The Loggers' Stand Against the Mill Cartel
Facing a coordinated effort to depress timber wages, loggers in the Snohomish valley chose to halt production, sparking a classic confrontation between labor and capital.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Several of our logging camps have discontinued work on account of dull state of trade. We look upon the movement as one inaugurated by the mill controllers to depress the price of logs, so they may secure as much of their winter's run as possible at reduced rates. We think loggers show wisdom by stopping work. If no more logs are cut and put in the water at present, the mills will need all now on hand to carry them through the winter, even if they do not run full time, and will be compelled to pay full prices for them. Loggers who are forced to sell or to keep running, because behind hand, will be pinched. Those who can hold on, or are in a situation to stop work, will lose nothing. Let the stock on hand be worked off, and logging will be brisk and prices remunerative next season.
“We look upon the movement as one inaugurated by the mill controllers to depress the price of logs, so they may secure as much of their winter's run as possible at reduced rates.”
This 1880s standoff mirrors the modern tension in Snohomish County's evolving economy, where the 'mill controllers' of the past have been replaced by developers and corporate landlords. The struggle for workers to hold onto their leverage in the face of manufactured scarcity remains an enduring theme in the Pacific Northwest.
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