Goldsboro weekly argus., 1908-10-29

The manufacture of lumber is one
of the most important Industries IN
North Carolina. The almost com
plete paralysis of this business for the
last eighteen months has contributed
more than any other one thing to
make North Carolina feel the depress-
ing effects of the Roosevelt panic.
which really hit the lumber business
six months before it broke in full
force in Wall street. The manufac-
ture of lumber is one of the great IN
dustries of the South. and one which
would for this reason appeal with
especial force TO the best wishes ana
protection ofthe Democratic party. II
is true that the Democratic party IN
responding to the universal demand
from the whole country for relief from
the exactions of the wood pulp paper
manufacturers included lumber IN
with it's demand that wood pulp
timber and logs be placed on the tree
list, and the Republicans or Nofth
Carolina have seized upon TINS to try
to persuade the lumber people away
from the Democratic national ticket.
On the face of it there may appear TO
be some force in the appeal which
they make. But the lumber manu-
facturers are a people who are ac-
customed to go beyond tho mere sur
face of questions and get at the essen
tial facts, and when they do this they
administration which has brought
upon them the most disastrous eriod
of their business. or for apprehending
any danger from the Democratic posi-
ton.
Roosevelt for Free Lumber and Wood
Pulp.
AS far as this question may be pre-
sumed to give the Republican party
any advantage is concerned, it is quite
a sufficient answer to point out the
fact, which may be taken as a fact,
that the tariff is going to be taken off
(f IJIr1a1 1001- hi ifahn n r.
successful at the polls on November
3rd. The Republican party as we'll
the Democratic party, stands ire
vocably committed in it's platform, and
in the speeches of all its leaders to
an immediate revision of the tariff,
if they are successful at the polls. and
the Republican President, to the car
rying out of whose policies Mr.. Taft
and his party are thoroughly COM
mitted, has said in two of his last
messages to Congress that the tariff
must be taken off 'Fof all products of
the forests The only reason this
was not done by the last Congress was
that the Republicans feared to make
any change whatever in the tariff
schedules, while admitting the abso-
lutte necessity for changes and correc-
tions, Just in advance of a general
election, knowing that if the question
We're once opened they would have to
go into general revision. It cannot
be doubted that if Republican Con-
gress should be elected one of the
very first things it would do would be
to carry out this demand of it's Presi-
dent in carrying out it's platform
pledge for a revision of the tariff.
Difference in Position of the Two
Parties.
The chief difference which lumber
men may expect from the two parties
on this question is that the Republicans
would put lumber on the free list as
demanded by it's President. but that
the lumbermen could expect little re-
lief at the hands of the Republicans
from the exactions of the trusts of
the country which go to make the
manufacture of lumber so expensive,
while they may rest assured that the
Democrats would not put lumber On
the free list, it being a Southern
product, unless there should be coupled
with it the placing upon the free list
of all articles entering into competi-
tiOn with trust controlled articles as
their platform demands, and which
would tend to largely cheaper the ex-
penSes of the manufacture of lumber
This argument should appeal with
great force to the producers of lumber
for there is no other line of manufac-
ture in the country more heavily taxed
users of steel rails, which the head of
the steel trust testified could be made
at a profit at SIS per ton, and for
which they have paid during the last
three years from $50 to $40 per ton
And thus it is with practically all the
materials which go into the manufac-
ture of lumber, including the in
creased cost of labor which the in
crease of 40 per cent in living eX-
penses by reason of unreasonable pro-
lection, has made necessary. The
machinery and equipment which they
have for the manufacture of lumber
cannot be considered as a permanent
investment but by reason of the hard
usage to which it is subjected has to
be frequently replaced with new
equipment and frequent repair, and
every 1umberman knows from hard
experience how the cost of all such
materials which go into the manufac-
and in some instances actually doubled
In the last few years under the COM
bined robbery of protection and trusts.
Tariff no Benefit to Southern Lumber.
But back to the original point. Is
the small tariff of 50 per thousand on
rough boards any real protection to
the manufacturers of pine lumber in
the South? This writer, after seri-
Gus consideration of the question
thinks not. Certainly it has been
Intellectual to save their business from
the most disastrous fall in prices dur
ing the last eighteen months. The
low price of lumber, as every manu-
facturer must know, has been due to
competition among themselves, and
not to competition with foreign lum-
ber.
Lumber Business Not a Trust.
1t must be borne in mind that the
lumber business is not owned by a
monopolys 2or controlled by a trust
If it was then the business could by
holding up the home buyer, add the
full amount of the tariff to the price
which he could otherwise get for his
product But every manufactures