The Price of Lumber and Labor
As the market for timber collapses, loggers on the Sound face falling wages and the looming threat of free trade.
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.
A correspondent of the Post-Intelligencer residing in this city writes of dissatisfaction among laborers regarding low wages. A reporter interviewed J. P. Millett of Cherry Valley, C. W. Rich of Mosher, Pat McCoy of Edison, and E.G. English of Mount Vernon—four of the largest loggers on the Sound. They stated there is no great dissatisfaction, although wages have been considerably reduced since the summer. Heretofore, wages were $35 to $55 per month and board; now they are $30 to $50 and board. Teamsters in the woods last year received $75 to $100 per month and board, but now they are getting $50 to $75. While there has been a reduction in wages for green hands, competent men are receiving more. Mr. Millett stated that no logger on the Sound is making money, and he has switched to using engines instead of teams to keep costs down. He warned that if lumber is put on the free list, British Columbia mills will enter the market and displace local workers.
“There isn't a logger on the Sound who is making any money.”
The anxiety over the 'free list' and international competition for Washington's natural resources mirrors modern debates about trade policy and the precariousness of resource-based economies in the Pacific Northwest.
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