The sun. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1937-1972, September 15, 1939, Image 2
THE SUN. NEWBERRY. S. C- FRIDAY. SEPTEMBER IS. 1919
Reunion of Spruce Production Division
Recalls a Little-Known Chapter in the
History of America's World War Effort
Members of the Spruce Production Division loading logs in an
Oregon camp.
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
AMONG the many reun-
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 reminisce over the
days when they were doing
their part to “help win the
war” even though it was up
in the 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
perhaps you know about its
wartime nucleus under the
longer and more official
name of Spruce Production
Division of the Aviation Sec
tion of the Signal Corps of
the United States Army.
However, if you don’t know
about it even under that name,
you’re not much different from
thousands of other Americans.
For it was one of the least pub
licized 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 that 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 see and salute
again their commander of 22
years ago. Also they’re coming
to form a permanent organiza
tion of Loyal Legion “alumni”
and 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 Disque.
* That fact is eloquent testimony
to the caliber of the man who
commanded them in 1917-18 and
who so 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
in 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 States entered the
World war in 1917, he 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
France 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
more airplanes. Spruce wood
was vitally needed for airplane
construction. Since the best
spruce available was in Oregon,
Washington and Idaho, Uncle
Sam could best help his Allies by
hurrying vast quantities of it from
the Pacific Northwest to the bat-
tlefront.
That was why Colonel Disque’s
sailing orders were canceled—
he was the man selected for the
post of commander of the new
Spruce Production Division of the
Aviation Section of the Signal
Corps and he whs ordered to
Portland, Ore., to take charge of
the job of speeding up spruce
production, speeding up shipment
of it from half a million to thirty
million feet per month and cut
ting down the time of its ship
ment from the forests in the
Northwest to the Atlantic coast
from 50 days to 10 days. In less
than a week after Disque had re
ceived his orders he was on the
job in Portland.
“You’ll have one hell of a job
getting spruce out of northwest
ern timber, because of govern
ment red tape and other ob
stacles,” the mayor of Portland
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.
v Installs 8-Hour 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. DISQUE
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 soldiers from the National
army and volunteers who had
been transferred for this special
work from other arms of the
service. Many of them came
from the timber districts of
Michigan, Wisconsin and Penn
sylvania. Eventually the total
strength of the Spruce Production
Division was 30,000 men and 1,200
officers. Added to that force
were more than 75,000 civilians
engaged in the task of getting
out the vitally needed spruce so
that the total membership of the
Loyal Legion was nearly 110,000.
Their first problem was finding
the 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 for
transportation of timber had ever
been built on the western slope.
So the first step was to construct
them.
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 augment 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 fitted 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 45 days and instead
of the 25 per cent of airplane
stock produced by ordinary meth
ods from clear “flitches” it be
gan turning out 65 per cent.
2,700% Production Increase.
It would require a book to tell
the full story 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 c.' 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 $10,000,000
United States Spruce corporation
of which he was president; re
turned more than 96 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 line 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 fire hazard around the saw
mills with their huge piles of
precious spruce timber. All
these and a thousand other inci
dents of those hectic days when
they were doing their bit to help
win the war will be the theme
of the men of “Disque’s Own” at
this, their first, reunion of the
Spruce Production Division of the
Aviation Section of the Signal
Corps of the United States Army.
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-
Americans—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
glands 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 wes
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 bad
world-wide publicity. This would
have been particularly true in dn-
Two soldier-lumberjacks of the
Spruce Production Division ready
to start work on a big 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 ef “A Model for the New
Deal,” this article, which ap
peared in the March, 1934, issue
Of that magazine, said in part:
Suede Plays an Important Role
In Wardrobe of the College Girl
By CHERIE NICHOLAS
A GAIN comes up that ever recur
ring problem—clothes befitting
fall and winter activities, formal
and informal and for all occasions
in between. Campus doings, the
football series, evening festivities,
motoring, travel, town-wear outfits,
the well-equipped wardrobe must be
built around all these fashion de
mands. And here’s big news! Ev
eryone of these issues is being met
with fashions in suede.
Every college girl, in fact every
woman who aspires to the best that
fashion has to offer, should reckon,
in fact must reckon, with suede as
one of the factors of high impor
tance in the assembling of a ward
robe. What leather workers, de
signees and style creators have suc
ceeded in doing with suede deserves
to be classed with the seven won
ders of the world.
Suede has that something about it
that lures you on to indulgence,
especially this season when the hats,
bags, neckwear, belts and countless
other accessories are made of it,
coats and suits tailored of it, day
time one-piece frocks, the evening
gowns and wraps fashioned of it,
surpass all previous showings. Ac
cording to Paris cables and reports
of returning buyers this is going to
be the biggest suede season ever.
The fact that you can get anything
you want these days fashioned of
suede from sports togs to evening at
tire adds to its lure. Then, too, with
the tang of autumn in the air comes
the urge for clothes that tune to the
colorful landscape and as every
woman knows when it comes to rich
beautiful colors there’s nothing in
fashion media that can surpass
suede. Note the wide scope of coat
and dress types expressed in terms
of suede as here pictured.
