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Working for Uncle Sam in Newfoundland

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Base Colonies in the Western Hemisphere, 1940–1967

Part of the book series: Studies of the Americas ((STAM))

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Abstract

Newfoundland’s close proximity to North Atlantic shipping lanes and to the Great Circle route used for transatlantic aviation made it of tremendous strategic value to the United States and Canada. The United States built four sprawling bases in Newfoundland: Fort Pepperrell on the outskirts of the city of St. John’s; a second army post, Fort McAndrew, across the Avalon Peninsula at Argentia; the U.S. Navy’s operating base, also at Argentia; and an Army air base, Harmon Field, on Newfoundland’s west coast at Stephenville. These four sites were joined by the Canadian Air and Navy bases also being built in Newfoundland and Labrador. At the height of the construction boom in 1942, fully 20,000 Newfoundlanders found steady employment on these foreign bases.1

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Notes

  1. Much of the scholarly attention, internationally, has focused on wartime factory workers and their unions, a tendency that has produced a decidedly urban and industrial bias. One exception is William R. Morrison and Kenneth A. Coates, Working the North: Labor and the Northwest Defense Projects, 1942–46 (Anchorage, AK: University of Alaska Press, 1994). Another is Gerald D. Nash, World War II and the West: Reshaping the Economy (Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 1990). Wartime conditions encouraged the labor force participation of independent commodity producers outside North America. For British Africa see Frederick Cooper, Decolonization and African Society: The Labour Question in French and British Africa (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996).

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  2. The report is cited in David Alexander, The Decay of Trade: An Economic History of the Newfoundland Saltfish Trade, 1935–1965 (St. John’s: ISER Books, 1977), 1.

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  3. Fully 80,684 people were on the dole in June 1939. William Earle Gillespie, A Class Act: An Illustrated History of the Labour Movement in Newfoundland and Labrador (St. John’s: Newfoundland Federation of Labour, 1986), 81.

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  4. Lt. Colonel Leon A. Fox, Medical Corps, “Sanitary Survey of Newfoundland,” March 29—April 8, 1941, File 721.5, “Sanitary Reports,” Box 19, RG 338: Newfoundland Base Command (U.S. Army). NARA. Tom Cahill has suggested that this poverty was “invented” by Confederates such as Joey Smallwood to justify union with Canada in 1949. See Tom Cahill, “The Poverty Myth,” in J.R. Thoms, ed., Fifty Golden Years: The Illustrated Story of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Union with Canada (St. John’s: Stirling Communications, 1999), 72–75. The “poverty myth” thesis is effectively challenged in James Overton, “Poverty Dependency and Self-Reliance: Politics, Newfoundland History and the Amulree Report of 1933,” in Garfield Fizzard, ed., Amulree’s Legacy: Truth, Lies and Consequences Symposium (St. John’s: Newfoundland Historical Society, 2001).

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  5. Peter Neary, Newfoundland in the North Atlantic World, 1929–1949 (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1996 [1988]), 9. Fishermenloggers and domestics are discussed in Ingrid Botting, “‘Getting a Grand Falls Job’: Migration, Labour Markets, and Paid Domestic Work in the Pulp and Paper Town of Grand Falls, Newfoundland, 1905–1939” (Ph.D. thesis, St. John’s: Memorial University, 2000) and John Dufferin Sutherland, “A Social History of Pulpwood Logging in Newfoundland during the Great Depression” (M.A. thesis, St. John’s: Memorial University, 1988).

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  6. This approach contrasted sharply to the one adopted in the woods sector early in the war where a tripartite Woods Board composed of industry, labor and government regulated wages. Had the labor reforms recommended by Thomas K. Liddell been implemented in 1940, the government might have adopted a similar approach to base workers. Thomas K. Liddell, Industrial Survey of Newfoundland (St. John’s: Telegram, 1940). As it stood, the bureaucratic capacity of the civil service—especially outside of St. John’s—was negligible. Newfoundland did not even have a labor officer unti11942. See James Overton, “Economic Crisis and the End of Democracy: Politics and Newfoundland during the Great Depression,” Labour/Le Travail 26 (Fall 1990), 121.

