The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1918-03-29
VICE-PRESIDENT CALLS SPEECH
TO THE EVERETT TIMBERWORKERS

production to the advantage of the
soldiers in the trenches of Europe,
the satisfaction of the Government,
and to the promotion of industrial
peace and good feeling among both
workers and employers.
Lest We Forget
The eight-hour day is here, not as
result of efforts of the criminal or
semi-criminal; nor is it the result of
freewill offering of employers. No
amount of pretense or attempt to
obscure facts is sufficient to camou-
flage us into admission Of such
claim. Or is there argument of
valid nature that will give credit
to any other semi organization that
they had any part in the securing
Of the eight-hour day in the lumber
industry.
The facts are that the struggle for
the shorter day has, like all other
concessions in the interest of the
toiler, been secured from employers
through the efforts of honest, loyal
men and women in the field of the
legitimate labor movement, coming
gradually as labor has been induced
to organize upon sane lines. The
fact is, all concessions granted to
labor have been secured in spite of
the bitter opposition of the above
mentioned groups.
So, in the matter of the granting
of the eight-hour day in the lum-
Der industry; it is the result of all
the efforts of the past; counting the
struggles in the other industries and
their securing the eight-hour day,
as. well as the efforts and sacrifices
of the few who in the lumber in
dustry organized and stood in de-
Tense of just and humane work.
ing day in the recent past.
We admonish the workers in the
lumber camps and mills that justice
and right have been accorded to
labor as they have organized legiti-
mately and have fought the battles
of the just; and, these conditions
secured will remain with them no
longer than they will stand upon
threshold of the firing-line ready and
equipped by organization to fight to
protect the rights gained through
the years of sacrifice.
Earnestly urging every workman
employed in any branch of the
lumber industry to enroll under the
banner of the International Union
of Underwriters, this convention
hereby sets forth the following pro-
gram for the information of the
public and the guidance of the wage
earners and employers:
1. We unqualifiedly pledge our
support to the National Government
in this critical time, and assert our
entire accord with the great princi-
Piles for which this country has
gone to war.
z. We urge, as means best
suited to promote industrial peace,
the acceptance on the part of the
employers of the principles of col
lective bargaining.
3. We insist that wages should be
commensurate with the increasing
cost of living, the wages should cor
respond to that paid for similar
work in other lines, and due regard
given to the risk and remoteness of
employment under which the larg-
est percentage of our members are
abliged to work.
4. We declare our belief in and
devotion to the principles of the
eight-hour day.
5. Refusing to surrender the right
to quit work, we none the less ex-
press the belief that the strike
should be resorted to, especially at
this time, only as last resort and
after other means of securing JUS
tice have been exhausted.
6. We feel all agreements entered
into governing industrial conditions
should be rigidly adhered to, and
pledge the resources of this organi-
cation to the honest fulfillment of
any agreement entered into, either
with the employers, the Government
or other organizations of labor
z. The International Union of
Timberworkers declares its affiliation
with the American Federation of
Labor, and places itself in full ac-
cord with that body and it's general
war program.
Having made these declarations
we propose to carry them out.
There is nothing contained in our
program but what every loyal Amer