Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen

The Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen (LLLL), commonly known as the "Four L") was a patriotic company union

Company union

A company union is a trade union which is located within and run by a company or by the national government, and is not affiliated with an independent trade union. Company unions were outlawed in the United States by the 1935 National Labor Relations Act, due to their use as agents for interference...

founded in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

in 1917 by the War Department as a counter to the Industrial Workers of the World

Industrial Workers of the World

The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...

Establishment

In October 1917 Colonel

Colonel

Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

Brice P. Disque

Brice Disque

General Brice Pursell Disque was a U.S. Army officer and businessman. He is best remember for having headed the Spruce Production Division during World War I, for conceiving the idea of sending military troops to work in the logging industry to spur wartime wood production, and as the creator of a...

was dispatched to the Pacific Northwest

Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...

to investigate the reasons behind what was deemed an inadequate supply of spruce for the Division of Military Aeronautics of the War Department

United States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...

. A career Army officer, Disque had resigned his commission in 1916 to become a prison warden in the state of Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

before rejoining the Army during the war to work as a "trouble shooter" on military procurement problems.

The summer of 1917 had seen a widespread lumber strike

Strike action

Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...

throughout the Pacific Northwest led in part by the radical Industrial Workers of the World

Industrial Workers of the World

. Despite a decision to end the work stoppage in the lumber strike, by September shipments of spruce — a strong and flexible wood urgently needed for the production of military aircraft — had risen only to 2.6 million board feet per month, a fraction of the 10 million board feet required. Col. Disque met with industry leaders in Seattle upon his arrival before setting out on a 10 day tour of lumber operations in the region.

Noting the ongoing labor difficulties in the region, Disque determined to establish a special military division to be dispatched to lumber camps as needed, thereby undercutting any residual difficulties which might be presented by recalcitrant union workers. Disque made efforts to win support for his decision to militarize the timber industry by gathering together a select circle of industry leaders at a meeting held at the Benson Hotel

Benson Hotel

The Benson Hotel is a 287 room historic hotel building in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States.It is owned and operated by Coast Hotels & Resorts. It was originally known as the New Oregon Hotel, and is commonly known as "The Benson". It has a reputation as one of Portland's finest hotels...

in Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

towards the end of the month.
On November 2, Disque returned to Washington, DC to win approval for his plan from Wilson administration

Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...

officials, including Secretary of War

United States Secretary of Defense

The Secretary of Defense is the head and chief executive officer of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a Defense Minister in other countries...

Newton D. Baker

Newton Diehl Baker, Jr. was an American politician who belonged to the Democratic Party. He served as the 37th mayor of Cleveland, Ohio from 1912 to 1915 and as U.S. Secretary of War from 1916 to 1921.-Early years:...

. Disque's plan was rapidly approved and 100 officers were committed to the effort to put the Pacific Northwest lumber industry under military control.

A major meeting was held in Centralia, Washington

Centralia, Washington

Centralia is a city in Lewis County, Washington, United States. The population was 16,336 at the 2010 census.-History:In pioneer days, Centralia was the halfway stopover point for stagecoaches operating between the Columbia River and Seattle. In 1850, J. G. Cochran came from Missouri with his...

in November bringing together representatives of 16 of the region's larges lumber companies, who were persuaded to sponsor units of a new labor-centered organization that was part and parcel of the attempt to end labor strife through militarization. This new organization was to be known as the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen (LLLL) — commonly known as the "Four Ls." The first local of this new organization was founded in Wheeler, Oregon

Wheeler, Oregon

Wheeler is a city in Tillamook County, Oregon, United States. The population was 391 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land.-Demographics:...

on November 30, 1917.

Lietenant Maurice E. Crumpacker

Maurice E. Crumpacker

Maurice Edgar Crumpacker was a Republican U.S. congressman from Oregon.-Early life:Crumpacker was born in Valparaiso, Indiana in 1886, where he attended the public schools until his father, Edgar D. Crumpacker, was elected to the United States House of Representatives when Maurice was 10 years...

of the US Army Signal Corps was sent on the road to various lumber camps and mills of Washington and Oregon to administer a loyalty oath

Loyalty oath

A loyalty oath is an oath of loyalty to an organization, institution, or state of which an individual is a member.In this context, a loyalty oath is distinct from pledge or oath of allegiance...

to the workers there, the sole act required for membership in the LLLL. These signed pledges read in part:

"I, the undersigned, ...do hereby solemnly pledge my efforts during the war to the United States of America and will support and defend this country against enemies foreign and domestic.

