LOGGING IlSr THE DOUGLAS FIR REGION. 9 



No result of the depressed condition of the lumber industry is more 

 deplorable than this. The short employment period each year and 

 the peculiar social conditions are doubtless largely responsible for 

 the fact that woods laborers of the region as a class are not as steady 

 and efficient as they might be. 



METHODS OF EMPLOYMENT AND PAYMENT. 



There are three principal methods of hiring those of the men who 

 are not hired directly by the camp foreman. The most common, per- 

 haps, is through the regular employment agencies. Some of the 

 larger operators employ their own agents. When a company uses 

 enough men to justify the expense of a private agent, this usually 

 proves the most satisfactory arrangement. In some instances several 

 companies join in maintaining an agent, but that plan has often 

 proved unsatisfactory because of a feeling that one company was 

 favored more than another. In other cases the crews are kept up 

 almost entirely from men who apply for work either at the camps or 

 at the city offices. 



So far labor unions have played only a small part in the logging 

 industry of the region, and that in an indirect way. The natural 

 independence of the woods worker and the fact that strong or normal 

 demand for woods labor over long periods is unusual are probably 

 the principal reasons why he has not affiliated with labor unions. 

 Furthermore, living conditions in the camps are improving and rela- 

 tively good wages are the rule. However, stronger efforts for the 

 organization of a loggers' union are made each year. 



Most of the men are paid by the day, the operators charging them 

 for board. The monthly men, such as foreman, bookkeepers, cooks, 

 and locomotive crews, as a rule, have their board in addition to their 

 monthly wages. 



Comparatively little contract work is done. In a few cases felling 

 and bucking and railroad grading are contracted, and, less often, 

 the delivery of the logs from the stump to the landing in the case 

 of an out-of-the-way chance. 



A system of bonuses, a modification of the wage system, is being 

 tried out by a number of operators. 



The men are usually paid once a month or on the termination of 

 their work. Either bank or time checks are used. In most cases the 

 time checks are taken at their face value by the merchants of the 

 surrounding towns, the exception usually being in the town or city 

 where the company has its offices and where the men may exchange 

 the time or bank checks for cash. 