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  7. Both Canada and the United States also sought to maintain existing regional and occupational wage differentials, but how they went about achieving this differed. For its part, Canada adopted the wage standard of 1929, before the depression drove down wages. Judy Fudge and Eric Tucker, Labour before the Law: The Regulation of Workers’ Collective Action in Canada, 1900–1948 (Don Mills: University of Toronto Press, 2001), 229. The compulsory wage controls of October 1941, however, met with stiff resistance from organized labor. In the resulting compromise, the Canadian government accepted compulsory collective bargaining see, Cy Gonick, Paul Phillips, and Jesse Vorst, eds., Labour Gains, Labour Pains: Fifty Years of PC 1003 ( Winnipeg: Society for Socialist Studies, 1995); Peter S. McInnis, Harnessing Labour Confrontation: Shaping the Postwar Settlement in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002); Laurel Sefton MacDowell, “The Formation of the Canadian Industrial Relations System during World War Two,” Labour/Le Travail 3 (1978), 175–196; and Jeremy Webber, “The Malaise of Compulsory Conciliation: Strike Prevention in Canada during World War II,” Labour/Le Travail 15 (Spring 1985), 57–90. The United States in turn relied on a combination of state regulation and trade union cooperation (most notably the “no strike pledge” from the CIO) for its 1942 program to restrict wage increases. Robert H. Zieger, The CIO, 1935– 1955 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995); Nelson Lichtenstein, Labor’s War at Home: The CIO in World War II (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982). By contrast, Great Britain tolerated and supported wage increases for comparatively low waged miners, agricultural workers and railroad labour. Samuel D. Berger (Member of the Harriman Mission), “The Trade Unions and British War-Time Wage Policy,” July 8, 1942, File: “British Wage Rates,” Box 102, Isador Lubin Papers, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library.

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  8. Canadian high commissioner Scott Macdonald quoted in Peter Neary, “Canada and the Newfoundland Labour Market, 1939–1949,” Canadian Historical Review 62, 4(December 1981), 470–495.

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  9. Charles Burchell quoted in Malcolm MacLeod, Peace of the Continent (St. John’s: Harry Cuff Publications, 1986), 13.

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  10. “Excerpts from Report of 21 January 1942 from George D. Hopper, Consul General,” File: “Untitled,” Box 80, RG 338: Newfoundland Base Command, NARA.

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  11. Colonel Stanley W. Dziuban, Military Relations between the United States and Canada, 1939–1945 (Washington, DC: Center of Military History of the U.S. Army, 1959), 168–169. And Stetson Conn, Rose C. Engelman, and Byron Fairchild, The Western Hemisphere: Guarding the United States and Its Outposts (Washington, DC: Center of Military History of the U.S. Army, 1964), 383.

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  12. For an example of this tendency, see Peter Neary, Newfoundland in the North Atlantic, 185.

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  13. William E. Cole, Jr., “Annual Economic and Financial Review, Newfoundland 1942,” reprinted in Newfoundland Studies 8, 1 (1992), 70–71.

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  14. Outside of the Avalon Peninsula the comings and goings of Newfoundlanders can be tracked to some extent in the monthly general condition reports filed by Newfoundland Rangers. Boxes 1–4, Newfoundland Rangers, Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador (hereafter PANL).

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  15. The government considered limiting employment to those most in need, but the labor exchanges organized at Placentia and Marystown quickly broke down as men drifted to where the jobs were located. Although the Commission of Government toyed with the idea of a centrally organized scheme, nothing came of it. Commissioner of Natural Resources J. H. Gorvin to Secretary of Natural Resources, File: D26/21/2, “Argentia Acquisition of Bases Area Compensation,” January 31, 1941, GN 31/3A, PANL.

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  26. Newfoundland Governor Humphrey Walwyn is quoted as saying as much in Neary, Newfoundland in the North Atlantic World, 174.

