The Lumber Mills Can't Find Skilled Men — Because the Pay Won't Keep Them

In practically all the articles written by men that are successful and termed great, ambition is the watchword upon which they claim success — the will to do. The publicity manager of one of the Harbor's largest mills now blames this same ambition for the growing shortage of skilled workmen in the lumber industry. He hit the key-note.

If this shortage of skilled labor exists, it is because of this ambition to better conditions. It is not because of the average man's dislike for overalls and soiled hands, but because of the fact that at the very best a man can buy with the wages paid common labor in the mills only the bare necessities of life. Leaves him nothing for enjoyment or comfort, nothing for the rainy day, or old age which is sure to come. That is the real reason for a shortage, if any.

The man with ambition will work in the mills only when no other work is to be had. The publicity manager paints a very clear picture of "Dad" supposedly working in the mills, plodding, hardworking, seemingly unambitious, his disappointments smothered under a veil of silence and bleak expression — a victim of the deadly, daily grind. Place yourself in this father's position: would you advise it, or would the son of his own accord follow in your footsteps?

If common labor was paid a wage sufficient to take care of the necessities of life, and leave enough for enjoyment and saving for "that distant day," men with ambition would follow the mills as the means of earning an honest living, and eventually become skilled workmen. Until the operators of the mills grant a sufficient wage of their own will or through organization of the employees, the shortage, if it exists, will remain so. As long as the average man and graduate from school sees only a life of privation and want by following this calling, they will cast their eyes over the distant horizon for something better.