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Are Loggers Fools?

Submitted by stevenl on Sat, 06/02/2007 - 9:02am.

The following article is transcribed here from the Western Independent, v. 3, no 9 (June 1905). This bit ran in a series of columns called "Little Preachments and Editorials From a Contrary Pen." This monthly publication was issued by Olympia's short-lived People's University . Spelling is transcribed as found:

Are Loggers Fools
What Is the Meaning of a Three Days' Celebration in Olympia?

Either the loggers are fools, and some of the business men mercinary to a corrupt extreme, or many of us fail to understand the patriotic spirit that demands a three or four days' celebration. The Fourth of July is the day and the only day that patriotic citizens, who are not influenced by mercinary principles, wish to celebrate as our national birthday, and the beginning of a new order of things in human government.

It is only in the West that the patriotic occasion is debauched by favoring those who wish to get money from the loggers who patronize the saloons. It looks as if Olympia's celebrations can justly be called a "saloon celebration," rather than a day commemorating the passing of Richard Henry Lee's famous resolution, which declared the United States to be "free and independent states."

We believe in celebrating the Fourth of July, and in celebrating it the old fashioned way, in manner outlined by John Adams when he wrote to his patriotic wife, and made his famous prophecy. He wrote: "This day will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to Almighty God. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of the continent to the other from this time forward, forevermore."

Let's have the right kind of a one day's celebration or none at all. The "saloon celebration" is disgusting, stretched out as it is over a period of three of [i.e. or] four days that the loggers, poor fools, may spend their hard earned money for nothing better than beer. There are some lumbermen with a degree of pride, who will not bite like suckers. But those too weak to withstand the temptations offered, will in the course of a three or four days' celebration exchange their checks for drinks. To be sure they would do a part of this in a one day's celebration, with the saloons wide open contrary to law, as they doubtless will be, but let's cut out the mercinary plotting and planning to help them get drunk.

stevenl's blog
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More hate from the tolerant, diverse left.

Submitted by Independent Voter (not verified) on Sun, 06/03/2007 - 5:56am.

I will side with the timber industry and the "loggers", rather than those who teach our children to be lazy welfare recipients.

This is just more hate from the leftists. I expect I will be banned here just like I was at the Olynpian blogs, for speaking and supporting the truth.

Nobody hates like the tolerant, diverse left.

"Whoever undertakes to set

Submitted by Meta Hogan on Sun, 06/03/2007 - 8:23am.

"Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods." -Albert Einstein You might try inviting a two-way conversation, rather than just being rude and expecting to be banned.

I don't want IV banned

Submitted by Crenshaw Sepulveda on Sun, 06/03/2007 - 9:26am.

I want IV to tell me, exactly, where I can find these people that will teach me to be a lazy welfare recipient. I really wasn't aware that one needed any particular skills to be a lazy welfare recipient, but I could be wrong on this one and would like to learn.

"I would make it impossible for the covetous and avaricious to utterly impoverish the poor. The rich can take care of themselves."
^@^

Me too

Submitted by Sarah on Sun, 06/03/2007 - 9:34am.

(I love this comment of Crenshaw's. Sign me up.)

19 0 5

Submitted by Sarah on Sun, 06/03/2007 - 9:32am.

Hey, wait a minute, slow down here. Have a cup of coffee and relax. Take your time, do some more reading, learn more about these voices and community members. You might very well be pleasantly surprised.

Fine with me if you don't like something, but remember, the original post is a historical transcription, check the date out.

We are not a monolithic single dogmatic voice. Join in. Enjoy.

Apology, please

Submitted by stevenl on Sun, 06/03/2007 - 9:47am.

Normally I wouldn't do this, but IV's post is so toxic and offensive to me personally that I am asking for an apology. IV is making some broad and totally inaccurate assumptions about my politics, how I get my income, or my motives in providing this historical post.

The Lady Doth Protest Too Much

Submitted by Phil Owen on Sun, 06/03/2007 - 2:10pm.

My understanding is that you were banned from the Olympian comments for breaking their rules. Plain and simple. Yet you blame the consequences of your behavior on the "tolerant, diverse left".