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  27. Report of Ranger W.R.D. Bishop, Marystown, July 3, 1942, Box 3, Newfoundland Rangers, PANL.

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  29. George D. Hopper, “Monthly Economic and Financial Review for October 1943,” File 1943, Box 56, RG 84: St. John’s Consulate. General Records, 1936–1949. NARA.

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  30. Reports of Ranger I.S. Glendinning, Burin, June 30, 1941, Box 4, Newfoundland Rangers, PANL.

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  31. Report of Ranger D. Bishop, Marystown, April 30, 1941, Box 4, Newfoundland Rangers, PANL.

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  32. Humphrey Walwyn, Governor of Newfoundland to the Viscount Addison, Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, October 15, 1945, File 19: “US Effect of Agreement on Colonies,” Box 365, GN 13/1/B, PANL.

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  33. “Construction Program, Newfoundland Base Command,” April 2, 1942, File 600.12, “Projects,” Box 18, Newfoundland Base Command (hereafter NBC), NARA.

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  34. “How the Caribbean Met Its Economic Problems,” n.d., File A8–1 (d), “Caribbean Islands and the War,” Box 23, RG 43 Anglo-American Caribbean Commission, 1940–46, NARA.

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  35. The promise effectively extended the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931, wherein the U.S. Congress had required that federal contractors operating within the United States pay local prevailing rates for construction work, to the 99-year leased bases. John B. Gould and George Bittlingmayer, The Economics of the Davis-Bacon Act: An Analysis of Prevailing-Wage Laws (Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute, 1980).

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  36. The order read: “Wage rates for local labor will be established by the contracting officer, and will in general be the prevailing rates as established by the local Labor Board, or other corresponding agency.” Memorandum from Frank Knox, Navy Department, 28 January 1941, File: Colonial Office (hereafter CO) 971/2/1, Public Records Office (hereafter PRO), London, England.

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  37. A letter from Navy Secretary Knox to Lawrence Cramer is cited in “How the Caribbean Met its Caribbean Problems,” no date, File A8–1 (d) “Caribbean Islands and the War,” Box 23, RG 43 Anglo-American Caribbean Commission, 1940–46, NARA.

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  38. Extract from a House of Commons Report, July 2, 1941, Column 1339–40, File: Cabinet Records (hereafter CAB) 21/1913, “Committee on US Bases Policy,” PRO.

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  39. Minute from J. Hibbert, October 24, 1941, File: CO 971/2/2, “Parliamentary Question: Leases to the USA—Local Labour,” PRO.

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  40. Minute, October 25, 1941, File: CO 971/2/2, “Parliamentary Question: Leases to the USA—Local Labour,” PRO.

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  41. Confidential Biographical Data in Despatch 1096, March 8, 1941, File: St. John’s, Newfoundland, 1949, Box 5, RG 84: St. John’s Security-Segregated General Records, 1935–1949, NARA.

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  42. Woods was aware that the Davis-Bacon Act required government contractors to pay prevailing wages within the United States. Commissioner of Natural Resources J.H. Gorvin, Minute, January 17, 1941, File: D26/21/2, “Argentia Acquisition of Bases Area. Compensation,” GN 31/3A, PANL.

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  43. Quoted in a memorandum from Sir Wilfrid Woods to Commission of Government, “Memorandum regarding the Problem of Rates of Wages as It Affects the Canadian and United States Authorities Who Are or Will Be Carrying Out Large Works in This Country,” January 17, 1941, File: G39/3, “Rates of Pay in Relation to Work for Canadians and Americans,” Volume 1, GN 4/1/D, PANL.

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  44. The message was delivered. Canada’s Minister of Labour subsequently wrote the High Commissioner in St. John’s that it was the “wish of the Commission of Government in Newfoundland that prevailing wage rates and labour conditions throughout that country should not be unduly upset.” Norman McLarty to C.J. Burchell, October 23, 1941, File: 2857–40 part 1, Volume 8466, RG 25, National Archives of Canada (hereafter NAC).

