Canadian Forestry Journal, October, 1919 



399 



separate fires, largely in timber. Also, most siderable destruction ensued. Elsewhere, de- 



unfortunately, high winds at night were pre- spite adverse weather conditions, the situation 



valent, so that the increased humidity usually was kept well in hand although we were forced 



encountered was lacking and fires progressed to spend money freely. Altogether our fire 



steadily night as well as day. As a result con- fighting expenditure will probably exceed 



ditions got out of control for a time and con- $64,000. 



THE RETURNED SOLDIER AND FOREST JOBS 



By Raphael Zon, U. S. Forest Service. 



Transient Life of Timber Areas Under Ordinary 



Exploitation Creates Transient Towns 



and Homeless Workers 



The right development of our vast natural re- 

 sources offers a field of opportunity to the re- 

 turning soldier. In the past the use of our 

 natural resources has failed even more than 

 land settlement to develop permanent and con- 

 tented communities. The mining camp, the 

 lumber camp, and the construction camp, with 

 their shifting population, are typical of the 

 transitory character of the industries them- 

 selves. There is no more familiar sight in the 

 region of our greatest development of natural 

 resources than the "blanket stiff" going from 

 camp to camp seeking a better job. The op- 

 portunities of the future, both for the returning 

 soldier and for the people who live in the re- 

 gions where there are great natural resources 

 awaiting development, lie in the establishment 

 of permanent industries and permanent com- 

 munities. In mining operations, permanent 

 communities providing healthful living con- 

 ditions could be established because the life 

 of the mines extends, as a rule, over a long 

 number of years. This is particularly true 

 where mining is carried on in the neighborhood 

 of agricultural lands. In the case of the for- 

 est, which IS a renewable resource, it is per- 

 fectly feasible to create healthy and permanent 

 towns if the lumber industry itself is stabilized. 



The lumber industry as it is at present con- 

 stituted offers small opportunity for permanent 

 and contented communities. It has passed over 

 this country from ocean to ocean in a series of 

 waves. It originated in Maine, moved to 

 Michigan in the seventies, completed its highest 

 development in the Lake stales in the nineties, 

 and is now flourishing in tlie southeast. There 



it will be exhausted in a few decades and will 

 then centre on the Pacific coast. As a rule it 

 has not left permanent communities in its wake, 

 unless the land was exceptionally suited to 

 agriculture. The industry has been, and still 

 is, conducted as a type of mining. A valley or 

 logging unit is worked out; then the operation 

 shifts to another location. In this way one 

 valley after another has been cleared of tim- 

 ber and left empty and desolate. One region 

 after another has been depleted of its forest 

 stock. 



Timber mining, being essentially migratory, 

 breeds migratory tramp labor. Since the lum- 

 berjack must live in a camp and the man with 

 a family is excluded as a worker, the lumber 

 industry is an industry of homeless men. The 

 conditions which are produced by the present 

 methods of timber mining are well summarized 

 in the report of the President's Mediation Com- 

 mission : 



The forests and lumber mills of the Pacific 

 Northwest have a predominant war import- 

 ance. The raw materials they furnish are in- 

 dispensable to the execution of the aircraft 

 and shipping programmes of the government. 

 The entire industry employs about 70.000 

 men. The labor conditions in the lumber in- 

 dustry have their reflex upon all industry in 

 that territory. 



Social conditions have been allowed to 

 grow up full of danger to the country. It is 

 in these unhealthy social conditions that we 

 find the explanation for the unrest long gath- 

 ering force but now sharply brought to our 



