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Reunion of Spruce Production Division Recalls a Little-Known Chapter in the History of America's World War Effort By ELMO SCOTT WATSON (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) AMONG the many reun ZA ions to be held during the 1939 convention of the American Legion in Chi cago September 25 to 28 there's one that's unique. For the first time in Legion history, former members of the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen will get to gether to repoinisce over the days when they were doing their part to "help win the war^ even though it was up in jthe great forests of the Pacific- Northwest thousands of miles from the battle front. ?.' You never heard of the Loyal ^Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen, or the "4L," as it is. sometimes called? Then pqjhaps you know about its wartime nucleus under the lopgih and more official naine of Spruce Production Division of the Aviation Sec tion of- the Signal Corps of the-Vnited Slates Army. Tfowever, if you don't know even under that name, you're not much different from thousands of other Americans. For it was one of the least pub licised of all the units which Uncle Sam mobilized for service in the greatest war in which he was ever engaged. But it's high time (hat you should learn about it, for the achievement of this Loyal Legion was one of the most brilliant in the history of Amer ica's war effort and, as is so often the case, it was due primarily to the genius of one man. That man is Brig. Gen. Brice P. Disque, U. S. A. (Ret.) and many of the veterans of the Spruce Production Division who are coming to Chicago for the . reunion are coming for no other reason than to aee and salute again their commander of 22 years ago. Also they're coming to form a permanent organiza tion of Loyal Legion "alumni" a ad to see what can be done about. obtaining recognition for the Spruce Production Division from the war department in the form of an assignment as a divi sional number and insignia, even though they, are proud to be known simply as "Disque's Own." Tribute to Dlsque. That (act is eloquent testimony to the caliber of the man who commanded them in 1917-18 and who ao commands their respect today. He entered the regular army in 1899 as an enlisted man and was advanced from sergeant to first lieutenant while serving hi the Philippines. In 1913 he was a cavalry captain on the Mexican border and later was as signed to construction work which took him to the Philippines again. Resigning from the army to accept the position of warden at the Michigan state peniten tiary, at that time one of the few self-sustaining prisons In the country, he gave that institution a notably successful administra tion. But it was a brief one for, when the United S(ates entered the World war in 1917, be applied for his old commission as a cavalry captain. Instead he was made a lieutenant-colonel in the Signal corps and was on his way to Prance when his sailing orders were suddenly canceled. The reason was this: / In the summer of 1917 the Allies were "fighting with their backs against the wall" and French and English high officers were warning the United States that if the'war was to be won it must be won in the air. Their great need was airplanes and mpre airplanes. Spruce wood was vitally needed for airplane oonstructioh. Since the best spruce available was la Oregon, Washington and Idaho, Uncle Sam could best help his Allies by hurrying vast quantities of it from the Pacific Northwest to the bat UMront Thai was why Colonel Disque's sailing orders were canceled? b? was the man selected for the pdst of commander of the new %race Production Division at die Aviation Section of the Signal Corps and- be woe ordered to Portland, Ore., to take charge of the job of speeding up spruce production, spppdinj up shipment of it from half a million to thirty feet per month end cut ting down the time of its ship 1 #1 _ _e_L at- ? fL^,,1, i_ aha mem from tne rorests in me Northwest to the Atlantic coast from SO days to 10 days. In less than a week after Disque had i cetved hie orders he was on the Job in Portland "You'll have one heO of a Job getting spruce out of northwest ern timber, because of^govera told Disque bluntly. The "other obstacles," it developed, were numerous enough and difficult enough to have daunted anyone except an army officer who was accustomed to obeying his orders to "get the job done." For several years the spruce in dustry of the Northwest had been almost paralyzed. The low wages, long working hours and disgrace ful living conditions of the log ging camps had made them fer tile ground for the I. W. W. to sow its seeds of discontent. The result was a succession of strikes and a campaign of sabotage car ried on by the "wobblies." As though this were not enough trou ble, the operators added to it by their practice of stealing men from each other. This, in brief, was the situation which confronted Colonel Disque when he arrived on the scene, charged with the responsibility of getting out great quantities of spruce and getting it out in a hurry. His first step was to call a conference of operators and workmen, who heretofore had been hopelessly deadlocked over the question of reducing the 10 hour day to an eight-hour day. Installs S-Hoor Day. To this conference the colonel announced that eight, instead of 10 hours would be the basic working day and that there would be no cut in wages because of it; that living conditions in the camps would be raised to the standards of the United States army; that employers must stop stealing men; and, finally, that under his administration there would be a square deal for both operators and workmen. To bring that about