SOCIAL LEGISLATION ON THE PACIFIC COAST 281 



But experience shows that the more completely organized labor is, the 

 less its violence. This is shown by the experience of England, of the 

 excellently organized trainmen and the ill-organized I. W. W. The 

 skilled labor on the Pacific Coast is now well-organized as compared 

 to other states. And in Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco, organized 

 labor is a strong force. Figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics 

 at Washington, D. C, show that in general organized labor draws 

 slightly higher wages and works slightly shorter hours here than else- 

 where. Similarly, the laws are favorable to organized labor. 



The conditions of the unskilled and the unorganized laborers are 

 not so favorable on the Pacific coast. This is partly due to the nature 

 of some of the main industries such as lumbering, wheat harvesting, 

 the raising of fruit and hops, and construction work. These indus- 

 tries are seasonal to a high degree and the jobs last only a short while. 

 This means that the living conditions are of the roughest sort. As the 

 distances are great, the laborers are peculiarly migratory. The rail- 

 road tracks are their highways and one may here see at almost any time 

 these migratory workers walking the railroad ties, and always with 

 blankets rolled in bundles on their backs. The blanket pictures sym- 

 bolically their crude home conditions and social life. These conditions 

 breed the I. W. W. Here is a great need for the state to extend its 

 functions to bring a real liberty and tolerable living conditions. Much 

 depends on the possible success of these unskilled migratory workers in 

 organizing. So far there has been little success. Calilfornia has re- 

 cently made an investigation of labor camps and has enforced better 

 living conditions. The free public employment bureau thoroughly de- 

 veloped and publicly controlled would greatly help the situation. The 

 private employment agencies of the present time are greatly criticized 

 with reference to their private nature, the number of them, their fees, 

 their relation to employers. What is needed is an organized labor- 

 market with adequate machinery for finding jobs and filling vacancies. 

 Many of the cities have free employment bureaus; but, comparatively, 

 they are small in number, and have not been able to compete success- 

 fully with the private agencies. California has a law, in effect in 1913, 

 which regulates the private agencies by license and bond and by return- 

 ing fees under certain conditions. The situation was so bad in Wash- 

 ington that the people voted at the 1914 election to abolish altogether 

 the private agencies; the measure adopted did not even provide for 

 public bureaus. A measure providing for labor exchanges is being pre- 

 pared for the Oregon legislature meeting in 1915. 



The great industries of the Pacific coast are highly seasonal and 

 there is very little dove-tailing of them. This means that in the winter 

 months there are large numbers of unemployed. Their numbers by 

 industries are given in the federal census. They leave their summer 



