
date mentioned, regardless of what
others do, as we find it absolutely
necessary.
yours truly,
CLEAR LAKE LUMBER co.
Isn't that a gem? 1t is only fair
example of the bone-headed reasoning
power of the average lumber manu-
\, facturer. Let us inquire into the
matter and see just how far the high
wages" in the lumber industry are
likely to destroy the efficiency OF
. labor. In the saw mills of this state
common labor receives from $1.75 to
$500 per day. At $1.75 per day, $3.50
is the most that can be earned in one
month; at $500 per day, $500 is the
4 most that could be earned in one
month. For the man who receives
S1.75 let us deduct $50 for his board,
s10O for hospital treatment and We
End that it leaves him the great sum
of $7.75 per month for the purchase Of
clothing. laundry and the other ne
cessities of the average human being,
For the $500 man it leaves $21 per
month,
In the logging camps the average
wage is about $3.50 per day. During
= The winter months so per cent of the
time is lost, thereby reducing the
logger to the same standard as the
s1.75 per day man Of the saw mill
What a great incentive there is for
fhe lumber worker, this should create
a deeb feeling Of loyalty on the part
of Mr.. Lewis employees for the Clear
Lake Lumber Company.
Not satisfied with starvation condi-
fions in his own slave pens he seeks
TO enlist the support of other manu-
: facturers so that they may bear part
of the odium of his vicious proposal.
OF course they have experienced no
disaereeable results from asking a
fair (?) rate for board. The saw mill
men and loggers are unorganized and
il they do not like it they can quit and
soin the camps on the highways. AS
W. high wages, there is no such thing
MS hfch wages, in the saw mills and
logging camps of Washington, and
there will not be until the men see
where their material interest lies, in
the power of organization.
why have we strikes in the lumber
and shngle mills? Why has the !. w,
" activity been SO great? Has it
Zen caused by agitators? SURE!
.Rut the agitation has been done by
tbe HarNeys, Mobiles, Lewis's and
few lesser satallites who are trying
to control the life of labor
These stomach robbng parasites
spend all of their working hours
scheming how to satisfy their greed.
STbe time has come when working
men regard Jail sentence as a badge
of honor when they are arrested for
.1.inn noainst inhnman conditions.