he submitted to them, for their voluntary adop tion, a constitution and by-laws of an organization which he called the Loyal Legion of Log gers and Lumbermen. Without going into detail into the way in which this organiza tion operatea, it may be noted BRIG. GEN. BRICE P. DI8QDE that, perhaps for the first time in American history, capital and labor recognized the mutuality of their interests, co-operated thor oughly and reduced disputes to a minimum. The nucleus of the force which carried on these vast operations was aoldiers from the National army and volunteers who had been transferred for this special work from other arms of the service. Many of them oeme from the timber districts of Michigan, Wisconsin and Penn sylvania. Eventually the total strength of the Spruce Production Division was 30,000 men and 1.300 officers. Added to that force were more than 75,000 civilians engaged In the task of getting out the vitally needed spruce eo that the total membership of the Loyal Legion was nearly 110,000. Their first problem was finding ths spruce. The heaviest stands of this kind of timber were dis covered on a strip of territory about 50 miles wide on the west ern slope of the Coast range in Oregon and Washington which was then the wildest and most inaccessible section of the West Since fir timber, heretofore the chief source of lumber supply, grew on the eastern slope of this range of mountains, no railroads, roads or any other highways tor transportation of timber had ever been built on the western slope. So the first step was to constrwct them. Members of tbe Spruce Production Division loading logs in an Oregon camp. Thirteen separate railroads were decided upon and construc tion of 167 miles of main line track and 149 miles of branch line was begun. This railroad building would take time, of course, and in the meantime spruce was urgently needed for new Allied airplanes. So Colonel Disque made contracts with the operators for the delivery of all the "clear" spruce they could get. . Besides that he sent his own crews of soldier-lumberjacks into the forests to augmerit their ef forts. Over the protests of the opera tors he inaugurated a system of "selective" logging, that is, cut-, ting down only those trees which had been picked by expert tim ber cruisers as best fitteid for air plane stock. Where the stand of timber was too sparse to justify building roads over which to bring out these logs, or where the country was too rough to get the huge logs out "in the round," they were "rived" where they fell, that is, the logs were split, the knotty heartwood was re moved and the remaining lum ber was split into "flitches" of convenient size. But selective logging was not the only innovation which Disque introduced. He maintained that logs could be sawed to get a much higher percentage of clear, straight lumber than was obtain able by methods heretofore used. Some of the lumbermen said it couldn't be done. He produced his own expert who designed a huge government sawmill to be built at Vancouver, Wash., across the river from Portland. The lumbermen said that such a mill couldn't be built in less than a year and then it might not be a success. As a matter of fact it was built in 49 days and instead of the 25 per cent of airplane stock produced by ordinary meth ods from clear "flitches" it be gan turning out 69 per cent. t,7N% Production Increase. It would require a book to tell the full atory of the achievement of Colonel Disque and his Spruce Production Division?how they in creased the output 2,700 per cent over that which had been pos sible before the organization of the Loyal League, how they met the Allies' demand for a million feet of selected spruce daily, and how it was rushed across the con tinent by fast express for ship ment across the Atlantic. In cluded in that story, too, is how the attempts of the "wobblies" to create dissatisfaction and sabotage the spruce production was thwarted, how the effort of labor union organizers to "mus cle in" was defeated, and how the Loyal League survived after the war to the benefit of capital and labor relations in the industry. It would tell also how Colonel Disque, by this time a brigadier general, resigned his "benevo lent dictatorship" at the close of the war, liquidated the $16,000,000 United States Spruce corporation of which he was president; re turned more than 60 per cent of the government's $10,000,000 in vestment, said good-by to the thousands of men who were un der his command and retired to private life. These are some of the things which the members of the Spruce Production Division will talk over when they hold their reunion in Chicago this month. There will be tales, too, of their buddies who were killed "in lino of duty"? impaled by flying splinters in the woods and mowed down by a blast of steel fragments when the huge circular saw bit into the spike imbedded in a log by a sabotaging "wobbly"?stories of feverish activity in building roads through the wilderness and con structing high pole bridges over streams and across canyons, of never-ending vigilance against the flre hazard around the saw mills with their huge piles of precious spruce timber. An these and a thousand other inci dents of those hectic days when they were doing their bit to help win the war win be the theme of die men of "Disque's Own" at tiiis, their first, reunion of the Spruce Production Division of the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps of the United States Army. - v . ? & ? -:t. , i Although the achievements of the men of the Spruce Division (or, to use the more appropriate title, the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen) is now almost forgotten?if indeed it was ever generally known-to their fellow