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  45. Wilfrid Woods (via Secretary W.J. Carew) to Commission of Government, January 17, 1941, “Memorandum regarding the Problem of Rates of Wages as It Affects the Canadian and United States Authorities Who Are or Will Be Carrying Out Large Works in This Country,” File G39/3, “Rates of Pay in Relation to Work for Canadians and Americans,” Volume 1, GN 4/1/D, PANL.

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  46. “Newfoundland Economic Conditions,” Journal of International Economy (May 12, 1945).

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  47. Katherine Anne Ling, “‘Share of the Sacrifice’: Newfoundland Servicewives in the Second World War” (Ph.D. thesis, St. John’s: Memorial University, 2001), 83.

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  48. Other important occupational categories at the U.S. Army bases were carpenters and painters, clerical workers, and machine operators. Classification Report of Newfoundland Labour (as of October 1, 1942), Tabulated Summary of Newfoundand Nationals employed attached to a letter from H.G. Petersen, Major, Corps of Engineers to W. W. Woods, October 15, 1942, File: “Public Utilities—General, 1941–1942,” GN 38, S5–1-2, PANL.

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  49. “Labour Meeting and Wage Rates Are Discussed,” Daily News (February 20, 1941).

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  50. Laborer, “The Telegram Forum,” Evening Telegram (February 29, 1941).

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  52. “WJR” to Secretary of Public Works, Handwritten confirmation of the changes made to American wage schedule, 27 February 1941, File G/39/3, Volume 1, GN 4/1/D, PANL.

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  53. W.W. Woods, “Memorandum regarding the Minimum Rate for Common Labourers in Newfoundland,” April 29, 1941, File: G39/3, “Rates of Pay in Relation to Work for Canadians and Americans,” Volume 1, GN 4/1/D, PANL.

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  54. H.T. Renouf to Board of Trade President, “Confidential Report to the President regarding an Informal Visit to Argentia, June 30, 1941,” July 14, 1941, File 5, “Correspondence and Memorandums regarding US Bases in Newfoundland,” Board of Trade Collection, PANL.

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  55. George D. Hopper, American Consul General. “Political Developments during the Months of July and August, 1941,” September 9, 1941, File: 1941, Box 41, RG 84: St. John’s Consulate General. General Records, 1936–1949, NARA. Another strike at Fort McAndrew in October 1941 lasted one hour and involved 1,500 workers. Constable Leo Furey to Chief of Police, “Social and Economic Life at Argentia,” October 16, 1941, File: G/442, “Argentia Naval Base,” Volume 2 (March 1941-December 1941), GN 4/1/D, PANL.

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  56. Editorial quoted in “Monthly Economic and Financial Review,” 9 September 1941, File 1941: 310–628, Box 40, RG 84: St. John’s Newfoundland Consulate. General Records, 1936–1949, NARA.

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  73. The standard view is that the truck system “shamefully exploited resident fishermen” says historian Sean Cadigan. He and Rosemary Ommer have argued that this system developed as an accommodation between merchants and fishers in a cash-strapped economy. See Sean T. Cadigan, Hope and Deception in Conception Bay: Merchant Settler Relations in Newfoundland, 1785–1855 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995) and Rosemary Ommer, ed., Merchant Credit and Labour Strategies in Historical Perspective (Fredericton: Acadiensis Press, 1990).

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  80. In a press communiqué released on May 19, 1941, the Commission strongly urged fishermen to stay in their boats: “Fishermen and others who have no special knowledge, training or experience in these and other occupations should not abandon the fishery.” Quoted in “Press Communique: Work Limited for Unskilled Labour,” Evening Telegram (May 19, 1941).

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  85. The earlier draft of the warning included a third paragraph which read: “In view of this situation, the Commission of Government wish to urge that men normally employed in the fishery should not leave it for other occupations, and should make every effort to carry on so that they may be assured a livelihood in 1943.”

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© 2009 Steven High

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High, S. (2009). Working for Uncle Sam in Newfoundland. In: Base Colonies in the Western Hemisphere, 1940–1967. Studies of the Americas. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230618046_4

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