The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1922-02-03
TIMBERWORKERS
BULLETIN

The price of lumber is going up,
if has been going up for many weeks.
Tho lumber operators now very
frankly admit that prices Will not
90 hack down to previous levels-ih
ohter words, things are coming tneir
way. Do.4
The Seattle, Washington, Post
TrteIlieencer. issue of January ~, is
quoted as follows:
"Iunber is "a per cent of normal
is the report of the West Coast Lum-
bermen's Association for the week
ending January ID. Not molly the
lumbermen, but the faliroau anu
steamship men and business men IN
general smiled at the figures. Inc
industry which pays two-thlrds OF
the wages of the state Washington
has rounded the corner and is swift
w coming back to normal. For the
first time in some weeks new bust
ness and shipments were below pro-
duction. But this is due to the great
increase in production. The weeks
production by the 1873 mills report
ING was 75,430,563 feet, which is
greater than any week in 1921. New
business was 10 per cent and ship
ments Is per cent below production.
Value of the weeks cut at a most
conservative estimate of $22 per
thousand feet is $1,659,00O. The
mills reported 63,372,996 feet sold
and 64,353, 149 feet shipped"
The estimate of $22 per thousand
feet is "most conservative" indeed.
Investigation by the officers of the
International Union of Timberwork-
ers shows that on IL important lum-
Der items that the average wholesale
price f. O. b. mills, date of January
18th, was 1861. This investigation
also shows that since August l, 1921,
the average increase in price on the
same IL items is $8.35, or an in
crease of 80 per cent. Reports from
the East and South show cores
spending increases, with a large num-
Der of mills and camps in operation
and with every indication that they
will all be running before many
weeks have passed.
The wages of the workers in this
industry have been reduced on an av-
erage of from 43 per cent to 80 per
cent, in some cases much more than
the average. In spite of the great
increase in the price of lumber, there
has been no increase in wages, in
fact in some localities wage cuts are
the order of the day.
The lumber industry is on the up
grade. But who is benefited? No
one but the lumber operator, the rail-
road and steamship men and business
men in general who "smiled at the
figures" 1t appears that everyone
smiled but the undernaid worker and
the public that will have to pay the
bill.
The public will be gouged by the
higher prices. The worker is being
gouged by low wages, the workers
and the public are regarded as legit-
innate plumber by the lumber lords
and their allies.
The price of lumber will continue
to go up! Large foreign orders and
a greatly delayed building program
in this country will consume more
lumber than will be manufactured
this year. for the next five years at
least the lumber buying public will
be at the mercy of the lumber oper-
ators. Wages in this industry are
down and will stay down until the
workers see fit to organize and put
them up. The present price of lum-
Der cannot be charged to high wages
paid to the workers, but it can be
charged to a virtual monopoly of
standing timber. Recently the United
States attorney general informed the
lumber trade association and others
that: They cannot fix prices; they
cannot apportion territory for trade
purposes: they cannot limit produc-
ton; they cannot control competition.
This means that quite a number of
the so-called "trade associations" will
either have to change their methods
radically or disband entirely. 1t is a
duty of the public to carefully OBJ
serve the actions of some of them.
HARRY w. CALL,
Secretary-Treasurer, International
Union of Timberworkers.