100 years ago in Inland Northwest: Under pressure from Wobblies, companies agree to plan to improve logging camps

From our archive, 100 years ago

The region’s logging operators, 36 companies in all, were nearing agreement on a plan to make life easier for the men and women in the Inland Empire’s logging camps.

The logging companies came to a consensus on proposals to standardize the bunkhouses and cookhouses, “as an aid to comfort and cleanliness.” The proposals were generally agreed upon, but final action was postponed until January.

What prompted this plan? A labor shortage, for one thing.

However, it was prompted by a threatened strike by the Wobblies, the Industrial Workers of the World, who were demanding “radical increases in pay” and improved working conditions.

The companies also adopted in its entirety the adoption of a “fair and reasonable workmen’s compensation act,” which had been passed by the Idaho legislature but vetoed by the governor on grounds that it was insufficient.

From the con man beat: Police discovered more evidence implicating the five bunco men arrested the day before for operating a fake betting scheme.

They found telegraph equipment, which police said the men used as props. The victims of the swindle were “made to believe” that the con men had the ability to tap telegraph wires and learn the results of horse races before placing the bets.

Police believed this bunco gang recently was operating in Montana, and that one of them was a notorious bunco operator and counterfeiter recently released form the federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas.