The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1883-01-14
ANTLPROTECTIKE DnTLES.

Among the features of our present tariff
which can neither be justified by an appeal
to the principle ofprotection nor in any
other way is the duty on lumber which is
practically prohibitory. Lumber is raw
material, and ought for that reason to be on
the free list, But as the preservation of our
forests is a higher national interest than any
mere manufacture, the duty on lumber,
which absolutely puts a premium on the de-
struction Of our forests, is about as atrocious
an example of taxing the many for the bene-
fit of few monopolists as has ever been at
tempted .smuch less carried on for many
years. The New York Erenipg Post illus
trates one of the odious features of the duty
on lumber as follows
The mills situated on Puget Sound supply, with the
exception Of the redwood largo proportion Of the
lumber consumed In the Pacific States. These mills
are largely owned by san Francisco capitalists and
are Joined in association formed to regulate the
production and sustain the price Of lumber Mills
which do not belong to the association hired to lie
idle, and the association nnd It profitable to sustain
prices at the cost Of thousands Of dollars month paid
out In this way. The PROFITS Of such an enterprise
are Of course large II we'll known that this lum-
Der monopoly bears heavily upon the growth and
prosperity OF Washington Territory and oregon,
and even that California suffers from IT, Its pro-
moers have grown rich at the expense OF public
prosperity. North OF the forty y-nnh degree OF lati-
tude tho boundary between the United States and the
Dominion OF Canada, the forests OF nr are not
less productive and valuable than those south Of It.
At Rurrards Inlet and other points on the coast Of
British Columbia there are large and we'll equipped
mills The consumers OF lumber, however, In the
United states receive no benet from these mills situ-
ated north Of the boundary, from the magnificent
forests Of British Columbia, because duty Of two
dollars thousand feet which, In the case Of the
Pacific Coast practically prohlbltory simposed upon
lumber entering the United States. The policy which
has destroyed the forests Of Michigan Wisconsin, and
! Minnesota is sweeping away those Of the Northwest
The monopoliss Of San francisco, well as those Of
Chicago, grow rich at the expense Of the public: In
our mean time the forests perish Aud their desruc-
tion Is accelerated by the circumstances that by rats
Ing tariff duty on lumber we obllge the American
people TO pay premium the devastation Of the
country.
The cloak manufacturers also are calling
attention to the fact that the present So
called protective duty is made ilusory to
them because the materials used in making
cloaks, such as silk, satin, laces, gimp,
fringe, Italian cloth, and woollen cloth, and
even wool itself, all pay a higher rate
of duty than manufactured cloaks. OF
course this violates the essential principle
of a protective tariff, but such is the wisdom
of law-givers. The present duty on cloaks
1 is from 30 to 20 per cent, while on the
materials entering into .hem from wool up
it is from 40 TO 100 per cent, but the average
is against the home manufacturer, who has
been enabled TO compete with the foreigner
only by more systematic way of manu-
featuring. But the cloak. makers claim that
If the tariff proposed by the Commission is
adopted this industry will be completely
wiped out, as under their proposed schedules
the discrimination against the homemade
cloak will be greater than before. A cloak
manufacturer, writing to explain this sub
ject, says:
1t Is not the old cry against the pauper labor o.
Europe we raising, but what ask is Justice I,
an Important and growing manufacturing interest
II all the raw and manufa ctured materials used To-
coaks are taxed high, then the duty on foreigl
garments ought to lie proportlonately adjusted.
Next to the cloak trade there is the clothing trade
an interest of much more magnitude which is like
wise threatened by the proposed tariff on wearn,
apparel, and the question has been seriously con
sidered by some houses whether 1t would not b.
more profitable to manufacture their goods II
) Germany and England for the American market. 4
appears almost hopeless to expect considerable re
ducton of the tarla on wool, although 1t must b.
self-evident to any man of ordinary common sens
that 1t Is much more advantageous to import on
dollar worth Of WOOL and to convert 1t here Into
manufactured article worth four dollars, than t
Import the completed article itself and send fou
dollars for 1t TO Europe; but the least Congress cal
do is to adopt graduated tariff, with the loves
duty on raw material and the highest on the lnlshe
artcle-n other words, to take the natural success
sion of the different branches of the wooen industr
In consideration and to graduate the tariff accord
mol