Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1916-01-14

Budget, Jan. Z.
| Editor NewS-Budget,
Ladysmith, Wisconsin.
Dear Sir: | am surprised to see
| the above in your paper without fur
| ther comment, but / suppose that
you, like many others, get most OF
your knowledge of the Wisconsin
| lumberjack from your occasional
glimpse of some would-be tough lum-
berjack, who on his visits to town
tries to impress the public with the
| joy and freedom of his class, by get
ting gloriously drunk, to the great
disgust of a great many of his
| mates, who in spite of the conditions
they haye had to contend with,
are getting to the place where the
drunken rowdy is no longer a typ
cal woOdsman.
AS have been in close touch with
the Wisconsin lumberjack for the
past thirty-five years, l feel that the
above article is unjust and will give
you brief history of the conditions
in camp life for that period which
think will cause you to agree with
me.
Thirty-five years ago a large per
| cent of the men in authority in the
logging business were what we call
now booze fighters" Nearly all
| camps kept liquor as a part Of the
camp supplies, which the men were
not only permitted, but in many
cases were encouraged, to buy, hay
ing it charged with their wannegan
account, the same as sox or mittens.
Every evening there was one or
| more poker games in progress and
| usually the foreman was the sharp
| who played in the best luck, and
er charged the losses and credited
| the winnings to the various players.
The tote road was lined with
stopping places that were as rule
worse than any dive that Ladysmith
ever saw, even in the good cd days
| of personal liberty.
When these men were obliged to
go from the city to the camp over
road where they had to take their
ma nd moi lOh fc a
| joints that are only equalled by the
toughest in the. city slum districts,
| and spent their evenings and Sun
| days in camps that were, virtually,
| unlicensed and uncontrolled saloons,
| then went back over the old ''tote
road where they had to either sleep
| places, where the proprietCrs were
always ready to discount their pay
| checks, and never paid their cooks
any wages.
Is it any wonder that when they
! reached town, they put a smear Of
red paint on some prominent points
that has since become a stain on
| the name of a class of men that are
| second to none, when measured by
the standard of real manhood? Or
| is it fair to Judge a whole class of
men by a few ignorant, weak or
misled examples, who are living in
the traditions of a past and gone
condition?
For the conditions in the lumber
camps has changed entirely within
the past few years; the woods fore
| men instead of being booze fight
| ers' are nearly all on the water wag-
| on now, many of them have con-
quered their appetite for drink by
| their own Will-power and many who
We're good men in the woods, but
cursed with an appetite that was de-
stroying their efficiency We're sent
out by their employers to take the
| "cure."
A few years ago If man DELHI
| erately climbed on the water wagon
it was a standing order of business
with his mates to see that he didn't
stay and if it was mentioned to him
he always had some excuse to make,
| and acted as though he had done
something to be ashamed Of
Now many lumberjacks, many of
them the very worst "old timers"
are "cutting out the BOOZE and if
it is mentioned to them they are
ready to meet the question squarely
and are proud of the change, and
the best part of it is that their
mates are proud of the change and