The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1934-05-11
Longview, Wash.

west WOODS. Ills steps were nearO
in Centralia, Walla Walla, Spo-
kane, Seattle. He reeled little
when l met him and in the half
darkness of the doorway where we
found shelter from raw March
wind he poked at me with fore
finger and talked of the yesterday
which had been left so far behind.
He had come in from Ryder
wood, the Long-Bell Lumber Co.
camp in the heart of the vast for
ests some 30 miles from here. We
bumped into each other in the
narrow hallway of the Labor
Temple on Longview's main and
cheerfully lighted street. He eyed
me disgustedly and spat stream
of chewing tobacco on the wall.
"Just another scissorbill," he
said under his breath.
"You talk like a Wobbly," l
laughed.
you're God-damn-right!" he
said and clutched the wall for
support. "Those were the days
when you got drunk because you
were feeling good, not like today
when you get drunk to forget that
you're married"
That's a good reason for get
ting drunk" l said alphabetically.
"You don't understand. got
, fine wife and two of the finest
boys you can find anywhere. But
when you're married you're not
free-you can't pick up and tell
the boss to go to hell, see, The
wife and the kids got to eat, got
4 to sleep. don't they?
"And that's where they get you.
All these damned lumber COM
}. panies-they all want married men
n now for their camps so there1l be
! no turnover. And when they get
f you there they pay YOU less than
e when you're single. You know
why? Because they know you
8 can't pick up and beat it like you
k used to in the old days. You go'
n to stay there because at least they
give YOU a roof for yourself anC
your family"
!" He was in a talkative mood
When l suggested that we go up
stairs he shook his head vigorously
81 want to talk here" he insisted
81 got to go upstairs later and Sc,
Mt Johnes-he's secretary of the Log
al gers and Sawmill Workers Union
lg l got to find out what the union
u going to do about our carload o
d potatoes"
is "Potatoes?"
he "Yeah, potatoes. We Clipped il
r and bought a carload of potatoe
y, but the company store made u
sell it TO them. Now they're selling
er it back to us at a profit. Won
r let rs buy anything except in tn
lie company store"
* GLOW many of you are there
out in Ryderwood? There used t
r be thousand in 1929"
"Less than 50O."
T. Ryderwood, one of the larges
" camps in the Northwest woods, i
n town by itself, built and run b
the Long-Bell Lumber Co. 1t j
or better than the average lumber
" camp. The filth, dirt, and unsani
- tary conditions that are prevalen
: in most camps, and the exorbitan
n charges for rent and supplies ha
. at the company store have beer
:, eliminated in some measure. 1t
= a comparatively good camp fol
n the Northwest woods.
~ Washington's life is the lumbe
industry. Half the population de
II ponds upon the vast forests anC
|. the mills for its living. Half tn
: entire states payroll comes froI
the lumber industry-or rather,
re used to. When you learn that las
year the lumber payroll was onl
T. one-fifth of the states total pay
y roll instead of the usual one-hal
10 then you have an idea of wha
" happened to earning so far al
t'' this industry is concerned. Sine
n the, depression two out of ever!
re three who used to work in the II
On dustry have been unable to fin
e. work. Where this two-thirds c
the lumber working population hs
r gone no one seems to know exceI
lg to hazard the guess that they ar
S. in the big city breadlines or anon
n the migratory workers who follo7
the crops On the west coast.
n "What do you make a week i?
a. l asked.
TX eff l average SIS I'm getting
ne big check" he growled. "And tn
er cost of living has gone up so tina
W it's impossible to make ends meet
IN l figured out once"-he poked m
er in the chest with forefinger =
chat me and my family need
n, $3.50 a day just to meet living ex
Or penses-and what ] get is abou
III half of that"
e. "Are you member of the Log
or gers Union?"
TX "Sure, but they're not doing an
I'd thing"
lie what are you doing abou
r that?"
g I'm on my way now to tel
Jones where he heads, in.''
h. "ThatTl help. What's happene
" to all the Wobblies around here ?
This used to be their stampin
Of ground. The woods were full Q
lie them, a colorful, fighting bunch
II