among the miners and lumberjacks of Oregon the influence of Haywood's organization was soon paramount. In 1907 that part of the state's lumber industry centering about Portland was paralyzed by the greatest strike in its history. The walk-out was brief, and although no recognition was gained, strikers pointed to increased wages and improved working conditions as results of the dispute.
The I. W. W. remained a power in the lumber industry until war measures in 1917, gave to its members all they were fighting for, including the eight-hour day, better sanitation and working conditions, and beds provided by operators so no man would have to carry his blankets on his back in order to obtain a job. With its objectives gone, the organization lost its militancy and dwindled. However, it came back again after the Armistice, when the threat of lowered wages and the return of the longer working day again menaced. Lumber and logging operators, with the aid of the 4-L, first a war-measure organization and later a "Company Union," made strenuous war on the I. W. W., which in 1919 retaliated with a general strike. This was unsuccessful, and after much violence and bloodshed, and sharp division of sentiment among the lumber workers, the I. W. W. gradually lost footing.
The 4-L—the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen—was formed by the Federal Government through the War Board to do away with unrest and dissatisfaction in the lumber industry of the Pacific Coast, and thus to speed up the production to meet war-time needs. Barring nobody because of previous affiliations, it was organized in the summer of 1917 and soon included all persons in any manner engaged in camps or sawmills. As long as the government ran the 4.L, peace was maintained between the workers and their employers. After the end of the war, however, most of the loggers as well as many of the sawmill workers dropped from the rolls. Members who remained belonged to the better paid categories among the lumber workers. After 1919 the Loyal Legion never possessed the confidence or support of the great mass of workers, and is regarded by many as having taken on the character of a "company union". The 4.L continued to function in some sort of manner until, pressed by changing labor conditions, it reorganized under the name of the Industrial Employees Union, with an influence largely confined to the pine-producing districts.
In recent years only two major strikes have taken place in Oregon — the International Longshoremen's Association strike in 1934, for better conditions, and that of the Sawmill and Timber Workers' Union, in 1934-35. They were settled by the aid of Federal arbitration. Both dis
