The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-01


 in 1898 for, seventeen and one-half | cents per thousand, Is now worth ten times as much. tract of cypress | timber in Louisiana, costing less than | forty cents per thousand in lsSO, 10 now worth at least SC per thousand. | Louisiana pine, worth $1.25 per acre m | 1892 sold for $47.50 per acre In lsoe. The witness showed that Canadian
 wages in the lumber industry are no lower and often higher than coEIe
 spending wages in this country ana that manufacturers of lumber, as such, compete with each other so as to give the entire benefit of the tarin to the owner of the raw material in its na- tural state Other witnesses gave
 abundant eofrobor&tion. IL was the
 general opinion that free lumber would not greatly lower present pnlces or
 finished product. but would teho to prevent large advances in the near fu- ture. From 1897 to 1907, finished lum- her increased 910 per thousand on the average. The question now Is whether
 Congress will continue to tax the
 wh ole people on everything mace or
 wood, to give further phenomenal and unearned value to the few corporations and individuals owning most of the
 timber lands in the United States. At the hearing on the schedule relat- ing to earths, earthenware, and glass; ware, as usual, every interest saw ruin staring it in the face If the pres
 ent duty should not be retained or in- creased. Practically every marketable element in the planets crust demands protection from the crude earths to marble. These heavy raw materials must be sold in every part of the country, no matter how burdensome
 may be the freight charges, raher than permit the use of e more economical n- l.. ak- "a frAF domestic supply.
 On earthenware and china, there be- ing a conflict of evidence between the | importers and wholesalers, advising substantial reduction, and American
 manufacturers, asking for more pro- l lection, the former would seem to be the more disinterested witnesses. as they handle both domestic and foreign goods. It appears that the nominal duties of s5 and 60 per cent are in- creased, by transportation, breakage, duty on crates and other costs of ship
 ment to an actual protection of SV te
 90 per cent.
 On marble, in which the late Senator
 Proctor of Vermont was so heavily in terested, the retention of the present
 duty is asked. The demands of the
 marble representative moved even Chairman Payne to make sharp retort
 on the inconsistency of the claims pre- sented.
 The ingenuity of argument to show that the tariff duty makes our marble
 prices lower, is worthy of note. It is
 said that low and high grade marble
 must be produced together, for they
 are found in the same quarry; and If
 the high grade Italian marble were not kept out by the tariff so as to leave a market for high grade Amert. can marble, the low grades here could
 not be produced at such reduced cost
 and sold to the people for tombstones
 at moderate prices. The beauty of
 this argument is that It Is reversible
 as one might say. When applied to lumber. 1t works just the other way.
 The claim is that high and low grade lumber must be produced together oe- cause they come from the same tree.
 But here 1t is the low grade lumber
 that must be kept from crossing the
 Canadian line in order to have the
 right effect on prices in this country. To the man in the street the conclusion
 Is hard to avoid, that without the tar fir both marble and lumber, of all
 grades. would be cheaper to American
 consumers.
 On crude gypsum the producers
 asked for the doubling of the duty of
 50 cents per ton, although the cost Of production here is only about S1.30 ton, and although since the placing of the duay at 50 cents in 1897, the do- destic production has increased six
 fold, while the foreign importations have only doubled. they refuse to al- low the people on the American coast
 to get any beneft of cheap water rates on gypsum from Nova Scotia. These
 eh eerfuI beEgars are so typical of the
 effects of tarin intoxication as to be
 worth dwelling on for moment. S. A.
 Walker of St. Louis, said: There Is
 too much importation; if we had less
 importation, we would all have the
 business we want" When 1t was sug-
 gested that Western producers should
 not be allowed to compel the East to
 pay the heavy freishts to the coast,
 he said: We have right to do busi-
 ness everywhere" This feeling of
 ownership of the American market is
 When asked what the profits were in
 the industry. he replied: About IS per
 cent a year" Asked: Don't you
 think that Is enoughT' he said: ''No,
 sir. do not" The gypsum men were
 loud in protesting that if the foreign
 article were shut out, there would
 never be a trust" they would still
 compete with each other. But that is
 what the paper manufacturers said be- fore they got their protection in 1897.
 The manufacturers of plate glass are
 unanimous in wanting an increase of
 duty, and their story of poverty in-
 cured through an effort to supply the
 American people with this necessity of
 life, was one of the prettiest of all the
 stories that have been put up at these hearings. So earnest were they about
 1t that MT. Hitchcock the aged ex-Sec-
 retary of the interior was brought in
 to add the weight of his ex-oflcial i'm | fiuence in behalf of the PIttsburg Plate Glass Company.
 F. J. Goertner of New York. repre- senting importers, recommended cut
 ting the duties about one-half. quoting to ch hnA s,la an Al