THE SOCIAL SIDE OF LUMBER LIFE 



667 



up the minds of men engaged in the 

 lumber business everywhere, helping in 

 this way to make things pleasant for 

 everybody and enabling their readers 

 to become more familiar with the per- 

 sonal characteristics and business traits 

 of the laborers in the various phases of 

 the industry. 



Next to the newspaper one of the in- 

 fluences that has counted for much has 

 been the lumbermen's clubs, which arc 

 to be found in nearly all the principal 

 centers of the industry. These organi- 

 zations meet at least once a month and 

 their deliberations are opened with a 

 fine dinner in one of the club houses or 

 hotels. One or two speakers upon vital 

 topics are provided for and the repast 

 is usually sweetened or rendered more 

 delightful by a charming musical pro- 

 gram by some leading orchestra of the 

 town. The speeches are usually fol- 

 lowed by a general discussion, all of 

 which enables men to become better ac- 

 quainted with each other's point of view 

 and to learn to form new estimates and 

 revise their opinions of men with whom 

 they have been altogether insufficiently 

 acquainted in times past. In the past 

 two decades lumbermen have been culti- 

 vating the social side of their lives more 

 and more, and during this period there 

 sprang up what is known as the Con- 

 catenated Order of Hoo-Hoo, a fra- 

 ternal body without an imitation or a 

 parallel anywhere in the world. The 

 purpose of this organization was to 

 break the monotony of convention pro- 

 ceedings. These concatenations are of 

 an unconventional character and the 

 festivities which it fostered as a means 

 of imparting new zest to the life of its 

 members were quite unique in their 

 character. Thousands and thousands 

 of men all over the United States as 

 well as across the water have worn the 

 emblem of this order for a good many 

 years past, and it is still a factor in the 

 promotion of joyousness of spirit 

 among those engaged in the lumber in- 

 dustry and related lines. 



Readers of the lumber trade journals 

 of the country will find nothing new 

 perhaps in what the writer has stated 

 above. It is so familiar to them that it 

 has really become trite, but in this brief 



space sufficient has been said to make 

 it plain that the social side of lumber 

 life has been very largely and success- 

 fully cultivated during the past twenty 

 years, and that the spirit of comradery 

 and the larger view which today obtains 

 on all public questions among the men 

 engaged in this great industry is largely 

 due to the broad-gauged spirit in which 

 the social side of their natures has been 

 given fuller play during the period 

 under consideration. 



Man is essentially a sociable being. 

 He is not a mere human cash register, 

 and he develops best and appears at his 

 best when all the god-like attributes of 

 his character are given a chance to grow 

 and an opportunity to display them- 

 selves in all their freshness and sim- 

 plicity. To realize the truth of this 

 nothing could be more convincing than 

 to see some of the men whose names are 

 foremost in the lumber business at one 

 of the social sessions of Hoo-Hoo or at 

 one of the many dinners or monthly 

 banquets given in one of the leading 

 cities by the Lumbermen's Club. A boy 

 let loose from school is never happier 

 than some of these captains of industry 

 when free from the cares of business 

 and given a chance to show what they 

 really are man to man across the social 

 board; in fact, it is no exaggeration to 

 say that only those who frequent these 

 affairs of associations and clubs really 

 know the lumbermen at their best, and 

 it is certainly a delightful experience to 

 find that the man whom you thought 

 was simply a relentless pursuer of the 

 almighty dollar is also, in many in- 

 stances, a genuine good fellow, filled 

 with the milk of human kindness, 

 touched by the pathos of human life in 

 its everyday happenings, and responsive 

 to what is poetical and emotional in all 

 that concerns the affairs of the man 

 with whom his interests in life are so 

 intimately identified. 



The social side of lumber life in the 

 United States has certainly reached a 

 degree of perfection that makes it well 

 worth the imitation of those engaged 

 in other lines who have not as yet felt 

 the uplift and the sense of kindliness 

 that comes from a closer contact and an 

 intimate knowledge of those engaged 

 in similar lines or occupations. 



