The LLLL
Published 2:04 pm Monday, March 24, 2014
When the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) slowed production of spruce in the logging camps with a strike and then a work slowdown causing a shortage of spruce for airplanes in 1917, Colonel Brice P. Disque decided to try to resolve the situation. Disque proposed a government-sponsored company union, to be known as the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen (LLLL), or the 4Ls.
All parties pledged to “support this country against enemies, both foreign and domestic.” In Disque’s mind, the domestic enemy was the I.W.W. The new group met with disapproval from both sides of the labor-management spectrum, but within six months Colonel Disque had almost all the owners and over 100,000 woods workers joining the Legion.
Still there were not enough workers in the woods, and with the United States entering World War I, more spruce was needed for airplane production. So Colonel Disque organized the Spruce Production Division in November 1917.
The division was transferred to the Bureau of Aircraft Production in May 1918. This military division was part of the Army Signal Corps and its soldiers were assigned to cutting spruce and bringing the logs to the mills.
Many of the “soldier loggers” had no experience in the woods or any other type of hard, physical labor. However, they worked hard and spruce production increased to adequate levels.
The Spruce Production Division was demobilized on Aug. 31, 1919. The 4Ls died out in the Great Depression and the New Deal era of President Roosevelt.