Your vitriol against the Left, particularly your accusations and rants about leftists sowing irresponsibility in the minds of the poor, is a thin veneer covering that fact that you, sir, have no sense of personal responsibility.

I have no doubt that if you do not buck up and show some decency, respect, and intellectual responsibility in your statements, you will indeed be banned from this site as well. You will have nobody but yourself to blame.

The Canaanite's Call

speaking for the tolerant, diverse left

Submitted by Crenshaw Sepulveda on Sun, 06/03/2007 - 9:57am.

We do not hate. There are things we frown upon, somethings we take a dim view of, but hate is such a strong word, if the tolerant, diverse left were to hate something it would be ignorant speech. I'd say more but I have to run off to a new class I'm attending on how to be a lazy welfare recipient Well, mabe not run, I am pretty lazy and running is an effort. I have to shuffle along to my class on how to be a lazy welfare recipient.

"I would make it impossible for the covetous and avaricious to utterly impoverish the poor. The rich can take care of themselves."
^@^

Festival

Submitted by Scott Haley on Sun, 06/03/2007 - 10:03am.

I'm part way through The Making of Victorian Values by Ben Wilson, and in that book he writes about people who did a lot of drunken partying because their jobs were so hard, and so they spent the money from their hard jobs as fast as it came in, and never got ahead. I think the point that the writer of this piece from 1905 was trying to make is that the community should not actively aid and encourage the loggers drinking their whole salary. They could do that if they wanted to without the town promoting it.

The quote from John Adams is silly. He wrote about a "festival" celebrated with "solemn acts of devotion to Almighty God." A solemn festival? I think that's an oxymoron.

--Scott

Sheesh, transcribe something

Submitted by Merwyn Haskett on Sun, 06/03/2007 - 12:50pm.

Sheesh, transcribe something that's 102 years old and get blasted. The article wasn't even about hugging trees.

Unless Independent Voter feels it's a working man's right to get publicly shit-faced with all his wages while the rest of the family starves.

Thanks Steven

Submitted by Norm on Sun, 06/03/2007 - 1:05pm.

It was an interesting read. I remember growing up in the Raymond area and frequently going to Aberdeen as well and being amazed by how many bars there were. When I would ask my family about them they always said, "Oh this is nothing, you should have seen all of them when I was little!". There are still many bars in these two towns, Shelton as well, and it's a little sad when this is what so many people spend their money on. The fact that so many establishments are still around does not speak well to our money-spending priorities or how far we've come with recognizing alcoholism as a disease.

My dad was professionally

Submitted by Merwyn Haskett on Sun, 06/03/2007 - 1:12pm.

My dad was professionally acquainted with a police woman in the Raymond area. She was unskilled and had three kids when her husband ran out on her. She put herself through the academy and got hired so that she wouldn't have to be on welfare.

People in the community, including her family, threw a fit because "she should have stayed on welfare" due to "her place being in the home with the kids". When her husband left she immediately "should have found another man"

That is the most blatent example of false advertising since my suit against the movie The NeverEnding Story
Lionel Hutz

Top Notch

Submitted by stevenl on Sun, 06/03/2007 - 4:01pm.

The Top Notch Tavern in Raymond was originally opened by my great-uncle, who had been a moonshiner and bootlegger supreme in earlier years. I believe he died in his 50s of a heart attack during his trial for murder when he beat a business associate to death with a chair in Aberdeen. Alcohol was involved, I'm sure. That is one of the milder stories about my family in Raymond.

Good times!

Submitted by Norm on Sun, 06/03/2007 - 4:15pm.

I've knocked a few back at the top notch. Sang my first karaoke song at the top notch....Sawyer Brown.....this was of course after a few beers to work up my courage.

That's an interesting story. I bet my Dad knew him, what was his name if you don't mind my asking? He's been in Raymond for all of his 56 or 57 years.

Loggers are certainly not fools..

Submitted by bubba z (not verified) on Sun, 06/03/2007 - 1:21pm.

I know a bunch of very cool loggers. You can learn alot about both the good and bad things in that industry from talking with them. My father in law was a logger for many years, he has all kinds of stories...Most of them hunt and fish as well and respect the natural environment. The problems with the logging industry isnt the loggers, its the practices and interests of the logging corporations as primarily profit driven entitites. Id like to close with our current favorite musicians in rotation at our home: The Naselle High School Marimba Band!

