hearty lot of men they were, too, from Mr. Wilbur, the "old man," down to the waterboy. Singularly enough, logging seems to go by latitude. A large proportion of men in these winter camps are from Maine, Michigan, and Wisconsin,-Northern logging districts all, or else they are Swedes or Norwegians from the lumbering country of northern Europe, mostly young men, and unusually intelligent.

Sitting about the fire of an evening, one can find men with whom to discuss almost any subject under the sun, and with wit and intelligence, too: the poet who can repeat "The Lady of the Lake"; the man who knows Dickens to the last character; the inevitable Scotchman, with his Bobbie Burns; and one is certain of his fill of politics and religion. Rough fun and cards there are, too, in plenty; and on the Fourth and Christmas, wild hilarity and the reckless disposal of hard-earned dollars. The food is good and astonishingly abundant, yet not more astonishing than the appetites of the men who gather at the long tables.

At Tacoma I visited a sawmill said to have a greater capacity than any other in the United States, and, with one exception (in Norway), the greatest in the world. It is, in fact, two separate mills, covering a wide, low flat, with docks on the sound where ships can be loaded at the door of the yards. Here the logs from the camp which we visited are sawed. They are dumped from the railroad-cars into ponds of water and held until the mill is ready to cut them into lumber. Mr. Royce showed me through this great establishment, with its devices for handling the enormous logs of fir and cedar, hemlock and spruce, which come to it daily. Nearly every step in the long process is performed by some humanlike machine. Logs weighing many tons are handled like jack-straws, pulled out of the water, whirled over, lifted about, gripped, slabbed off, turned again easily, and, directed by the swift and sure judgment of the expert sawyer, driven through band-saws or great gang-saws, cutting twenty boards or more at once, and finally trimmed to certain lengths-everything moving at once, smoothly, with absolute exactitude. In fifteen minutes from the time the log enters the mill it has been reduced to lumber of several grades; the poor parts have been whittled up into lath

and shingles, the slabs have been shot out on a great pile for fire-wood, and the remaining bark, sawdust, and refuse have been carried away to the fire-heap. This mill cuts 100,000,000 feet of lumber and 90,000,000,000 shingles a year, and its product goes the world over-to Australia, Hawaii, China, South Africa, South America, and Europe.

Washington, Oregon, and California are now the chief sources of the world's supply for all timber of extraordinary size, length, and fine quality. I saw two single timbers a hundred and ten feet long, twenty-four inches square, weighing over eight tons each, loaded on a row of three flat-cars, ordered for the mines of Butte, Montana. The Pacific forests have supplied the masts for the great sailing-ships of Maine, a recent order being for a stick, clear and straight, one hundred and thirty-two feet long, five feet in circumference at the bottom, and three feet at the top. It required four flatcars to carry two such spars, and they could hardly be got around some of the curves and through the tunnels of the railroad lines over which they were shipped. These mills supplied the flooring, sixty-three feet long, clear lumber, for Emperor William's yacht, an order that could not have been filled outside of the Pacific forests.

And the supplies of timber in the Pacific Northwest seem all but inexhaustible. A large proportion of the States of Washington and Oregon and the northern and central parts of California are to-day densely forested. Though the figures are too great to convey much of an idea, Washington has 47,700 square miles (seventy-one per cent. of the area of the State) of forest, a considerable portion of which is merchantable lumber; and Oregon 54,300 square miles (fifty-seven per cent. of the area of the State). Four counties in Oregon have timber valued at (rough lumber prices) $578,000,000, or about four times the entire assessed valuation of the State. Washington has more lumber to-day than the combined States of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. One of the best lumber authorities of the Northwest told me that there is standing in Washington 200,000,000,000 feet of timber, - billion, be it understood,-red fir, hemlock, and cedar mostly; in Oregon, 225,000,000,000 feet, mostly red fir and yellow pine; in California, 200,000,000,000 feet, mostly redwood and

yellow pine. It has been estimated that cutting at the present rate may go forward for upward of one hundred and twenty years before the forests are exhausted. It is probable, however, that the rate of cutting will increase enormously within a very few years. The forests of the East are rapidly disappearing; population is everywhere growing, with a consequent increased demand for lumber, so that the United States must come to lean more and more heavily on the Pacific coast forests for its supplies. Indeed, the increase in the lumbering business of the Northwestern States has been phenomenal. Twenty years ago the Oregon product was worth $2,000,000. In 1900 it was five times as much-over $10,000,000. In the same time Washington's product showed even a more extraordinary expansion, leaping from $1,734,000 to over $30,000,000, while California rose from $8,794,000 to $13,764,000. About one fourteenth of all the lumber of the United States now comes from Washington and Oregon.

