226 REPORT OP THE FORESTRY COMMITTEE 



Social welfare work. — An important feature affecting efficiency in any in- 

 dustry where manual labor plays an important part, as in the lumber industry, 

 is the comfort and well-being of the employes. Not only are men more efficient 

 when well housed and fed and when provided with harmless amusements, but 

 further employers of labor in isolated communities, as are many logging camps 

 and lumber manufacturing communities, owe a moral obligation to the workmen 

 and their families. 



In the early days of the lumber industry very little attention was given to 

 workmen other than to see that they performed the maximum amount of work 

 at the minimum expense. The last few years has witnessed a remarkable change 

 in the attitude of employer toward employe. In the lumber industry this has 

 been due to increased demands on the part of labor; to a desire on the part of 

 employers to elevate the general moral tone of their employes ; and to the efforts 

 of organization, such as the Y. M. C. A., which have been vitally interested in 

 such problems. 



Although camp lodgings and board have been improved greatly in every 

 region, some sections of the country have made a greater advance than others in 

 providing further comforts for the men. This has been due largely to the char- 

 acter of labor, and the conditions under which the work is performed. 



In the Northeast, Y. M. C. A's or similar organizations have been main- 

 tained at various junction points through which loggers pass on their way to and 

 -from the camps and mills. Logging and boarding accommodations are provided 

 in some of these, and an effort made to furnish places of recreation for the men 

 in order that they might not squander their earnings in saloons, gambling houses 

 and dives. So far as can be learned these organizations have done an excellent 

 work and those who have supported them have felt well repaid for the money 

 spent in their maintenance. 



The migratory character of the woods force, chiefly foreign, has, to a large 

 extent, precluded the successful introduction of welfare work in the camps of the 

 region, the isolation of which has, to a certain extent, eliminated some of the 

 evils present in other regions. Individual operators have done much to protect 

 their workmen from outside temptation by forbidding the sale of liquor in the 

 vicinity of camps, and refusing to permit peddlers of clothing, cheap jewelry 

 and other junk and solicitors for organizations, to visit the camps and impose 

 on the credulity of men who have been removed from settlements for some 

 time and who are therefore peculiarly susceptible to the piracy practiced by such 

 men. 



The plan of providing reading matter, entertainments and other recreation 

 for the average northern lumberjack has been tried by various lumbermen with 

 indifferent success. It is doubtful if operators in this region would be justified 

 in constructing a small building or providing other quarters for special welfare 

 work. 



In the South the problem is different since many logging camps contain 

 the loggers' families for whom church and school facilities should be provided 

 and also some form of recreation, since the camp is the family home and loggers 



