Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1907-03-02
The Lumber Trust.

That the lumber trust is a great in
iQuity everybody knows. Not long
since the house passed a resolution
authorizing an inquiry into the why
and wherefore of the astounding rise
in the price of white pine lumber, with
special reference to the manipulations
of lumber prices by the trust My
own judgment was and is that the
high tariff on white pine lumber is
the why and wherefore of the trust.
One of my most valued constituents,
Judge H. G. Lakeland of st. Charles,
Mo, prominent lawyer and business
man, wrote me the following letter on
the subject, which is we'll worth con-
sideration. Judge Lakeland says:
ST. Charles, Mo-, Feb. IS.
Hon. Champ Clark, Washington:
Dear Sir-I wish to call your attention
to the iniquities of the lumber monopoly
in these United States, nurtured by the
tariff. AS you know, the whole lumber
business is in the hands of a trust COM
posed of a few thousand men, which
levies tribute on and Expresses and de-
frauds eighty millions of people without
any corresponding benefit whatever. This
syndicate or trust has got possession of,
country, and it dictates the prices of
lumber to the whole country. There used
to be few independent mills, but they
have all been compelled to come into the
trust, and every bill of lumber ordered by
any retail dealer from a supposed indie
pendent mill is sent to one general office,
and the order is filled from that Office and
the money collected by it. Every once in
awhile this trust raises the price Of lum-
Der. Last January it raised the price Of
the retailers 81 a thousand; last week it
raised the price again another rs cents
and 81 a thousand. The orders for a raise
of price are given to the retailer and he
is obliged to obey at his peril
: But, worst of ALL they swindIe defraud
and cheat the purchasers and users Of
lumber in a most shameful manner For
instance, you are going to build a home,
we will say. You put in a bill to the re-
taller for a certain number of by 4
studding of the desired length, a certain
number of by II joist and a certain
number of feet of plank l by 10 of any
desired length. Instead of giving you the
dimensions your order calls for, they
will give you studding 11a by 31h and
jOist ~ by 1113, or even II, and plank
u by or 91a, and so on. No matter what
dimensions you order, the lumber is cut
down in dimensions from half an inch to
one inch on all sides, and you are measur-
ed up and charged just as if you got full
dimensions. If you do not take it that
way, you cannot get it at all. The mills
make in several ways by this method.
They make all they cheat you out of in
the dimensions, which is a great deal.
They can make more lumber out of log
in saving it up and they can carry more
in a car from the mill to the retailer, and,
lastly, they shave a very thin skin off
one side of each piece of lumber (Which
is no advantage to it whatever) and use
the shavings under the boilers for steam.
| Thus you see this trust is not satisfied
with the monopoly of the lumber business
in this big country and the big prices
they make the people pay, but they swim
die and cheat and defraud them in the
measurements in. most shameful man
ner. I know whereof I am speaking, for
I have been compelled to buy a great deal
of lumber for many years.
If anything deserves to be investigated
by congress, it is this swindling, cheating
lumber trust
The bar of the tariff on lumber ought
to be thrown down that it can come
in from all the world. Very respectfully,
Fl. G. LAKELAND.
P. S.-The price of lumber has become
almost prOhibitive.