“November 27, 1940 THE B.C. LUMBER WORKER Page Three Latest reports from the Safety Branch? of the Department of Labor record aT number of fatal accidents which had not been reported previously to the LW.A. and which drive the 1940 toll still further above last year's 68 fatalities. ‘The list of accidents | Woodworkers which have been have been omitted from previ | Mod in B.C/s ous T.W.A. statements | dustry since include: Tan. 1, 1940. @) Gus Patrick, who was an operator and was killed February ist last. (2) J. H. Burgoyne, @ second loader who was killed at 0. and W. Logging Co.'s operation on June 10th. (3) J. B. Tuckey, who lost his life on June 10th, also while working cutting shingle bolts at W. D. McKay's Camp. (4) Another shingle bolt cutter was killed July 28th, 1940, at George Kurick’s Camp. 5) Hop Lim was killed while cutting cord- wood at Dong Yin’s Camp on August Zoth. (6) J. B. Schindele, employed as a chokerman by the Sunrise Log. Co. lost his life September 30th. (7) Jack Mickles, who was working as a chokerman at J. R. Morgan's Q.C.I. operation lost his life in a logging accident Sept. 3rd. (8) Gil- bert Moen, a truck driver for R. H. Wil- liams Camp was killed Oct. 8rd, (9) Clar- ence Beach, employed as a loader at the Vernon Box Go. died as a result of in- juries received Oct. 3rd in an industrial accident, (10) H, Obara, a Japanese faller at the Hillcrest Lumber Co. lost his life October 15th last. In addition to the above list, we regret to announce two more fatal accidents during the past fortnight, David Feather- stone, 79 years old mill worker died as a result of a truck accident when he was struck down at the Dollar Lumber Co.'s Dollarton plant. Hinar Sundgren, 37-year-old bucker, lost hi slife at V. L, and M’s Camp 8 operation at Lake Cowichan when a log he was bucking rolled on him. Sund- gren, who was formerly a member of the I.W.A.,, has two cousins in B.C., Victor Sundgren of Ladysmith and Fred Ceder- burg. Mrs, Willman of Vancouver called ‘round to the B.C. Lumber Worker this week and requested that we express ap- preciation for the beautiful floral tributes sent to the funeral which was held in Duncan last Wednesday. A host of log- ger friends and members of the I.W.A. were in attendance, Lumber Company Sells Assets Assets of the Empire Lumber Com- pany in Cowichan Lake and Chemainus districts have been purchased by Wil- lam G. Moore, of Camden, N.J., for $800,000, it was announced on Wednes- day by Sheriff H. W. Goggin. The com- pany is to be re-organized. And. McCartney Reached The Ei Death Toll For Lumber Industry Has ghty-seven Mark Massacre Is Prelude To Woodworkers’ Strike By HENRY KESSLER In April, 1917, America joined the First World War, and the price of lum- ber leaped skyward. It rose from $16 to $116 per thousand feet. Woodworkers, pondering in the timber, began to stir. Everywhere in the woods, from the “short log” country of the middle States to the tall fir slopes of Washington and Oregon, there was a high tide of rebel- lion, mounting. Sick to desperation of the 10-hour day, sick of peonage pay standards, sick of the verminous blankets and neolithic bunkhouses, sick of the high-handed - police terror levelled against them in the lumber towns of the west, the loggers decided to move... LOGGERS IN SOLIDARITY. In the early summer of 1917, they struck, with sweeping unanimity. Spread- ing with the speed of a crown fire, the strike roared quickly into all sections of the industry, and within a few weeks had paralyzed production. Under the wing of the Industrial Workers of the World, the lumberjacks then hit a pitch of militancy never before attained in the American forests. They were, in s6li- darity, prepared for a struggle that was to become historic. A year before, the IWW had sent or- ganizers into hundreds of Oregon and Washington logging camps. At Everett the AFL Shingle Weavers and Long- shoremen were on strike and had re- quested help from the IWW in obtain- ing free speech. The “Wobbies” respond- ed. At the corner of Hewitt and Wet- more, where an Everett city ordinance permitted street meetings, the “Wobbies” stepped up on their soap boxes, re- peatedly, only to hauled off by the Snohomish country sheriff, then beaten and “deported.” The Everett police had abdicated from the scene, refusing to interfere, TERROR BY THE TRUSTS. Bent on reaching the people, however, the loggers continued to come back in force. Late in the autumn of 1916, the sheriff, Donald McRae, rounded up some 40 of them. A mob of Everett's “best peo- ple’ drove the loggers out to a lonely siding near Beverly Park and ran each through a merciless gauntlet, maiming some for life. When the news reached Everett, a group of ministers, outraged, deliberately invited the IWW at Seattle to come into Everett en masse for a showdown on the free speech issue. On Novy. 5, 1916, 250 “Wobbly’ loggers boarded the chartered ferry Verona at Colman Dock in Seattle, Others were di- verted to the Calista, which also was to carry passengers for the regular Everett run, En route, the Verona contingent was composed, and quiet, except for an occa- sional “Wobbly” chant, Meanwhile a, police spy had passed the word on the sailing to Seattle detectives. ‘The messages sped to Everett. Sheriff McRae again mustered his “best people” —a banker, an ex-governor, squads of business men and plain plug uglies — and together they went down to meet the Verona, The vessel had put one line on the dock when McRae swaggered forward to tell the workingmen they couldn’t land. At a pre-arranged cue, his mob, par- tlally concealed in the dock shed, opened fire on the exposed decks of the Verona. Within ten minutes, 40 loggers were wounded and 5 killed. The number who slipped off the bloody decks