THE B.C.

LUMBER WORKER

June 27, 1942

miner has a shrine of the Blessed Virgin, dressed usually in overalls with a miner's hat cocked over his head. Here, when he goes to work, he prays for a day free from accidents, and before leaving, many a peon prays again, this time that the high grade ore he has stolen and secreted about himself will not be discovered.

I think that the spruce loggers in B.C. and some of the mill workers will soon be making good side money highgrading lumber, I went down to a lumber mill a few days ago to get a handful of lum- ber, and believe me, I packed it all under my arm, I studied the receipted bill given me and found out the lumber was worth $286.00 per M. I know that “high grad- ing” is illegal, of course, and that the woodworkers are law abiding citizens. But imagine how easy it would be to make some extra money each day! The Queen Charlotte Island boys need only to cash away a few slivers of spruce a day and the mill men can take home a couple of knots a day!

Speaking of prices and money, you boys remember the loggers’ and mill operators’ cry up until when you went after them for a fair wage: “We are losing money every day.” This was thelr theme song. ‘The tune has changed now and the new song hit should be: “We are losing men every day!”

I wrote an article recently to a news-

paper syndicate pointing out the actual sabotage of the war effort by some of the logging operators. The article re- ferred particularly to the Queen Charlotte Islands. I had documentary proof from such authentics as Morgan, Admiral Mc- Cuish, Harold Pritchett, etc. Well, boys, yesterday I got a letter from this news- paper and it simply was a Chinese re- jection slip. If you don’t know what a Chinese rejection slip it, I will give you a classical example of one: * Illustrious Brother of the Sun and Moon: Behold thy servant prostrate be- fore thy feet! I kowtow to thee and beg that of thy graciousness thou mayest grant that I may speak and live.

Thine honored manuscript has deigned to cast the light of its June countenance upon me. With raptures I have perused it. By the bones of my ancestors! Never have I encountered such truth, such pathos, such lofty thought. With fear and trembling I return the writing. Were I to publish the treasure thou has sent me, the Emperor would order it to be made a standard of excellence and that none be published except such that equalled it. Knowing literature as I do, and that it would be impossible in ten thousand years to equal what thou hast done, I re- turn thy writing by guarded servants, Behold my head is at thy feet and I am dust.

Thy Servant's Servant,

Wang Chin, Editor. |

There you have it, boys. Don't let the operators higrade you out of camp. Your place is there to produce the needed lum- ber for war materials. Your place is also there to tell the operator that you ab- hor fascist practices and that now, when enemy shells are hitting our very own logging shores, you want to get on with the job of increasing production in the most efficient manner, through organiza- tion and signed agreements which will produce the most harmonious relations between the loggers and the operators in every camp.

Join Your Friends at COURTENAY HOTEL Headquarters”

“The Loggers’ G.TATER. - - PROP.

Courtenay, V.L.

DEATH TOLL NOW AT THIRTY-ONE

Belated reports of five more deaths in the logging industry bring- the total up to thirty-one for this year. Koozma Harshenin was killed

while unloading poles. He was on top of the load when they started to roll

and he fell over the bank, some 668 feet,

and was fatally injured. Alfred D. Clark,

truck driver for Green

Lake Log Co. Wel-

lington, was killed | yooaworkera

when he jumped inan} pave been

attempt to get free! jineg in B.

from the truck when| Jumber in-

it got out of control.| dustry since Gottfied Bochsler,| Jan, 1, 1942

head faller at LaFarr & McDonald camp, died when a sapling leaning against a hemlock being felled struck him on the head.

Sam Poshnikoff, faller at J. W. Sher- binin’s Logging Camp, was killed when he was struck full in the face by the butt of a falling tree.

Fnute Torgenson, faller at Elk River Timber Co., Quinsam, was struck and fatally injured by a windfall which sprung up when a tree fell-on it.

INJURED LOGGER LEFT TO WALK

CAMPBELL. RIVER, B.C—Theodore Benji, rigging slinger, lost his fourth finger on June 12th when it became necessary for the doctor to perform an- other operation to remove a piece of bone which had become infected. Benji's left hand was pinched when a wrong signal was given and instead of the guy line being slackened, it was straightened.

He was brought in 20 miles to the

first aid station at Bloedel’s Menzies Bay camp, where the first aid man, George Anderson, dressed his hand at about 3:20 p.m. He was then left to walk 244 miles to the highway, but after walking approximately one mile he was unable to carry on and had to sit down, in a condition of collapse.

Later he was picked up by the speeder bringing the crew from work that even- ing and taken ‘the rest of the way to the highway.

On June 12th the doctor had to ampu- tate three fingers, advising the patient that if he had been to a hospital without any léss of time he could have saved at least two of the fingers. :

A strong protest was lodged this week by the International Woodworkers of Amercia against the treatment that this logger received, and the matter is also being taken up with the Workmen's Compensation Board.

“When workers have the opportunity to form unions and bargain through them collectively . . . then the world

moves straight ahead.” — Vice-President Wallace.

“It the workers were not organized in our war factories, we would have to do everything we could to create that or- ganization to win the war."—George W. Taylor, Vice-Chairman of the War Labor Board.

> OED OGD 0 GED 0 GED 0 GED 0 GED 0 GED 0 GED - OO GED GG

Most Accidents Occur To Fallers

Dear Mr. Faller:

We have some very sad news a bring you. From the first of this year until the time of writing this letter twenty-two men were killed in our logging camps. Ten of them were fallers.

Some of the deceased fallers were not too far from the stump of the tree they were falling. We give you a few particu- lars of the recent fatalities and will let you do your own thinking.

Sam Posnikoff, aged 88, married, with two children, was killed when hit on the head by the butt of a falling tree. Fred Antufaoff said this tree struck the top of a leaning tree and slid down it, caus- ing the butt to leap sideways about 15 feet. Posnikoff was standing about 12 feet to one side when the butt struck him! Chang Bing Sun, aged 50, was Killed | and his partner, Long Sing, described the accident by saying: “We were falling a tree. It hit the end of a 40-foot bucked log, causing the end of the log to swing back. It hit Chang Bing Sun and threw him against the stump of the tree we had fallen.”

Edward Pouttu, aged 22, married, was killed when hit on the head by a piece of snag. Allen Williams, bucker, who was right beside Pouttu when he got hit, said: “We were about 15 feet. away to the rear of the falling tree. The ground was such that it was possible to get farther in the clear than we did. The only way the accident might have been avoided was to have been farther in the clear.”

John Berg was killed when a falling tree brushed a sapling which sprang back. The top of the sapling broke off

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and fell over the stump where the saw and men were. When the tree had started to fall the fallers got in the clear and they saw that no limbs were falling so moved back to the stump. John Berg was found in the brush-pile, where he had been struck by the snag.

Not all accidents to fallers happen be- cause the fallers do not get far enough away from the stump, but most of them do.

It certainly does pay to get far enough away. — Safety Branch, Department of| |

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