The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 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 manutac-
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 and
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 of North
Carolina have seized upon this 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 cac-
customed to go beyond the mere sur
face of questions and get at the essen
tial facts, and when they do this they
will find no reason for supporting the
administration which has brought
upon them the most disastrous eriod
of their business. or for apprehendlng
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 fact,
that the tariff is going to be taken off
OF lumber, whichever party may pc
successful at the polls on NoVembe
3rd. The Republican party as we'll
as the Democratic party, stands IRE
vocably committed in its 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 'of 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-
lions, just in advance of general
election, knowing that if the question
were once opened they would have to
go into general revision. 1t cannot
be doubted that if a Republican Con-
sreSS should be elected one of the
very first things it would do would be
to carry out this demand of its Pres
dent in carrying out its platform
pledge for a revision of the tariff.
Difference in Position of the Two
Parties.
L, H., l.
men may expect from the two part1e
on this question is that the Republicans
would put lumber on the free list as
demanded by its 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 OH
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-
ton with trust controlled articles as
their platform demands, and which
would tend to largely cheaper the OK
penses of the manufacture OF lumber
This argument should appeal with
great force to the producers of lumber
for there is TO other hne of manufac'
ture iii the country more heavily taXeC
by the trusts. They are extensive
users of steel rails, which the head Of
the steel trust testified could be made
at a profit at SIS per ton, and FOL
which they have paid during the las
three years from $50 to $40 per ton
And thus it is with practically all thu
materials which go into the manufac
ture of lumber, including the in
creased cost of labor which the in
crease of 49 per cent in living ex
DenseS by reason of unreasonable pro
lection, has made necessary. Tn
machinery and equipment which the.
have for the manufacture of lumbe
cannot be considered as permanen
investment, but by reason OF the hare
usage to which it is subjected has T.
be frequently replaced with new
equipment and frequent repair, an
every lumberman knows from hart
experience how the cost of all sucl
materials which go into the manufac
and in some instances actually double'
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.
the small tariff of 81 per thousand o.
rough boards any real protection t
the manufacturers of pine lumber 1
the South? This writer, after seri
Gus consideration of the question
thinks not Certainly it has bee
Intellectual to save their business froL
the most disastrous fall in prices dur
ing the last eighteen months. Tn
low price of lumber, as every manu-
facturer must know, has been due t
competition among themselves, an
not to competition with foreign lum
Der.
Lumber Business Not a Trust.
Tt must be borne in mind that tn
lumber business is not owned by
monopoly or controlled by a trus
If it was then the business could b
holding up the home buyer, add tn
full amount of the tariff to the pric
which he could otherwise get for HI
product. But every manufactu