But the forests of these States will not all be sacrificed to the logger and lumberman, fortunately. Some remnants of the great Pacific wood will be saved for future generations. During the last few years the United States government, pursuing a policy new in its history, has stepped in and set aside vast areas of forest lands along the summits of the Cascade Mountains in both Washington and Oregon, and west of Puget Sound in the former State. The chief purpose of the reserves is to protect the head-waters of the various

rivers, which now play such an important part in the irrigation development of the arid regions east of the coastal mountains. A broad strip of these forest preserves from twenty to a hundred miles wide extends almost continuously from the Canadian boundary southward nearly to the line of California, a distance of some five hundred miles, embracing, with the great reserve west of Puget Sound, a seventh of the entire area of Washington and over a thirteenth part of Oregon-a vast park for the people forever. Most of this land is now well wooded, little of it, however, with the best timber, and no cutting is at present allowed. In the future, when the better, privately owned forests are stripped, these great reserves, carefully logged under governmental supervision, only the mature trees being sacrificed, will supply immense quantities of valuable lumber without injuring the forest in the least as a waterconservator or as a park wilderness. These reserves are protected by rangers, who attempt not only to prevent timber-cutting and the invasion of sheep, but do their best to check the spread of forest fires, a nearly impossible task. Never has the United States government exercised more wisdom and forethought than in the reservation of these timber-lands, although as yet they are very insufficiently patrolled and protected. And it is to be hoped that the area of the reserves will be constantly extended; for it is only by this means that the country can be saved from deforestation, and the waters so much needed in the irrigation country conserved and protected.

IVE hundred Iowa farmers, chafing under the restraints of virtual monopolies, have gone into business for themselves, dealing in many staple articles used upon the farm, and buying all kinds of farm produce. In 1901 they transacted business to the amount of $620,000, at an outlay of about $4000, inclusive of salaries, taxes, and insurance. In 1902 the volume of business was approximately $630,000. Since these farmers organized their company thirteen years ago the business transacted has amounted to over $4,000,000, and the expense of carrying it on has averaged $3000 a year.

The company was not organized to demonstrate any economic theories, to make a fight upon capital, or to vent spite upon individuals, although the immediate cause of the organization was the persistent refusal of the chief tradesman in their vicinity to sell them goods and buy their produce at fair rates. Below this immediate cause was a deep-rooted conviction that as a class the farmers were not being fairly treated.

These men had been successful farmers in one of the richest agricultural regions on the continent. If they could be successful farmers in a day when it is difficult for the farmer to succeed, then why not, they argued, become successful business men?

Their only contention was to have an opportunity, unhampered by monopolies or trusts, to buy in the lowest and sell in the highest market. In carrying on their

business they have met with powerful opposition. They have had sharp encounters with the railroad and certain combinations, yet they have won against all opposition by force of honesty, common sense, and pluck.

If a railroad or grain-elevator official comes into their little town, the center of their farming community, where they have established a grain-elevator and cattleyards, and threatens to place an agent in their town to outbid them unless they cease buying in opposition to the "legitimate" traders, they answer: "Come, and welcome. If you can pay our members more for their produce than our company can, so much the better for us." If the representative of a farm-implement dealers' association threatens boycott, threatens to prevent any one of the companies of the association or trust from selling machinery to the members of the farmers' company, the manager rejoins: "Very well; we will try to compel you to sell to us; failing in that, we will try to buy in the open market; failing in that, we will begin the manufacture of machinery ourselves."

In spite of harsh, merciless opposition, although less than $100,000 worth of business was transacted the first year, they never faltered.

The company is unique among organizations of the people. It is not coöperative, as the long lines of industry which stretch out from the home of modern coöperation in the English town of Rochdale are cooperative. It is not communal in any sense, like the Amana, the Oneida, and similar societies. It is not held together by any political, religious, or sociological tie. Its only bond is that which maintains every

successful business organization in the world. These farmers have turned business men, and they have been so extraordinarily successful that they stand ready to become manufacturers whenever they find that they cannot buy in a fair market. It appears to be the first commanding proof that the common people in country place or town or city have in themselves the power to apply a remedy to the diseases of such trusts or combinations of capital as are inimical to the welfare of the general public.

It is worthy the attention of the student of present-day problems, as well as of the investor, that, in this day of enormous inflation of capital stock, the business of these Iowa farmers, running now well on to $1,000,000 a year, has been conducted on a capital never larger than $25,000. Still more significant, it requires the assent of two thirds of the five hundred members of the firm before any money may be borrowed, and no more than $5000 may be borrowed at any one time. At no time may the total indebtedness of the firm rise above $5000. The by-laws of the company's articles of incorporation provide that no share holder shall sign any bond, or sign, indorse, or guarantee any note, bill, draft, or contract, or in any way assume any liability, verbal or written, for the benefit or security of any person, without the written consent of a majority of the directors. The by-laws also provide that none of the funds of the company shall be loaned to any person.

