The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1918-03-15
HAVING GAINED THE 8-HOUR DAY
MAKE GOOD AND PROVE IT'S RIGHT
Employers Too Recognize That There Must BE Respon
sbe Union of TimberwOrkers With Whom They May Col
lecveIy Bargain AS To Labor Conditions


Wilson; petitions by various COM
mercial bodies for the enactment
of national eight-hour law for the
lumber industry; and finally the ul-
timatum by Colonel Brice P. Disque,
in charge of airplane spruce pro-
duction in the Northwest for the
Government. At this point we find
the employers in the lumber in
dustry of Washington and Oregon
yielding to the demand: Then fol-
low California and British Colum-
bia granting the eight-hour day to
heir lumber workers-and this great
tidal wave of the new day will con-
tinue to wash all shores until the
shorter day becomes universal.
Let All Pull Together
How much better had it been had
the employers of this state needed
the proclamation of Governor Lister
last August and then and there
placed their industry on a peace
basis and enjoyed in the meantime
the bounteous production of the
working force of a contented and
vigorous body of loggers and lum-
bermen But why quarrel about
what might have been; rather is it
better to join in the spirit to which
the West Coast Lumberman gives
expression in these words, which
we hope is the spirit in which all
operators accept the new order of
things:
"No matter what mistakes were
made in handling the labor situa-
tion in the past, no matter what
policies were pursued that should
not be as to the truth or fallacy
of a sectional eight-hour day for the
Pacific Northwest lumber industry,
no matter what kind of an eight
hour day is to be established, wheth-
er it calls for 10 hours pay for
eight hours work or hourly COM
pensation, the one great overpower-
ing and dominating fact is, that
employees, employers and the gov
ernment are now on common ground
and steady, uninterrupted lumber
production during the months to
come is now assured, in fact guar
anteed."
Labor should now see to it that
there is no failure on its part to
get on the job and render it's full
share of loyalty and service to the
state and the nation; prove itself
worthy of the blessings of this
improved condition; prove that the
shorter work-day is conservator
Of bodily strength, mental alertness,
and of life and limb in the lumber
ing industry, as it has so proved
in all other industries where it has
been given fair trial. All will
then soon forget the bitterness of
the struggle in the enjoyment of
she mutual good that comes from
he new order of things.
A Patriotic Duty
Finally let the working men who
are blessed with this shorter day
use it for social, mental and physi-
cial improvement, and build them
selves into a strong, reliable, con-
structive organization under the
banner of the newly reorganized
international Union of Timberwork-
ers. Let the employers, too, rec
ognize that there must come a re-
sponsible organization of timber
workers, with whom they may col
lectively bargain as to labor condi-
tions, and thus secure industrial
harmony and peace. To both sides
| say, this is the highest patriotic
duty of the hour; to do otherwise
will be to leave the timber workers
Of the state subject to the intrigues
of the |. w. w. organizers and the
disorganization and chaos that is
certain to come from that organiza-
ton which proclaims it's purpose to
be constant industrial discord until
the whole fabric of our modern in
stitutions is broken down. Not
only does the |. w. w. organization
harass industry by methods that no
sane mind can approve, but always
and forever it is leading the victims
of its wiles into the shambles of
defeat and disaster-no less here
than in miserable Russia, where its
philosophy" has lead to ruin the
great Russian people, whose revolu-
tion of January, 1917, places them in
reach of the freedom, of which they
had dreamed through centuries of
autocratic darkness, had it not been
for the catastrophe of this false
leadership.
The Menace Will Disappear
Let no mistake be made here.
Organization and collective bargain