and were carried out to sea has never been ascer- tanied. Then someone got the line off the dock, and the Verona limped back to Seattle, TRIAL OF THE VICTIMS. Not one of the gunmen was brought to trial. In the mob’s wild gunfire, how- ever, the lumber trust had killed one of its own number. For this death, seven of the loggers were jailed upon the Ver- ona’s return to Seattle. The defense hired George F. Vander- veer as legal counsel, and won acquittal in open trial; but, not until the 74 had suffered inhuman prison treatment the memory of which lingers on. . These wounds stung, and were still stinging when, in 1917, the woodworkers decided to try their strength against the High Logging Powers of the Pacific Northwest. POLITICS AND BIG MONEY. It was quickly made evident, however, that all the dice of fortune were loaded against them. Aligned with the employ- ers were all the forces of law, business and government, The Criminal Syndicalism Act, once ve- toed in Washington State by Governor Lister, was resurrected to tailor a straightjacket for the militants. President Woodrow Wilson, re-elected just two days after the “Bloody Sunday” affair at Everett, tendered the services of the Department of Justice to the open shop cause. And Samuel Gompers, the unctuous little Napoleon of craft union- ism, glared through his spectacles and wished the worst of luck to the embattled woodworkers. Looming beyond these adversaries, however, was another, shadowy in outline and not then fully understood. As the struggle intensified, the loggers learned, in bitterness and terror, the role it would play in labor repression. ‘This adversary was War. WHAT CAN WE EXPECT. Since 1917, American woodworkers have seen the wheel of history come a full turn; from war, through boom and depression, to war again. Like the Inter- national Woodworkers of today, the IWW in 1917 was engaged in a swelling cam- paign to organize the unorganized. Wood- row Wilson had been swept back into of- fice months before by a people who be- lieved in his promises to keep the United States at peace. But in April, 1917, Ameri- ca went to war. If then there be a parallel between 1917 and 1940, what can the woodworkers ex- pect during our participation in the Sec- ond World War, judging from the experi- ence of 23 years ago? Who Says Scotch is Scotch? A faller friend sends this. Three guesses, what nationality is it? “Scotch whisky is a Blend of plain British spirit, manufactured from foreign grain in a German patent still, put into a Belgian bottle with a label made and printed in London, sealed with a capsule made in Sheffield, and a cork from Spain, It is then enclosed in a straw envelope imported from Canada, put into a case of wood from Scandinavia, and sold by Irishmen in pubs in Glasgow. The Jobless Problem By GEORGE HENDERSON Secretary, R.P.W.U. The single unemployed men are once again being faced with a struggle for ex- istence. This struggle is taking the form of organized protest against the govern- ment’s “All for the war front; nothing for the home front” slogan. The daily press has carried consider- able propaganda about increased produc- tion and increased employment, with the result that some people were even beliey- ing that prosperity was here, that the war had at last provided a means of livelihood to those who had been denied the right to work during the depression years, Thousands were cut from the relief rolls in B.C. during the spring and sum- mer months in order to provide more money for the war. Men travelled all over in search of employment; in the Okan- agan, in the harvest fields and in On- tario, where the war industries are “booming.” Most of them were success- ful in getting work for a few weeks only, now they have returned to Vancouver and are. faced with starvation. The au- thorities are attempting to ignore this problem as long as possible. They will not move until they are forced. Bring- ing this question before the public irri- tates our rulers, Young men subject to the draft are wandering the streets hungry (and would starve were it not for the assistance of the public) until such time as the army is prepared to accept them. This should be substantial proof that under our present economic setup, unem- ployment will remain a problem—war or no war—until such times as our govern- ments get down to business ‘and at least try to do something instead of ignoriag these conditions. As in the past the Relief Project Work- ers’ Union is in the forefront of this struggle for a square deal for the unem- ployed. The unemployed realize that only through organized struggle will im- proved conditions be made possible. With the support of all organizations we will be able to not only alleviate the present conditions of the unemployed but also to bring about a rehabilitation program that will either provide work for these men, or, failing that, provide them with — adequate assistance. ‘We appeal to all organizations and in- dividuals to assist us in every, way pos- sible, and particularly do we appeal to the trade unionists, from whose ranks most of the unemployed come. Cost Of Planting Douglas Fir Trees According to an answer to a question asked in the Legislature, the cost of réforestation is $11.20 per acre. Mr, Anscomb asked the Hon, the Min- ister of Lands the following questions: 4. Has the Government carried out any reforestation durng the last year. 2, If so, who carried out the work? 3, What area has been reforested? 4, What was the cost per acre? The Hon. Mr. Gray replied as follows: “1 Yes. “2, Forest Service. 4 “8. To date, 3,359 acres; ths year, 1,084 acres; additional planting of about 350 acres now in progress. “4, About $11.30 per acre.” Just 27 more “Chopping” Days till the Big Loggers’ Ball!