The Shady Labor Contract

The suspicions of a good many workingmen have been aroused by a handbill which was circulated yesterday, calling for fifty good men at once for woodchopping and timber slashing. Woodchoppers are promised $2.75 a day and slashers $2.50, board $4 a week. The bill is signed by McClaughlin & Co., contractors, St. Charles hotel, and November 3, 4 and 6 is given as the time for applying. The hotel register bears the name H. J. McDonald, representative of McClaughlin & Co., and inquiry among the men in the office gave the facts that he had hired thirty-two men at the wages stated in the circular to go to Whidbey Island and clear land. He agrees to furnish transportation on the steamer Messenger, leaving Seattle Sunday morning, and closes his contract with the proviso that each man must use the company's tools, paying $1.25 before leaving the office. Mr. McDonald requests $1.25 spot cash. Several men who interviewed McDonald objected to using the company's tools and paying $1.25, on the ground that it was an unheard-of arrangement. They proposed using their own tools or using the company's and having the $1.25 taken out of their wages. This was not agreeable to the agent, his objection being that he did not propose to take men there and have them walk away without doing work. The current wages for choppers are $2.25 to $2.50 a day and $1.75 for slashers. These figures compared with those given in the circular, and the strange proviso of $1.25 for use of the company's tools, aroused the suspicions of so many laborers that the case was reported to the police.