St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-03-08
KIEFER AND LUMBER.

Out luO
kIEFER AND LUMBER.
Notwithstanding the exemplIfication
we have made of the peculiar fitness of
Mr.. kiefer to represent the varied in-
terests of this industrially variegated
district, Its phiiosophic thought, its
mathematics aud its agricultural in
terests as related to potatoes and starch,
we have by no means exhausted the
range of topics which that statesman
discussed with charm of style and
luXuriance of illustration and a minute
ness of detail which have SO overpowered
his especial organ. the Pioneer Press, as
to render 1t speechless. and so Overawed
his other organ, the Dispatch, that it
has only been able to clasp its hands
and roll its eyes about in fine frenzy
and softly calculate. ''Small potatoes"
There is one other great industry of
the colonePs district which the Wilson
bill and the iconOclastic Democrats who
are supporting it threaten with par
alYSiS, and to whose defense the gallant
colonel comes with that reckless bravery
which characterized him on many
CORY field, and to which he brings that
eXactuess OF statement, that close
knowledge of minute detail which
formed the striking features of his de-
Tense of potatoes. With the eye of
imagination we can see the scene-the
colonel, with his Prince Albert closely
buttoned about his military form. red
rose bOutonniere vieing with his cheek,
rad1npnd Of hot .<>
his face under the pressure of his ener-
getlc and eloquent torrent Of words, his
eye flashing and his finger pointing to
the occupants of the seats OH the Demo-
cratic side of the house. We can see the
gifted chairman of the ways and means
committee blanching under the attack
and the Democrats sneaking off before
the fire of his eloquence to the cloak
rooms and down into the restaurant to
fOrtlfy themselves with cold tea.
"What more?" demanded the colonel.
This bill as now constituted. seems
particularly designed to cripple and
hinder, if not entirely destroy the
manufacturing industries of Minnesota
and the Northwest. 1t puts common
finished lumber. such as"-mark the
words, appreciative reader-''Such as
clapboards. lath, fenceposts. shingles
ana pickets, on the free list. thereby
placing Canadian unpaid" - unpaid,
mind you-"labor in direct competition
with the employees in our great lumber
ing centers at"-where?-''a Saltwater
and" - where else? - land Taylor's
Falls"
There you have it. All of it. Com
mon finished lumber "such as" fence
posts; such as lath: such as shingles.
We have given it as our deliberate
opinion that no one but born genius
could advance the proposition that you
could reduce tax of 25 cents a bushel,
$50 per cent and have tax of Is cents
bushel left, or could reduce a tax of 2
cents pound 100 per cent. and have
tax OF l cent a pound left. We have
now to announce that, after mature de-
liberation, we are certain that it is still
genius of the same magnitude that
can define fenceposts as common finished
lumber. not to mention lath and shingles
and pickets.
But that is not all we have to learn.
wv nOhNSi lilit tHV SlCob
ests everywhere, and particularly at
Taylor's Falls, shiver and tremble at
the thought of trying to saw lumber in
competition with Canadians who do not
pay their employees at all. No wonder
the Canadian saw mill men are leaving
country where they are unpaid and
f1ocking to this country, where people
are taxed that labor may be paid. And
then just pause to think of the versatil-
ity which enabled the colonel to people
his imagination with great numbering
center, with its myrlads of employees,
Its humning saws, its putting engines,
its endless procession of logs moving Oh
the wheels of industry from the river to
repose as common finished lumber" IN
great stacks in the acres of yards about
the mills at Tayl0r's Falls! That not a
mill has ever been built there; not a log
has ever been sawed there; that no
great numbering center is there; that
only the pine logs cut in the upper
country go tumbling over the lodges
there on their way to the mills at Still
water, does not at all impair the states
manship of Col. Kiefer, but it does stand
as an imperiShable monument to the
lofty genius of his imagination. No
wonder that as he closed this paragraph
of his speech the house broke out into
the laughter" which the printed copy
of the speech before us assures us
greeted this tremendous effort of the
honorable gent Ieman from the Fourth
district Of Minnesota. We feel like
joining III the laughter ourselves.