"I further swear...to faithfully perform my duty toward this company by directing my best efforts, in every way possible, to the production of logs and lumber for the construction of Army airplanes and ships to be used against our common enemies. That I will stamp our any sedition or acts of hostility against the United States Government which may come within my knowledge, and I will do every act and thing which will in general aid in carrying this war to a successful conclusion."

Next to the loyalty-pledged civilian workers, a total of 25,000 soldiers were committed to work in the logging camps and mills of the Pacific Northwest over the next year in the so-called Spruce Production Division

Spruce Production Division

The Spruce Production Division was a unit of the United States Army established in 1917 to supply the army with high quality spruce and other wood products needed for the production of aircraft for the United States war effort in World War I. The division was part of the Army Signal Corps's...

. Soldiers in the camps and mills received civilian pay for their efforts, with the Army paying the minimal base salary given to all soldiers with the logging or mill contractors making up the difference. Troops lived under military discipline throughout.

Headquarters for the division was based at the Vancouver Barracks, just across the Columbia River

Columbia River

The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...

from Portland, Oregon.

As historian Tom Copeland notes:

"With free membership and heavy pressure from fellow workers, the loggers found it difficult to turn down the Four L's and few dared to risk it. Twenty thousand members signed up during the last two months of 1917."

Development

Despite the rather vague form of the LLLL, an effort was made to give the organization some of the basic forms of an industrial union. After gaining the signed pledges of workers, the military "officer-organizers" would see that civilian members were gathered into "locals" — groups which elected grievance committees which were nominally responsible for the mediation of problems in the woods or the mill with owners and bosses. In the view of at least one historian this function seems to have been only of minimal effectiveness in practice, however, since "in the early months, the only real function of the local was to meet production quotas

Production quota

A production quota is a goal for the production of a good. It is typically set by a government or an organization, and can be applied to an individual worker, firm, industry or country. Quotas can be set high to encourage production, or can be used to limit production to control the supply of goods...

, perhaps manage a suggestion box

Suggestion box

A suggestion box is a device for obtaining additional comments, questions, and requests. In its most basic and traditional form, it is a receptacle with an opening, not unlike an offering box or voting box. The box is used for collecting slips of paper with input from customers and patrons of a...

, and be a display counter of pledged patriots." Indeed, at the time of its inception Disque did not envision the LLLL as a union of any kind, but rather a loose patriotic society.

In was not until late in the summer of 1918, in the waning months of the European war, that a conference of LLLL district representatives was convened in Portland to establish a formal constitution for the organization — a document drafted in advance by Disque and his assistants.

According to the 1918 constitution, each local was to elect delegates to district boards, which would each choose employer and employee delegates to the "Headquarters Council," over which Disque maintained executive control. The constitution further stipulated that each local was to elect a "conference committee" in charge of carrying grievances to the employer and negotiating their amelioration.

Owing to its lack of dues and near mandatory status, the LLLL grew rapidly. Within six months of its establishment some 80,000 workers had taken the organization's pledge, rising to nearly 100,000 civilian workers in 1918.

The syndicalist

Syndicalism

Syndicalism is a type of economic system proposed as a replacement for capitalism and an alternative to state socialism, which uses federations of collectivised trade unions or industrial unions...

Industrial Workers of the World found itself isolated and submerged by the massive new de facto company union, with repression of some of its leading activists adding to the IWW's difficult organizational situation. The rival American Federation of Labor

American Federation of Labor

The American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...

— a lesser force in this industry at this time — found its position no better despite union head Samuel Gompers's

Samuel Gompers

Samuel Gompers was an English-born American cigar maker who became a labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor , and served as that organization's president from 1886 to 1894 and from 1895 until his death in 1924...

initial endorsement of the Loyal Legion. Organizers for the AF of L complained that the officer-organizers of the LLLL banned them from speaking, broke up union organizing meetings, and ejected them from the camps.

In fact, most adherents of the IWW and the American Federation of Labor's

American Federation of Labor

Timber Workers Union seem to have ultimately joined the Loyal Legion, despite its status as a de facto "company union."