Americana?the magnitude of that achievement has not gone entirely unrecognized. In the December 5, 1918, issue of the Engineering News-Record, one of the leading journals devoted to civil engineering and contracting, appeared an editorial, headed "The Spruce Victory," which said: "A great purpose and a great leader backed up by organized talent, team work and enthusiasm ?that was the Spruce Production Division of the army . . . Rad ically different methods of log ging, and entirely new methods in the sawmill, were worked out by leaders unafraid to disregard precedent. Out of their fresh and broader view came enormous in creases in total production of spruce and?what is still more important?an almost unbeliev able improvement in the quality of the product. The thick spruce stands of the inaccessible regions have been tapped by railroads? thirteen of them?located, built and operating in less than a year, and a new goal of practically doubling the present output was recently announced Popular at tention during the year has been elsewhere, and the men in the Spruce Production Division have been too busy to tell of their work, if they would. Therefore, little is generally known of prob lems and successes that under other conditions would have had world-wide publicity. This would have been particularly true in en Two soldier-lumberjacks of the Spruce Production Division ready to start work on a bit tree. gineering circles, because of the engineering pioneering involved. The policy of putting engineering problems in the hands of engi neers has been followed by Gen eral Disque from the outset, and too much praise can not be given him for his methods of manage ment. Now, that the work is clos ing down it is a pleasure to record the achievement and to give to General Disque and his col leagues the credit they so richly deserve." Six years later the social sig nificance of General Disque's pol icies were recognized in an arti cle which appeared in the Forum and Century magazine. Written by Earl Chapin May under the title of "A Model for the New Deal," this article, which ap peared in the March, 1934, issue of that magazine, said in part: "If, as and when the Supreme Court of the United States de cides that the National Industrial Recovery act belongs in the dis card it will not be necessary for President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his Administration to rele gate the celebrated and promis ing New Deal to history. "To all important intents and purposes the Roosevelt New Deal has successfully functioned for IS years in the lumber regions of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. For fifteen years capital and labor have dwelt in harmony; wages and profits have been con trolled; production has kept ap proximate pace with consumer demand; peace has reigned where industrial war once flour ished; and a large part of one at our major industries has been ran on an even keel, by self government. "Officially this co-operative is knows as the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen. Pop ularly, it is known as the "4L." It began under a military dicta torship as a patriotic movement to meet a wartime emergency. It has survived without any ma terial change in organization ma chinery since 1921 and without a dictatorship, except that vested in mutually agreeing employers and employees. "If anything goes wrong with the machinery set up by the Na tional Industrial Recovery Act? if the Supreme court or any other court or influence throws a mon key-wrench into the federal gov ernment's industrial recovery program?Presiden t Roosevelt and his "brain trust" can turn gracefully to the 4L'and ride to recovery on its bandwagon. The National Industrial Recovery Act might become permanent by adopting some of the methods of the Pacific Northwest <L" . Settlers Seek Sagebrush Soil Western Irrigation Project To Welcome Hundreds Of Home Seekers. YAKIMA, WASH.?A year from this summer hundreds of soil-hungry settlers will be establishing them selves on small tracts of central Washington's Eoza irrigation proj ects, preparing to make a living from ground that for decades bria tled with sagebrush. They'll be moving in and erecting cabins even before water is avail able to turn their land into a produc tive state, but the chief construction engineer of the project, C. E. Crown over, said that is just what the U. S. reclamation bureau prefers. Water probably will not be avail able for the arid lands until the spring of 1941, Crownover said. However, the settlers can take up their tracts several months earlier and begin clearing them and build ing numerous ditch networks needed on each farm. Early Arrival Favored. "It's easy to see that this -work must be done before the land will be fitted for irrigation waters," Crownover said. "The job will take time and there's no reason why the settlers can't do it before water from the main canal is available to them." Virtually all the difficult parts of the $15,000,000 project?started in 1935?have been completed or are under construction. When the unit is finished, it will complement the Yakima valley project, one of the largest reclamation sections in the world. When all gravity-flow and pump lands are connected to the Roza sys tem, a total of 72,000 acres will be irrigated, providing farms for 1.8QP families if the tracts were set aside 40 acres to the settler. The Roza is in addition to the Tieton, Sunnyside and Kittitas divi sions of the Yakima valley project. The Roza's main canal will be completed to mile 45 with money now in the hands of the reclama tion bureau. These funds also will finish the main diversion dam, now under construction at ft cost of $525, 000, and four spillways. Ditch to Run 100 Miles. The