The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-10-05
FREE LUMBER FALLA0Y.
The Administration Rebuked by One of Its
Agents. Who Shows that the Pro-
posed Free Trade in Lumber
Is Wholly Favorable to Canada, and
Can Not Benefit the United
States--DeductionS of an
Experienced Lum-
herman

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22.-Considering
the grinding up which Consul Hotchkiss
of Ottawa, gave the free-lumber clause
of the Mills bill, it is not a cause for
wonder that the State Department made
haste to suppress and hide it. What
makes the matter worse is that Mr..
Ho,chkiss is not mere politician, writ
ing with only ordinary knowledge, but
previous TO accepting his Office he had
been practical lumberman with over
forty years experience in the bust.
ness, both in the United States and
Canada. Except at the White house he
will be generally regarded better au-
thority than Mr.. Mills of Texas. Ex-
tracts from the report of Consul Hotch-
kiss were printed at the time that the
State Department unlntentionally fur
nished advance sheets of it to the press
But it deserves much fuller presenta.
ton. The attempted suppression by
the administration gives further weight
and emphasis to its statements. The
pine lumber product of that portion oil
the Dominion east of the Rocky Noun
| tains comes almost entirely from the
Ottawa district in which Mr.. Hotchkiss
is stationed. The following extracts are
conclusive as to the effect of the free
| lumber section of the Mills bill, and
show clearly that the proposed legisla-
| ton is wholly in the interest of Canada,
as the whole bill is mainly in the inter
est of England:
"The yearly output of the Ottawa City Lum.
| Der mills will approximate 1850, 100000 feet.
| The product of mills tributary to Ottawa and
| itS AUnpey GrapnVillp. will aRUfeQato N5O 0flO-
900 feet, maxim 6o,OOoOOo feet for the Ottawa
Valley district.
| quainted with lumber, or unaccustomed to
| lumber figures will appear enormous; but
| when say that these figures, multiplied by
three, will not represent the full sum of the
yearly requirements OF the lumber trade OF
| the city of Chicago alone, their insignificance
will be apparent.
IA false impression too generally prevails
| in regard to the Importance and the influence
| on the American lumber markets OF the pine
| lumber produced in Canada, as also the guam.
| tity of her available pine ana the general
quality thereof. In regard to the production
of sawed pine lumber of quality available
| for the United States market and suitable for
| the demands of the English markets, firmly
| ceed one billion feet. This quantity must be
doubled to supply Chicago, and is but fair
supply for the little village OF Towanda,
| N. Y. while the city Of Buffalo would simpl,
view this quantity with complacency as bud.
ding fair for her one years necessities.
'"rhe important question now so widely agi-
| tating the American people, that of free lum-
| Der. and may add free logs-for free lumber
| TO the Canadian would mean free logs to the
| American-is one on which may not be ex-
pected to venture personal opinion, but
| may be permitted, from the standpoint OF u
| lumberman of over forty-five years of active
| experience in the lumber business In Canada
| and the United States, to review the situation
| as 1t appears to exist, and permit others to
| draw such conclusions therefrom MS may en-
/ tighten them toward reaching just termina-
| tion of a complicated question.
| 81 think | am warranted in presuppostug
that the desired object to be attained I'm the
remission of the duty on lumber is an antici-
| ated benefit to the American consumer ut
large, both by cheapenng the market price
| now, ms well as tending to prolong the exist
| ence of the American forests by the substitu-
/ ton of Canadian lumber and logs-the only
other country which has white pine lumber.
| ''Will the remission of the two-dollar duty
| have the desired effect? think not, and will
| give my reasons for the conclusion that no
| apprcciabe benefit will transpire to the
| American consumer, and why and how the
/ advantage Will accrue to the Canadians, The
control OF the prices of lumber In the United
| States is certainly and absolutely In the hands
| of the timber owners and large mill men. The
| standing timber Is held in large bodies by
! heavy capitalists, who, owning the mills, can