The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1898-12-17
A TARIFF PARADOX.
Practical Operation Of the Duty 81
Canadian Logs-Reviving Of
the Lumber Industry.


One of the fundamental contentious
of protectionists is that tariff tax
does not necessarily increase the price
CT the taxed article or commodity. A
familiar illustration of this principle
may be read in the history of tariffed
steel rails. Owing To the building up
CT the steel rail industry. which the
tariff tax fostered. we were able in q
few years to produce steel rails of SUI
perior quality, equal 10 the best Besse-
mer imported ruils, and to sell therl
for one-third the tariff tax and make
a profit at that OF course no steel
rails were imported. and the work and
wages of making steel rails were con.
fined to this country.
This principle is again In evidence id
the recent history of the tariff tax on
law was passed the sawmills of Mich
igan were idle. Canadian logs could
get into this country free, or practi-
cally so, but the mills were shut down.
workmen looked In vain for work.
The Wilson law had paralyzed the lum-
Der industry. Protectionists in con-
gress believed that the elixir of tariff
law would stimulate the dormant in
dustry, and so the representatives OF
voted to put tariff tax OF two dollars
a thousand on Canadian logs.
Within year from the enactment OF
that law the smoke began to wreathe
ffom the great chimneys of our saw
mills The machinery started up and
the whirr of the saws could be heard
along the rivers of Michigan. Work.
ingmen long idle hailed with delight
the music of renewed activity in the
mills. The rehabilitation didn't come
with rush. II came gradually. All
the mills didn't reverberate the echoes
Of renewing industry. Many OF them
are abandoned for oil time. But the
lumber industry Is revived, prosperity
Is beaming brightly, workingmen are
earning wages, and everybody, except
few owners OF Canadian pine lands.
perhaps dozen men. is glad that the
Dingley law came TO the relief OF the
idle.
Now the remarkable accompaniment
of all this Is that the price OF lumber
has not advanced materially. While
wheat and other products have expert
enced raise in price, lumber has re-
NAMED about the same price. The re-
suit Is, Notwithstanding the tariff OF
two dollars thousand on Canadian
logs. lumber is just as cheap to-day,
| actually and relatively, as IL was before
| the tax was imposed. The man who
wishes TO build barn will pay no more
| for his lumber now than he had 10 pay,
| three years ago. The man who wishes
| 10 build a house can buy his lumber
as cheaply now as he could buy IL two
| years ago. This peculiar effect of
| protective laws is very annoying to
free traders who contend that the con-
sumner must pay the tax in the end,
The history OF tariff legislation is that
fairfield articles invariably fall in price
10 home consumers.
Then there is that academic aspect of
the tariff question which the free
| traders delight 10 argue over. Do tho
foreigners pay the taxf Projections
lists hold that as q general rule they do;l
that in order 10 get their products into
competition in our market they must
sell them enough lower TO cover the
tariff tax. Free traders argue the
other way. But IL the foreigner doesn't
| pay the tax on Canadian logs why Is he
kicking about II like Texan broncho?
II the owners of pine lands in Canada
do not pay the tax on their logs i'm
ported into this country to compete
with our logs and logmen. who does
pay IL? That's question that stumps
the benevolent gentlemen who COM
| plain Of the two-dollar tax on Canadian
logs. They answer, II they answer nc
all, by barking at the heels OF men who
run American sawmills 10 saw Amer
lean logs TO pay wages 70 American
workingmen.-Detroit Journal.