The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-10
MORE ABOUT CANADIAN COMPETI-
TION.

The pending proposition to perpetuate
what Earle S. Youmans accurately
termed IAN Internal outrage" on all
who use lumber in this country by tax
Ing imports of 1t 81 a thousand and
this under the pretense that our poor
lumbermen cannot withstand Cana
dian competition, makes all the infor-
nation attainable as to the truth of
their assertions a matter of acute in
terest to everybody. Aside from any
consideration of the justice of increas-
ing the cost of so indispensable an ar
ticle, even if what they say is true,
there would be a positive criminality
In II; a robbery under protection of
legal sanction if what they allege is
untrue, We make no apology, therefore,
for quoting further from thoroughly
reliable men engaged in lumber MAX
ing in Canada, whose statements can
not be denied or their truthfulness i'm
pugned.
One of these gentlemen, to whom, with
letter of inquiry, we sent both Mr.
Weyerhaeuser's interview and our COM
ments on it, acknowledges the receipt
and says he thinks you have given
Mr. w a large amount of thinking to
do before he can answer you" AS to
comparative wages, he says that since
1898, when Canadians paid from $22 to
TO $24 for woOdsmen, wages have been
somewhat lower both in Minnesota and
Canada, from the rush Of men from the
United States to Canada. L hired fifty
men in Minnesota in 1894 for work In
the woods getting out logs and brought
them here, paying half their fare"
This argues a singular obtuseness in
men who left IAN average of $1.40
day" to go to Canada and work for $22
to $24 month"; they really got ST. 40
day here. II have been told" con-
tinues our correspondent, "by lumber
men in Minnesota in the past two years
of their hiring men at from So to SIS
month for work in the woods, while
the lowest wages we have been able to
hire men for has been an average of
woods, where board and lodging are
given, and go down to the mills. where
men find" themselves, we find the
Canadian paying higher wages than.
he insists are paid in Minnesota, He
says; Our average for men to work in
the mills and yards has been over 81. 70
day. Last season there were 5000
men employed within fifty miles Of our
mills constructing a railway. and the
wages paid We're $125 a day for SHOW
elers. which is generally conceded to be
the lowest priced labor at all times"
Turning from the subject Of wages.
from which we conclude that the Cana
dams really need protection against
the pauper" labor Of the United
States, and tackling the matter of the
cost Of logs at mills, he says: "The
average cost here is fully So per thou
sand, not including the original cost Of
stumpage, nor what is called timber
dues to be paid to the government
when the timber is cut, which amounts
to from 81 to s1.9O a thousand, and the
original cost Of the stumpage is fully
more than the cost to Minnesota lum-
bermen, including Mr.. Weyerhaeuser. +"
From his experience in this state and in
Canada, he is sure "the cost here is
fully 81 more a thousand than it is in
Minnesota, with greater cost Of man
ufacture from the log to the pile of
about rs cents a thousand" Not only
do our lumbermen not fear Canadian
competition, but they actually invade
Canadian markets, for lumber was
brought from Duluth by the cargo and
car to Toronto last year and sold at a
profit
In conclusion, he says that 81 have
not written this for a newspaper ar
ticIe, but you can use anything in it
that you wish. Nothing have said Is
in an interested way, as 1 have always
held that free trade YVES fair trade 1
think the Dingley bill Is a disgrace to