Walkout in the Hoquiam Box Factory
Hoquiam box factory crew walked out over a 25-cent wage cut, closing the plant and idling 40 men.
HOQUIAM, March 4.—Because the Northwestern Lumber company of this city wanted to cut the wages of the skilled men in their box factory 25 cents a day, the crew walked out yesterday and the plant was closed down indefinitely. This throws 40 men out of employment. Last December a general cut of 25 cents was made on the harbor, and nearly all the mills cut wages with the exception of the R. K. Wood Lumber company of this city, which is now running 11 hours a day with a full crew. The men all stood for this cut in the other mills, which has reduced the wages of men with families to $1.75 a day, on which they say they can barely live. This is the second cut the men in the factory have had, and rather than stand for it they walked out. An effort was made to break in a new crew and one laborer, a man named Keeter, who took a machine, had his hand taken off by coming in contact with a moving saw.
“The men all stood for this cut in the other mills, which has reduced the wages of men with families to $1.75 a day, on which they say they can barely live.”
This story highlights the volatile labor relations of the early 20th-century Pacific Northwest timber industry, where a 25-cent wage cut meant the difference between subsistence and poverty. The tragic injury of a replacement worker serves as a grim reminder of the high stakes involved in labor disputes of that era.
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