The New York herald., 1921-09-18
WOODSMEN'S WAGES
NOLONGER SKY HIGH
Reaction in Maine From War
Boom Sends Lumber Price
Down Toward Normal.
TWO MEN FOR EVERY. JOB
Home Builders VIII Rejoice,
but Pulp Mills Garner Most
Of the Output.

Special Despatch to THE NEW York HEaALn.
BANGOR, Sept. 1.-THE day of fabu-
lous wages for woodsmen is past. and in
stead OF jobs hunting men--men OF any
kind at almost any price. the hunting
is now done by the men. for thers1 are
at least two Of them to one. job. Every
day now. the sidewalks OF lower Ex-
change and Washington streets are
thronged with woodsmen. waiting for
something to turn UP, and the employ
menr agents are having their pick or the
mob at prices not more than half those
paid a year ago.
In olden times the best of native
woodsEien were glad. when November
came around and a long winter faced
them, to get SIG to S24 a month to go
into the woods. walking most Of the fifty
to one hundred miles from Bangor to
the scene OF operations with their bags
on their backs, and satisfied with
bunk in log house and diet COM
posed chiefly of pork and beans They
went to work at the first streak Of
dawn and kept at it as long as they
could see tree. And they were the
worlds best woodsmen.
In that day the price Of spruce stump
age (the righs to cut) was $1.25 to ~
per thousand feet-and a very liberal
scale, at that. The men who drove the
logs down to boom got $1.75 to $2.50 a
day, and they were experts. every one.
The rafters at Bangor, the overhauers,
the saw mill men and everybody else
who touched the log or the lumber
worked long hours at low wages--the
saw mill men from dawn to dusk for $50
q month and board. Vessels carried the
lumber from Bangor to Boston for as
little as s1.25 per thousand feet, seldom
more than S1.75; to Long Island ports
for so cents mere and to New York for
$2.25 to s2.75.
Made Lumber Very Cheap.
On this basis of cost of production,
estimating the price Of the logs in boom
at S6 to 50 peI thousand feet for hem
lock and SO to $13 for spruce. lumber
was SO cheap that almost any one could
afford to build house, and thousands OF
common. laborers and mechanics in
Bangor and the towns along the river
improved the opportunity of cheap lum-
ber and cheap land to get homes for
themselves.
lO-uay everything Is very ullleTcHt.
There had been gradual increase be-
fore the war of stumpage rates, wages
and other costs. and lumber was costly
enough when The war came on, largely
through the advent of the pulp mills,
which from small beginnings In the
sos increased their field and scope
Of operations until in 1915 they owned
most OF the desirable timber lands and
were eating up rather more than half
of the s00.0oo,000 feet Of spruce cut in
the State.
Then the war set things faster than
ever. Wages were first to go slsyward.
owing to the difficulty of getting help.
American citizens of the right age were
drafted for the army or for war indus
tries, and the woods crews had to be
recreuited from among aliens - Poles
Russians. Lithuanians. Firms. Norwe-
gians, Swedes and men from all corners
of the earth. For ordinary woods work.
in operations for long logs. wages went
as high as s92 month and first class
board, and considering the fact that 1t
requires three of these foreigners to do
the work Of one good native logger. 1t
can be seen that the operators were
paying a fancy price for their logs with
out taking into account the tremendous
advance in all sorts of supplies.
Men who could not speak a word OF
English and were almost too lazy to
move got SO a day and board for cut
ting four foot pulp wood. or $2.75 to
So q cord when working by the piece
and paying their own board at the rate
OF 10 cents to 81 day. Some of these
pieceworkers made as much as $3.50 to
$500 a month, a few even more. Most
of this was spent In Bangor for whis-
key, motor rides and other enjoyments,
or lost In gambling.
As late as July, 1920. allen laborers
who never owned a good suit of clothes
until they came to this country were
staggering around Exchange street con-
temptuously rejecting offers of $3.50 to
SO a cord for chopping cordwood or
saving pulpwood. They had a wad of
money. felt rich and were picking their
jobs.
Then, in the early fall OF 1920, the
bottom began to fall out. Peeled pulp
wood fell from sal a cord to SCI. AMI
rough from $23 to s13. while. with an
overstock on hand everywhere. cutting
operations were curtailed one-half.
Woods wages went down with bang
but the bottom was not reached. This
summer the decline has continued and
woods wages are down to S1.75 a day,
I'm some sections as low as $3.50. with
board. while pulpwood sawyers working
by the cord are getting, ins;e1d OF $2.73
to $3.50 u cord, s1.75 and occasionally
50 and paying their own board at the
rate of rs cents to 81 day. Even at
these prices there are thousands idle.
Spruce lumber, which at one time In
1919 reached $50 and s65 per 1000 feet.
is now quoted at s45 to $40 for dimen-
sions and sac to s43 for randoms. and
the only thing that prevents further
slump is the demand Of the pulp mills,
which now eat up 75 per cent. OF the
log crop.
On the west branch OF the Penobscot,
which in the old days yielded 50.000,000
feet or more OF long logs. scarcely a
stick was cut last winter for saw mills,
practically the entire output, 134.oo0,0oo
being in four lengths, for the
Great Northern Paper Company. 1t is
the same story everywhere-.hs pulp
mills mprrpolizing the log out and as
l-..g -S TINS demand continues lumber
cannot be anything like as cheap as IL
once was. whatever the cost of labor.