An additional reason for the Loyal Legion's hegemony during the war related to its leading role on the issue of the 8-hour day — a major goal of American workers for decades. In February 1918 Col. Disque established a committee of 25 prominent lumbermen in Portland and charged them with devising an agreement to establishing the 8-hour day in the lumber industry. Pressure from Disque and the Wilson administration in Washington — the chief consumer of finished goods — was instrumental in ensuring a positive outcome, and the marathon session of lumbermen eventually yielded fruit. On the morning of March 1, 1918, Disque announced the adoption of the 8-hour day to the press.

At the end of the war the Loyal Legion was represented by over 1000 locals organized into 12 districts. From the US government's perspective the organization was a massive success, with production of spruce boosted to more than 20 million board-feet per month.

The Loyal Legion after the war

The LLLL, seen as a model institution of class collaboration

Class collaboration

Class collaboration is a principle of social organization based upon the belief that the division of society into a hierarchy of social classes is a positive and essential aspect of civilization.-Class collaboration under capitalism:...

, survived after the termination of World War I in November 1918 — having largely ameliorated the bitter strife between workers and capitalists that had swept the industry over previous years. The organization was seen as something of value by both sides of the production process.

Two conventions were held in December 1918, one in Portland, participated in by the 8 districts of Western Oregon and Washington, and another in Spokane

Spokane

Spokane is a city in the U.S. state of Washington.Spokane may also refer to:*Spokane *Spokane River*Spokane, Missouri*Spokane Valley, Washington*Spokane County, Washington*Spokane-Coeur d'Alene-Paloos War*Spokane * USS Spokane...

, including the four districts spread across the so-called Inland Empire of Central and Eastern Washington state. These conventions elected a new civilian board of executives and began the work of preparing a permanent constitution.

The new constitution provided for annual conventions for each of the 12 districts, to which each local was to elect one worker delegate and one employer delegate. The president of the organization or any member of the board of directors was to preside over each of these gatherings. The board of directors was to serve as the decision-making authority in the case of disagreements which could not be resolved.

The LLLL provided a variety of membership services. No fewer than 5 of the 12 district offices maintained free employment agencies for workers seeking employment. In many other towns around the region, the Loyal Legion maintained social halls, providing recreational opportunities for workers. The reforms of the war period were defended as best they were able by the board of directors through traveling inspectors, although these did not retain the same sort of authority wielded by the officer-organizers of the military during wartime. From 1926, the board of directors negotiated a group insurance

Group Insurance

Group insurance is an insurance that covers a group of people, usually who are the members of societies, employees of a common employer, or professionals in a common group....

plan for sickness or on-the-job accidents covering LLLL members.

Termination and legacy

Over time participation in the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen declined, replaced by other more aggressive labor organizations. The LLLL was finally terminated in 1938.

The group is remembered by historians for the role it played in helping to end the major influence of the Industrial Workers of the World in the lumber industry of the Pacific Northwest. It was, as historian Robert L. Tyler has recalled, the "carrot" of ameliorative reform that accompanied the "stick" of violence and deportation used against the IWW in the Western timber industry:

"The Loyal Legion...undercut the IWW quite effectively. In the summer of 1917, the IWW appeared to control an entire industry, but by the end of the war, the IWW was not only suppressed, it had been dispersed and absorbed.... In the minds of all but the most dedicated Wobblies the ferocious ideas of the class struggle
Class struggle
Class struggle is the active expression of a class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote "The [written] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle"....

evaporated in the atmosphere of patriotism, the eight-hour day, and palpable improvements of living conditions. The Wobblies of hard revolutionary substance had to be driven with the club rather than led by the carrot."

In the view of historian Harold M. Hyman, the 4L was a largely spontaneous entity, not the product of "deliberate academic estimations conducted in a sober committee room," but rather a "reflexive, unplanned, and opportunistic creation." Hyman depicts the Loyal Legion as a manifestation of "a kind of Progressivism

Progressivism

Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...

in khaki" — an example of the Wilson administration's williness to use government intervention to rationalize the competitive struggle

Class struggle

Class struggle is the active expression of a class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote "The [written] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle"....

that was part and parcel of capitalism

Capitalism

Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...

Official organ

Beginning in March 1918 the Spruce Production Division of the Army and the Loyal Legion published a magazine in Portland, Oregon called the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen Monthly Bulletin. The publication seems to have been terminated early in 1919.

External links

"Guide to the Brice P. Disque Papers, 1906-1960," Special Collections, Suzzallo Library, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
Erik Mickelson, "The Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen: The Origins of the World’s Largest Company Union and How it Conducted Business," Seattle General Strike Project, Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies, University of Washington, Seattle, 1999.