Wow Naselle!

Submitted by Norm on Sun, 06/03/2007 - 3:29pm.

I spent a few years there, that's where I learned to play trombone. I wonder if Mr. Mancini still teaches band.

The Naselle HS Marimba Band rocks..

Submitted by bubba z (not verified) on Sun, 06/03/2007 - 3:37pm.

The Naselle High School Marimba Band rocks..

They play all over the state and are a very good ensemble..

Both parties. actually

Submitted by Independent Voter (not verified) on Sun, 06/03/2007 - 1:36pm.

Both parties have done their share to teach kids to be lazy. The D's have had more success with banning kids from working and raising the minimum wage to the point that entry level jobs don't exist for kids. I picked strawberries every summer, hauled hay, cleaned barns, mowed lawns etc, etc.

Ask a kid to do any of those jobs now and you are in violation of "child labor" laws.

IV, you failed

Submitted by stevenl on Sun, 06/03/2007 - 3:22pm.

You failed to address my comment. And since your original comment was so beyond the pale, I'll repost my request:

jobs & child labor

Submitted by chad360 on Sun, 06/03/2007 - 8:37pm.

Dude, you are whacked!

I find your rhetoric offensive as well.

So you worked when you were young >big deal< ...alot of folks have--

You have stereotypical assumptions that really undermine your "points".

I work with kids all the time and they rock!...the majority are well-adjusted and have a great work -ethic.

I'm still trying to figure

Submitted by OperaGirl on Mon, 06/04/2007 - 9:54am.

I'm still trying to figure out how 'article from 1905 on loggers and the 4th of July = leftist hate and teaching people to be on welfare'?

Maybe it's contagious

Submitted by Norm on Mon, 06/04/2007 - 10:16am.

cause y'know, I STILL don't see anything coming out of those lady parts. I have no idea how that happend.

This jump of subjects makes less sense than that though I suppose, don'tcha think?

I've been stretching to

Submitted by Merwyn Haskett on Mon, 06/04/2007 - 10:29am.

I've been stretching to figure it out:

While welfare isn't exclusive to economically-depressed rural places I've known or otherwise been acquainted with numerous women who stayed on welfare after their men left them and the kids. Most of the ones I knew in Mason, Grays Harbor and Pacific counties were expected to get on and stay on, until such time as they could find another man.

Two of them, unfortunately, were the type to actually plan ahead on how getting knocked up might increase their benefits and/or the length of eligibility. This, of course, was with the blessing of their families.

I mentioned elsewhere an acquaintance who was practically disowned by her family for daring to put herself through the police academy and get hired. I suppose she was keeping a deserving male unemployed, plus was "not being a good mother"

Now obviously not everybody in those counties thinks that way. Not every Conservative or Traditionalist, not every Logger, not every Republican. Obviously there's welfare and welfare fraud in the cities and among Dem/Libs. And most obviously there are people who truly use welfare assistance as it was intended: to help them get back on their feet. Yet my accurate portrayal of three specific people and particularly their immediate families might be construed as Leftist Hate.

That is, hate against the families for having Moral Values. The Accuser will most likely agree with my assessment of "all welfare moms"

I wonder if telling a working blue-collar family man how to spend his money, especially in conjunction with July 4th, is Leftist. In other words let him drink it away.

I disagree with the

Submitted by Independent Voter (not verified) on Mon, 06/04/2007 - 9:42pm.

I disagree with the tolerant, diverse left, therefore I hate.

Glad you folks cleared that one up for me.

Hey, Don't be a Hater

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Tue, 06/05/2007 - 2:16am.

You're free to disagree. But hateful commentary isn't helpful to anyone and it isn't welcome here, from anyone.

I would like to see the substance in your argument. I think Steven expressed that he was hurt by your comment. Were you intending to hurt him?

In the Course of Events

Third time's a charm

Submitted by stevenl on Tue, 06/05/2007 - 6:53am.