largest artery of the system will stretch 100 miles when it is com pleted. The lateral ditchworks will be built next summer. This may be done on small contracts or, to save money, the government may decide to put the Civilian Conservation corps on part of the job. But in dications are that local contractors will get the work. Those who want to settle on the reclaimed lands need not fear spec ulation, for the reclamation bureau ?through J. S. Moore, superinten dent of the Yakima valley project? has begun to crack down on any landowners showing such an inclina tion. Moore has sent notices to SO large holders directing them to sell all but 160 acres before water becomes available. The superintendent also has warned owners that if any land is sold above its appraised value, half of the excess will go to the project's cost 300,000 Dancers, Actors, Singers in Soviet Army MOSCOW.?Over 300,000 members of the Soviet army are trained as dancers, musicians, singers, ac tors, and poets. Every unit in the army and every warship in the navy has its choirs, orchestra and dramatic groups. One of the soloists in the Moscow Grand Theater of Opera and Ballet, Vassilii Drovyannikov, Is. a former member of the Red army, where he received his original training in his art. The arts bold a prominent place in the life of the Soviet soldiers and sailors. In the daytime they spend their time in fields, at airdromes, in classrooms or on shooting ranges; in the evening they amuse them selves giving performances or watching the performances of others. Cycle Has Baby Trailer ASHTABULA, OHIO.?An engi neering works employee has devised a "baby trailer" to be attached to bicycles. Mike Zalimeni, seeking a patent on his device, says that the trailer will enable people to take the baby along on bicycle tripe. Time Change Ignored By Traveling Rooster MONTREAL.?A rooster which refused to change its rising schedule because the sun in Can ada rose five hours later than in its native England arrived here on the last trip of the liner As cania. The bird was one of a collec tion of rare fowl which C. G. May, British delegate, is taking to the World's Ptniltry congress at Cleveland. May skid the rooster crowed every night at the hour to which it was accustomed in England and made no allowances for sun rise or the various time sones en countered on the crossing. By L. U STEVENSON At Coney Island is a museum, said to be the first of its kind in the world, which brings the history of outdoor amusement business right before the eyes of visitors. Known as the American Museum of Rec reation, it was organized by William P. Mangels, veteran Coney ride in ventor and manufacturer. Among the many exhibits are models from various parts of the world showing what lured nickels and dimes, and even quarters, from the pockets of the curious or thrill-seeking of other days as well as today. But what to my mind at least makes the mu seum real fun is that the models actually work. By merely pushing a button, the various rides can be made to do their stuff. Button-push ing also starts elaborate orches trions to producing music some of which still packs a thrill for the average listener. In the ride department there is the famous old "criss-cross" where cars cross over on a switch just in time to escape collision. There is also a huge scale model of the fa mous "loop-the-loop" roller coaster invented and built at Coney Island in 1901. Press a button and the car runs down a big drop and does a complete loop. Maybe it would seem tame today but at the turn of the century, it .was entirely too dar ing and so was a failure, A.midel shows, that the first mergy-go-round had stationary horses on a revolving platform. Undoubtedly it pleased youngsters who may now be gray beaMs ifvith great-grandchildren. But kids of today, accustotned to galloping wooden horses, would merely sneer and pass on to Some thing more exciting. > :>* i by 41 : r . Oat of the largest displays is bl cyclesl,' The Oldest dates back to 1818, a| steel-tired contraption, which the rider operated by straddling the seat, and running along the road. There are also the "bicycles built for two" of the romantic nineties, as well as the dangerous high wheel ers of the eighties. A steam bicycle held ? my attention. Built 'in 1889, it has a coal-burning boBer>Never theless, it established a record of a mile in a minute and five .seconds, which was fast road travpllnf a half century ago. But think of the hot cindeysl ? . i -y _ re * rc * * T. Musical devices include a com plete exhibit of automatic orches trions, which still respond to the plunk of a nickel in the slot. They are huge affairs with air pumps and tubes that stir horns, cymbals, cas tanets and drums into heavy musi cal action. As the roll turns and a tune like "Stars and Stripes For ever" blares forth, the whole mu seum becomes alive and "Carry Me Back to Ole Virginny," played on a Regina music box from a steel plate with many indentations is still beau tiful though its date is 1645. The first Edison phonograph, a stem winder, is on exhibition, as well as the first hand organ brought to this country from Italy in the early 1700s. ? ? ? Yellowed newspapers tell of crowds that came to Coney in 1823. Ode headline proclaims that the is land had its biggest day in its his tory when more than 300 carriages passed through the tollgate on Shell road. When I read that I wondered what the writer would think if he could see Coney on a hot, bright Sunday these days as more than a million New Yorkers go out there for the sea breezes. The old toll gate has long since vanished. But the sign, showing the various rates charged, is shown in the museum. ? ? ? For many years. Coney Island had a hotel shaped like a gigantic ele