A coat such as shown to the left
will grace any grandstand occasion,
at the same time that it flings a defy
to biting winds on a frosty autumn
day. This model is of duck green
suede. Jean Parker, featured
screen artist, wears it. Self lacing
gives the hand touch to this hand
some practical coat, the lacing ap
plied to pockets, front, shoulders
and sleeves. Handcarved matching
buttons are used for the high double-
breasted line. The demure Peter
Pan collar, padded shoulders, huge
patch pockets and back flare are
smart notes. The flowerpot crown
bonnet in wood violet suede matches
the casual double pouch bag and
stitched slipons.
This same screen artist also se
lects a dress of suede. See it cen
tered in the group. This one-piece
frock, in an adorable dahlia red,
boasts patch pockets on the simple
bodice with an overlay bow of
matching suede. The skirt, in four
sections, has a slight flare at the
hemline. With this costume by
Voris of Hollywood, Jean wears
gloves that match her dress in exact
tone, and her hat (not pictured) is
a visor type of moss green suede.
The suit to the right is a likable
affair. It is done in amber suede
which offsets the Mojave brown of
the high-neck blouse, which in turn
matches the swagger hat with high
crown. A copious purse of suede a
shade deeper than the suit comple
ments the ensemble.
The East Indian influence in fash
ion is reflected in the dinner frock
of robin’s egg blue suede shown in
the inset. It is worn by Joan Perry.
The belt is in blue and dusty pink.
A sparkling massive gold bead
necklace adds the finishing touch.
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
Modern Swedish Ensemble for the Young Hopefuls
In contrast with the past, when only wealthy families could afford
special furniture for the nursery and less fortunate children inherited
hand-me-downs from adult bedrooms, is the present practice of using
juvenile furniture for the coming generation. Moderately well-off fami
lies now are buying ensembles like this Swedish modem suite for their
hopefuls.
Whims of Fashion
“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 15
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
of our major industries has been
run on an even keel, by self-
government.
“Officially this co-operative is
known 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—President 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 4L.”
Silver Fox Trim
For Cloth Coats
The style prestige of choice silver
fox both as a trim for the cloth
coat and for the separate fur piece
or stole is in nowise abating.
Throughout all coat collections you
see this fur used to a lavish degree.
One of the newer treatments spon
sored this fall is the big youthful
looking sailor collar which trims
many a fashionable coat in advance
showings.
Turbans this winter.
Black is back as a smart town
hue.
Apron dresses for the flat-in-front
girl.
Pink, pet of the winter season in
accessories.
Paris openings concentrate on the
importance of period styles.
Lapel ornaments to match the
ornament on your sports hat.
Between-season frocks of rayon
jersey are of a rich mauve-tinged
gray.
Strange Facts
!
Air to Float Wood
Easter Lily Is Out
Real Wash Out
!
Like water, the pressure of air
increases with depth. For in
stance, if a mine shaft were 35
miles deep, the air at the bottom
would be about 1,000 times as
dense as that at the earth’s sur
face, or heavy enough to float sev
eral kinds of wood and even water.
In northern Ireland it is a seri
ous offense, punishable by a fine,
to wear or carry an Easter lily
on Easter Sunday, as this flower
is a symbolic reminder of the un
successful Easter rebellion in
Dublin in 1916.
Despite the fact that he was
mentally deranged, Associate Jus
tice Henry Baldwin (1779-1844) of
Pennsylvania was allowed to serve
for 14 years on the bench of the
Supreme Court of the United
States because its members can
be impeached only for miscon
duct.
In several towns along the Ital
ian Riviera, a balcony is consid
ered to be such an essential deco
rative feature of a house that
those without one usually have a
painted substitute, some being
made more realistic by the inclu
sion of the family wash, which is
generally hung to dry on such rail
ings.—Collier’s.
By burning 25% slower than
the average of the 15 other
of the largest-selling brands
tested—slower than any of
them—CAMELS give a smok
ing plus equal to
5
EXTRA SMOKES
PER PACK
N OW—impartial scientific labora
tory tests of 16 of the largest-
selling brands confirm Camel’s long
burning. Here is a quick summary of
the report recently completed by a
leading laboratory:
1 CAMELS were found to contain
MORE TOBACCO BY WEIGHT
than the average for the 15 other of
the largest-selling brands.
2 CAMELS BURNED SLOWER
THAN ANY OTHER BRAND
TESTED-25% SLOWER THAN
THE AVERAGE TIME OF THE 15
OTHER OF THE LARGEST-SELL
ING BRANDS! By bum-ng 25%
slower, on the average. Camels give
smokers the equivalent of 5 EXTRA
SMOKES PER PACK!
3 In the same tests, CAMELS HELD
THEIR ASH FAR LONGER than
the average time for all die other
brands.
Get cooler, milder, tastier smoking
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CAMELS
LONG-BURNING
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