IV, you failed to address my comment. And since your original comment was so beyond the pale, I'll repost my request:

You can hate all you want, but when you do I don't want you in my blog.

If I were a Teacher

Submitted by Crenshaw Sepulveda on Mon, 06/04/2007 - 10:45pm.

It is probably a good thing that I'm not a teacher, but let us say for the sake of argument I am a teacher. I'm a teacher in the public schools. I depend on taxes collected by the government to pay my salary (which, by the way, is way too low given the responsibility I have and the work I have to do in undoing a lot of bad parenting). Now I know that teachers do not get a lot of credit in our society but grant me this much, I am not going to teach kids how to become lazy welfare recipients because they would not pay enough in taxes to keep me or my colleagues employed for very wrong. It would be my goal to produce as many tax payers as possible to ensure a steady flow of paychecks for me along with a comfortable retirement. Trust me when I say this, there are no teachers teaching kids to become lazy welfare recipients. It doesn't make sense and it is not in our best interest. Next week on "Oly Myth Busters" we will bust the myth of the "welfare Queen"

"I would make it impossible for the covetous and avaricious to utterly impoverish the poor. The rich can take care of themselves."
^@^

I'm waiting

Submitted by Norm on Mon, 06/04/2007 - 11:04pm.

...anxiously I might add, about your "theory" on "welfare queens"

Thanks Steven

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Tue, 06/05/2007 - 2:19am.

Great post.

Digging a hole, and found dirt...

Submitted by Anonymously Larry on Sat, 06/16/2007 - 10:21am.

Sorry, folks, to even resurface some of these posts by adding to the list, but I can't help myself.

I'd like to set the record straight on IV's "banning" (at least from what I saw) and I'll add to the record by admitting to my error.

IV, on a daily basis for weeks on end, found a need to post negative messages about homosexuals and at the same time pondering the possibilities of a protestor getting raped in jail. Not only did this get him banned, but The Olympian tightened the screws, so to speak, on their "rules".

I believe in rules right along with the next person and if I'm wrong, I promptly admit it (if that statement sounds familiar, yes....it is one of the 12 Steps). I tolerated a substantial amount of attacks, trying to laugh many off as just good natured jesting, but eventually (when someone posted that I might be dead because I hadn't posted last Friday, on the day of the unfortunate suicide, which was near my office), I had enough and retaliated, Rather stupid of me, as there were people just waiting for that opportunity to make a major bitch with The Olympian for purposes of silencing me. Before I go any further, I want to contend that is a MINORITY of posters, as I think most of them are quite nice and I enjoyed our jousting.

The great part about all of this is it broke my dependence on that discussion board and I found olyblog, which in my opinion, is self managed and offers more than the other.

Every cloud has a silver lining.

My first ex-wife's first

Submitted by Merwyn Haskett on Sat, 06/16/2007 - 10:50am.

My first ex-wife's first ex-husband and I had mutual restraining orders against each other one year. He was restrained because he had filed false charges against me (why he was never hit with perjury charges I'll never get, but the various judges did at least dressed him down.) I was restrained from him for a year because I called him a Son of a Bitch in front of a cop.

(That same cop would be in the papers after he was fired that same year when it was found out he lied about being an American citizen. God Bless Shelton.)

Ain't divorces grand???

Submitted by Anonymously Larry on Sat, 06/16/2007 - 11:14am.

My ex-wife up and left the state, left me holding the bag on all our debts, took a fraudulent credit card and rented a car that was supposed to be a local rental. I began to sell off some pretty nice furniture and appliance to pay off debts she left me. She returned, got an attorney who told her to file a restraining order against me, to get me out of the house so that she could get in and take what she wanted. She perjured herself to get the order (which was later thrown out of court).

Like the saying goes, my wife left with my dog.....I sure do miss that dog.

Anonymously Larry No Longer Muted

Rod Stewart says next time

Submitted by Merwyn Haskett on Sat, 06/16/2007 - 11:26am.

Rod Stewart says next time he feels like getting married he'll just find a woman he can't stand and buy her a house.

Oh My

Submitted by Norm on Sat, 06/16/2007 - 5:58pm.

I have to admit, that is one of the best quotes I've ever read.

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