phant and known as the Elephant hotel. It was quite a fashionable dwelling place. It has vanished along with the toll gate but there is a complete architectural design in the museum. And that's all about Coney for today except that few visi tors neglect to pay New York's famous amusement spot a friendly call and that millions of New York ers each year find it an escape from the city at a cost of only a nickel subway fare. ? ? ? End Piece: A military officer from a foreign country, here be cause of the World's fair, was intro duced to an American colonel the other afternoon. After the introduc tion the officer from abroad seemed puzzled indeed. The American colonel didn't look, act or carry him self like a colonel. Investigation disclosed the fact that the American is a Kentucky colonel. (Ball Syndicate? WNU Service.) Protect* New Car RICHMOND, IND.?An excited woman advised police by telephone that "there's a car sitting on the sidewalk." A cruiser car investi gated. The report: "The owner just bought the car and he Was,afraid it would get hit if he left it' in the street. So be parked it on the side walk." - j Farm j | Topics | TATTOO MARKINGS IDENTIFY CATTLE Breeding and Registration Records Protected. By OB. GEORGE E. TAYLOR It is important that dairy animals be properly marked (or identifica tion purposes, otherwise there is certain to be confusion on breeding as well as registration records. Ear tattoos properly put in are most sat isfactory identification marks, for they remain legible during the en tire lifetime of the animal. These facts have been determined in studies at the New Jersey college of agriculture. The American Jersey cattle club has required tattoo numbers tor registration for a number of years, and beginning January 1, 1940, all unregistered Brown Swiss animals must be tattooed before the applica tion or registration will be accept ed. The objection to ear tags and number neck straps is that they are sometimes lost. In order to insure satisfactory re sults the following simple rules should be considered: The inside of the ear should be thoroughly cleaned of all dirt, wax and oil so that the tattoo ink will penetrate the punch marks. Soap and water may be used, provided the ear is wiped dry with a clean cloth. A clean cloth soaked in gaso line or alcohol is very effective. In getting ready to tattoo, be sure the letters and numbers are placed in the marker right side up and in the correct order. First try the marker on a piece of cardboard to be sure. Place the mark in the area inside of the ear that is free from hair. Avoid crossing any large veins as a safeguard against excessive hemor rhage that might cause the ink to wash out, resulting in failure. Be sure that the needle points are sharp and fine so that they will penetrate the ear properly. By placing one or two thicknesses of cardboard between the punch and the outside of the ear you can insure proper penetration. Apply a liberal application of ink inside of the ear and work the ink into the small holes with the forefinger after the punch is made. There are a number of satisfac tory tattoo inks, pastes and oils on* ihe market. The following formula may also be mixed by any drug gist, using 20 grams of lamp black (dry); SO cc grain alcohol; 50 cc glycerin and 50 cc of water. A system of both letters and num bers are often used that will indi cate the owner of the animal and also the date, of birth as well as the sire. First U. S. President Used Diversification There was a gentleman farmer of certain renovfti-Jiring on the banks of the Potomac worried be cause his poorer neighbors always had too much tobacco on hand and not enough good food. Their Negro hands were often not in the best of health. Records indi cate that ofttimes taxes were paid partly in money and partly in to bacco, for lack of other medium. The gentleman farmer, who tend ed to his own place carefully, and had definite success growing a vari ety of crops and only a lesser por tion of tobacco, called a meeting of his better-fixed neighbor farmers. They all recognized the problem of one-crop farms and were glad of a leader to change the practice of farmers in that neighborhood. The gentleman farmer was George Washington and he started Fairfax county, just outside of Washington, on a crop-variation system that has existed to this day. In all Fairfax there is not a commercial patch tobacco. Negroes have a few plants in the back yard to twist into "terbacker" for their own use. Potato Storage Pits Properly constructed pits provide cheap but satisfactory storage fir potatoes throughout the storage sea- , son. The spuds should be placed in the pit as soon as harvested bm should be given only a light cover inn at first, says A. E. Hutchins, vege table specialist. Care must be tak en to keep them dry and well ven tilated, he cautions, and when the ground free res the covering should be increased. Pits should be made in well-drained soils. A good sine is four feet deep, six feet wide, and as long as needed. Pits of the above width and depth will hold about 100' bushels for each five feet of length, i " ? i Plucking Live Geese The (ducking of live geese to save the feathers is quite common prac tice in many country districts. It consists of the removing of the srnag feathers just before moulting time. One can tell by plucking at one ef the geese whether the feathers are ready to come out. Never pluck feathers from a goose when they are moist on the end. Only the smnB feathers should be taken oS the bird and the down should never be removed.
The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.)
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Sept. 14, 1939, edition 1
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