The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1920-02-02
iAR PRODUCTION
OF SPRUCE TOLD
lain Paul r. Reynolds Discussed
his and the |. w. w. Situa.
zion at Open Forum Last
Evening.

W large audience nearQ Snapldlu
y, r, Reynolds discuss the war
/ action Of spruce lumber and the
4 w. situation last night at the
& tregational church.
Il remarked that he was to tell
"A not about the lost battalion, but
Ut the lost division. The spruce
\ nction division was made up OF
7 from every state in the union
best wood. in the world for air
Ne construction is the S!tka
X &c. found only on the Pacific
/. England, France and Italy
nded upon it for their planes,
before the war Germany had
lit the most of her wood from
i, and she knew the Importance
Interfering as much as possible
its production.
nong the difficulties encountered
.h the necessity of building rail-
S to tap the spruce country. One
Dad tflirty-seven miles long, es-
J. ted to take eigheen months to
/, was actually completed in six.
sa the problem of cutting up the
when the commercial mills
producing but 100000 feet
ID measure month, and the gov
nent sent out a demand for 5000
The wasteful methods of the
men, whereby and 9 per cent
log was made into airplane tim
was increased to 40 and As per
and in one case actually TO 81
cent, while the monthly produc-
was speeded up 10 100000
month. The old method of dry
the sDruce was improved upon
III the steam method reduced dry
4 time from six months to four
il days. But the greatest difficult
were those Of labor. No other
lstry in the United States has
the product of exploitation as
b the lumber industry, the chaplain
n. The tlumber barons" often
3ated the government out OF the
/. the men out of their wages, and
people ont of everything possible,
said. Out in the woods, no one
ID for tho men except for what
Id be gotten out of them. One
Ter said that three men We're
fied for every jOb-the man Just
ing. the man at work. and the
i coming. The fact that the just
lplaints Of the men were never
desI that they were exploited II
ry possible way. and the lonet-
S and isolation Of their work made
m ripe for the agitator; and when
~ Svr tho irI-1l-
district the men were ready 10
ow- The result was strike IN
iob-not a waikout. but what was
.niteIy worse. slowing down OF
duction. a spiking of logs and an
irnidaticn Of loyal men that para
ed the Industry.
When the government came in for
uce production the owners were
led together and told that certain
ngs had to be done by them They
re comp elled to give the men q
ARE deal in the eight-hour day.
the granting OF pay and half for
overtime. in the cleaning OF all
lkhouses of veTmin. in the screen
of the meat houses and the SUP
ing Of plenty of good water, with
proper sanitation Of the camps
. men were called together and
that they would get fair deal
that they must produce spruce
-Four l. was organized 10 handle
matters between owners and men Z
s was an organization in which
Iers and men were equally repre- (
ted--the Loyal Legion OF Loggers /
Lumbermen. At once conditions !
roved, sedition and disloyalty .
e stamped out and !. " ". .agi- !
RS were run out in large numbers +
the men themselves. Others we're
IN in hand by the government 1