The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1921-03-11
(By Harry Call)


far below normal, though there has
been some increase in the number
Of mills and camps In operation,
others have again closed and the
gain has not been so great.
The employers have assign d
many reasons for the present CON
ditions in the industry. However,
some of them. are quite conflicting,
some of them are misleading and it
is not at all reasonable to suppose
that they will be given SO very
much credcncc by those who have
taken the time to investigate mat
tcrs.
Last year, in one breath. they,
along with their tools in the Loyal
Legion and out Of it, cried for in
creased production. In the next
breath, probably to prove the need
notice Of closing down their mills
and camps. Still crying for increas-
ed production they continued to close
down and to reduce wages until
the industry was quite effectively
paralyzed. We were treated to the
sorry spectacle Of Loyal Legion To-
Gals holding meetings and asking the
operators to reduce wages so that
they could remain at work. SO
far as | have been advised all of
their requests were granted without
argument Indeed they were quite
readily granted, but that did not
keep the men at work. The plants
operated just long enough to es-
tablish the lower wage then they
were closed and have for the most
part remained closed ever since.
And, the workers in the sawmlls
and logging camps have not yet
reached the bottom in wage reduc-
ton, most every day | receive well
founded reports of further reduc-
tions of from 25 cents to 40 cents
per day per man. At Cosmopolis
and at Clear Lake, Washington, the
ten-hour day is again in effect and
at less than pre-war wages. 1t is
true that these concerns can get
men to work under those miserable
conditions, in fact they have three
crews, one coming, one working,
and one going. They like to see
men broke and on the bum because
in that condition they are less like
~ to organize These employers
are taking full advantage of the
present industrial situation, a situa-
ton largely of their own creation.
Their latest drive in industrial
warfare and disruption is being
carried on in the Sunday newspa-
pers in the form of full page adj
vertisements containing attacks on
the former United States Railroad
Administrator in general and the
railway workers in particular. They
charge the former Railroad Admin
istration with the blame for the
present freight rates, brought about
as they say because the Railroad
Administration made some rules
workers have been able to get
some back pay and somewhere
near decent wage rate.
Last year when the lumber in
terests along with other interests
that always oppose labor, were
publicly and privately bringing ev-
cry force they had to bear upon
Congress to get it to pass the
notorious Esch-Cummins Bill, that
was passed and is now known as
the Transportation Act of 1920,
they could see but one very prom
inent feature of that Bill. 1t look
ed good for them for through its
operation they saw a chance to
chain the railway workers to their
jobs, and as they put it, "to pro-
tect an innocent and defenseless
public from the possible horrors of
strike
But the Transportation Act of
1920, also provides for other things.
Among them it provides that the
railroads shall be guaranteed per
cent profit net. Not per cent
on the money actually invested,
but 6 per cent on CAPITAL STOCK
of which so per cent is so full of
water that the Roosevelt Dam would
not be able to hold it. American
industry is now being called upon
to render to the railroad Shylocks
their several pounds of flesh, the
Northwest lumber industry is being
tapped for its share along with
the rest. But you do not see the
lumber operators asking for re-
peal of the Transportation Act of
1920, on the other hand they raise
slush fund of $500, 100000, it is
reported, to be used to educate the
dear public and incidentally to pre-
pare the public mind so that it's
opinion can be used in a fight to
reduce the wages of the railroad
workers and in that way make the
railroad workers pay for their
blunders, They cannot find by any
manner of means, enough profit in
the industry with which to pay the
underwriters decent wages but
they can always find money enough
to buy newspaper space with which
they hope to either misead or
bulldoze the public.
The eight-hour day in the North
west is sore spot with them, it
grinds right into their very souls
to see the lumber operators of the
South driving white and negro la
Dor for ten Eours a day when they
have to stop with eight hours. In
1917, the Loyal Legion was a
promise to these lumber operators
that the eight-hour day would not
be established at least for the
duration Of the war, it was a fur
Their promise that the workers
would be controlled In the first
promise it failed miserably. In spite
of the protests of the ex-prison
warden Disque, who was then the
illustrious leader of the LOYAL Lee
gion, in spite Of the protests of the
lumbermen, they We're compelled by
the War Department to put the
eight-hour day into effect. In the
latter promise, that the workers
would be controlled, the Loyal Le-
gion made good not only during
the war but since.