It should be noted, in considering this latter provision, that no funds accumulate beyond a few thousand dollars used in the transaction of business. The reason for this is that there are no profits. The farmer receives cash for his produce at the highest market price; he buys his supplies at the lowest wholesale price, plus four per cent. added to cover expenses.

Some of the features of this business firm of farmers are so simple as to seem almost childish, but they are powerful because of this very simplicity.

No man may become a member of the firm, or company, unless he is actually a practical farmer, and the by-laws define a practical farmer to be one "who makes his living by farming, or one who has retired from his farm and is not engaged in any other business that will conflict in any way with the business carried on by the com

pany." If a majority of the shareholders so vote, a man who is not a practical farmer may become a member, but he may never hold office, and he may be expelled at any time by a majority vote of the stockholders. Any practical farmer may become a member by buying one share, at a cost of $10. He cannot buy more than ten.

The company does not come into competition with the retail dealers of small articles, but buys agricultural machinery, fence wire, salt, flour, fuel, and other bulky articles. The agent of the company buys at the lowest wholesale rates large quantities of the materials needed, selling these in turn to the farmers at cost, plus the small percentage noted. From the farmers he buys cattle, hogs, sheep, oats, and corn, paying year in and year out higher prices than are paid in other towns in the State. As he is the agent of the company, the curious fact appears that the members through him buy of themselves and sell to themselves. Others than members of the company may buy of the agent, but not at the same figures as those granted to members.

Once each year, in the month of March, the company holds a general meeting, during which reports are made. There is but little actual business to transact, however, for the members of the firm have been transacting the business day by day all through the year. There is no large sum of accumulated profits to administer, no surplus to tempt to peculation. There are no profits in the business save the profits which accrue to each individual farmer month by month as he buys his necessities at wholesale and sells his products at figures uniformly higher than the surrounding markets. Mark the fact, too, that it is not a trust; that it is not for the segregation of profits, but for their distribution; that it does not stifle competition, but stimulates it.

The following statement of the business transacted in a single year by the company gives a concrete illustration of the scope and character of the enterprise. The agent handled for the company: oats, 540,310 bushels; corn, 220,700 bushels; barley, 56,335 bushels; wheat and rye, 7810 bushels; flax, 7635 bushels; timothy-seed, 2450 bushels; coal, 3165 tons; salt, 912 barrels; flour, 5130 sacks; oil-cake meal, 46,000 pounds; binding-twine, 50, 100 pounds; barbed wire and nails, 51,900 pounds; mill feed, 145,000 pounds; lubricating-oils, 19 barrels;

linseed-oil, 18 barrels; lumber, 965,000 feet; lath, 90,000; shingles, 757,000; grainsacks, 1700; posts, 12,540; paint in value, $542; machinery, $2422; sash and doors, $1250; a total of $624,251 for the year.

The five hundred members of this company are worth about five million dollars, not an insignificant sum to fall back upon in case of a protracted fight with a monopoly. The farmers are located in four contiguous townships embracing about ten square miles of territory. The farms average one hundred and sixty acres in size. As information showing the success of these farmers has slowly spread from farm to farm across adjoining States, other farmers are organizing similar companies. Naturally, no such company will succeed, even with all the fine faith and honesty and pluck of these Rockwell farmers, unless the manager of the firm be a man of strict integrity and sound business principles; neither will a steel trust or a railroad corporation or a dry-goods establishment succeed without proper direction.

When the company was organized, the town to which they went to do their trading was a small place, having two or three hundred inhabitants. As soon as the company was established in business, the town began to increase in size, until it now has

over a thousand inhabitants, with nothing whatever in the line of manufacturing or the like to help it. The inhabitants are mainly German, Scotch, and Irish in origin. The town is supplied with nearly all the modern public utilities. It is admirably lighted, and has adequate waterworks, telephone system, etc. There are excellent public and church schools, and the various religious denominations have comfortable houses of worship. More than half of the population of the town is composed of retired farmers, many of them members of the company who have leased their farms to others and have moved into town to live. They have built pleasant modern town houses out of their surplus means. They not only have the staple necessities of life, but not a few of its minor luxuries as well.

This firm of farmers is carrying on what appears to be a significant pioneer work in a field where some vital tests are going to be made before the present decade ends. Their success under a heavy burden of opposition should appeal to that vast body of Americans, the common people, upon whom the burden of monopoly falls heaviest. They are of all people on earth the most patient, and sometimes the most deplorably apathetic, but, when once aroused, sweep everything before them.