ing to the state forest service, Willis J. Walker of the Red 

 River Lumber Company, said on February 5: 



"We need from fifty to sixty million logs for winter supply 

 and up to last Saturday night we had thirteen million banked 

 and cannot get them hauled any faster, as our camps all 

 need men. I received a message from our Mr. Pray this morn- 

 ing, stating that we were 125 men short in our small camps 

 and Robinson & Dick have in only eight million out of a total 

 cut of twenty-five that we expect. Mr. Robinson has just been 

 here and tells me that he cannot get Iqgs any faster for lack 

 of sawyers, which means that* next summer we will have 

 only a portion of the summer's run. 



"We have had a standing offer at the Minneapolis employ- 

 ment office for 150 men, for ten days and 'secured thirteen, 

 although we are offering $35 for common labor and fare one 

 way. We have today authorized the agency to pay up to $40 

 for sawyers if we can get them, which is the highest wages 

 I have ever known men to get. * * * I think these same 

 conditions will apply to the other loggers through the state 

 as I know the cut at the present time is very short every- 

 where." 



Need 3,COO Men in the Vicinity of Bemidji Alone. 



A special dispatch to the Duluth Herald about the same 

 date, said: "While there is a big shortage of labor in all 

 the lumber camps of Northern Minnesota, the situation is 

 most acute at Bemidji. John Moberg, railroad and logging 

 contractor, has been in Duluth for two days trying to obtain 

 men without success and left last night for the Twin Cities, 

 where he will offer $35 and $40 a month for men, with free 

 board, and railroad fares advanced to his camps in Beltrami 

 county. 



"Mr. Moberg said that the logging interests centered at 

 Bemidji are in need of 3,000 men. Two weeks ago Mr. Mo- 

 berg spent several days in Minneapolis and St. Paul and was 

 able to obtain only forty men. 



"Mr. Moberg looks forward to a very busy year for rail- 

 road contractors in the Northwest. He built the Soo line 

 through Bemidji and for several miles on either side and 

 recently completed forty miles for the Soo in North Dakota." 



5 



