Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-01-31

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fast. We are living in a highly oxygenatg
ed atmosphere, and though the sensation
may be pleasant as long as IL lasts. the com,
sumption of fuel is much too rapid, and.
must be folLOloed by reaction. 1t may be that
warning win be vain, and that wisdom
will, as Of old, cry aloud In the streetsgnoD
man regarding but it cannot be the part of
a patriot to abstain from uttering a Caution,
still less to flatter with vain hopes those
who are rushing along unthinking Of the
issue. H hrf fVs EDng la4I2 sE,y7G,law
lFrom the N. Y. Evening Post, Republican lf
How 10 ImpOverish AmerIcanH Me-
.rI % chanics. i2nldsEH h1frh
The proteetionists in Congress refuse,it
seems, to arrange a new recipTocity treaty
with Canada, They will not suffer, they,
say, the competition Of ths Canadians,
This means that they will close the Cana~
dian market against our products on the,
one hand, and deprive Americans of the
right to buy eheaply the products of Can
ada, on the other. ''"' -
One instance will show how this Chinese
policy is likely to affect American work..
ingmen. If this protectioDist scheme sue-l
ceeds, Canada lumber will, after, the 10Th
of next March, be burdened with duty of
thirty per cent. dd Udlofent. The fret re-9
suit of this will be to raise the price Of
American lumber by that much--ifor hold
ers of lumber here will not, of course, sell
for less than 1t can be imported for. '' ''i
This means simply thatall buildings and
furniture In which wood is used will cost
after next May about fifty per cent. more,
than they cost now; for experience shows,
that every seller adds little to his charges
on the strength of an added tax. Now 6np
whom does this burden fall !? On the rich r.
Not at all; they build of brick, or stone, or,
iron. But 1t will fall with crushing
weight on the industrious poor, On the
thrifty mechanic or farmer, who expects
to build himself little frame cottage, a
home for his wife and children. To all,
this great multitude, the heart of the
American people, the bone and sinew Of
the land. Congress says, with heartless
grimace: 1--WE grind you to the dust; we
will deprive you of your humble. homes:
we, the representatives of the Apprican
people-no, not that: We, he protectors of
the american lumber intereSt-will so shape
the laws, that while the owners of the
pineries shall put thirty per cent. addition,
al profits in their pockets, you, Wretched
farmers and mechanics, shall paw hence
forth seven hundred and fifty dollars for a
house which but for us you might have
built for five hundred, and fifteen hundred
for one which but for our laws would have
COSJ you only one thousand. Do. .. ' l.'
To the thousands of industrious hard
working mechanics and clerks, who every
year build themselves neat frame cottages
in the suburbs of our great cities, Com
gress will say: Back to the filthy tene-j
ments, back to the unwholesome and over;
crowded city streets--we, the protectors of
the lumber interest, will not let You live
cleanly and comfortably. we will not suffer
| your children to grow up in pure air and
with healthful surroundings. We insist
that our patrons shall gain thirty per
cent. additional profits at your expense.
| Nor is this all. Seven-eighths Of the
lumber which comes into market la the
eastern States comes from Canada. Our
eastern forests are greatly denuded: our
western pineries do not even supply the
western demand. OF the immense dlanti-
| ty OF Canadian lumber which now comes
| here, part is consumed in the building of
cheap houses for mechanics, farmers, clerks,
&C., part is manufactured here, for export
to all parts Of the world. This last gives
work to great number of skillful Ameri-
can workmen, it gives comfortable sup5
port to their families, it enables them to
educate their Children 10 be intelligent and
useful citizens. ll Hia 'f0Il
70 But on the 10th of next'March all this
will disappear. Already this vast industry
feels the palsying hand of death; the. re-
lentless grip OF the protectionist is upon it;
in few weeks it will cease to be. For,
with thirty per cent. duty upon Canadian
lumber, and thirty per cent. profit added
on American, the foreigners who have hith-
erto drawn upon us for all kinds of 'sfinish-
| ed" lumber, must go to Canada. Already
our merchants engaged ip this business
have received notice that hereafter this
trade will be carried on with Canada direct.
"We can afford to pay higher wages to
| Canadian mechanics rather than pav the
enormous tariff dues your GoVernment inn
poses, write their foreign correspondents.
Thus with one act Congress deals blow
at the independence of American workinSI
men, and saps the prosperity of one of our
most useful branches of industry. And
what for! Is production cheapened? Is
consumption increased Is the general
welfare benefitedP On the contrary, every
interest is injured-except that of the ownr
ers of pineries, of whom the Detroit Board
Of Trade last year said in an official report:
"lt is well known that the pineries of the
great West are being rapidly taken up by
large capitalists, and that in few years
monopolists will hold the most of these
lands. This result will leave the. consumer
at the mercy of these great landholders,
who would then control the price of lumber,
and hold it at such rate as would greatly
retard the building and improving of our
cities, towns and villages, aud weigh heavily
on our farming interests. We therefore con-
slider it fortunate thingfor the people ofthe
great West that we have thepriviIege 0fthe
Canadian lumber market to keep in check
the desire of our own dealers in that article
| to raise 1t to an unreasonable price. Cheap
lumber is commodity Of indispensable me-
cessity with u.s." % hna 11siW79dj0 II
| House, bnildinOr fnr the industr;ali ,,lasaaa