The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1908-10-29

/ of North Carolina or Southern pine
sells his product in active competition
! with every other manufacturer, and it
| is this condition which has forced the
! price of lumber down. and which
| would have forced it down if the tariff
/ on lumber had been ten instead of
! two dollars per thousand. The great
scare-crOW held up to the Southern
lumberman is the competition with
! Canadian lumber. 1t has often been
stated that our Southern lumber docs
not compete with the lumber furnish
| ed by Canada, and as a substantiation
of that fact, we actually exported to
| Canada in the last year, 1907, lumber
to the value of $4,902,910
Exports Argue Tariff no Benefit.
l. is a well known principle of trade
that any article of commerce that
exported to any considerable extent
cannot be benefited in the home mar
ket by a protective tariff. unless the
natural laws of trade are interfered
with in some artificial way, as, for in
stance, when the home market is
controlled by Z trust. which is not
now and never has been true of the
| lumber business. 1t is as clear as
that water will seek it's level that no
producer will ship his product to the
| foreign market as long as the home
! market bears a price in excess of what
| the foreign market will give. And
| hence the export of any article in con-
siderable quantity is sufficient proof
! that that article is not benefited by
the tariff against the foreign article
unless it is controlled by trust. Ac.
| cOrding to the government reports
| lumber was exported from this coun-
try last year to the value of $39,861,-
| 352.
The following article, written by a
practical lumberman, Mr.. Charles
| Ross, of the ROss-McAllister Bros.
Lumber Co, of Harnett county, in
addition to being a very instructive
discussion of the question, shows that
the lumber people have some prac-
teal ideas of their own about these
matters. and that they are not being
fooled by Republican misrepresenta-
tons:
"a Iumberman's Views on the Tariff
as Affecting North Carolina.
ITO Lumbermen:-The protective
| tariff is capable of some exceedingly
ingenious arguments. One of the
latest is an appeal to Southern Lum-
! bermen that the price of their lum-
Der is affected by the tariff tax of
| 81 per thousand. Southern Democrats
! have never based their political judg-
ment upon a monetary standard, as
our Republican friends have been ac-
custOmed to do. Nevertheless some
have been disposed to say that if we
| have been robbed by the protective
! tariff in the interest of the North, for
| half a century and the lumber tariff
does really help our section, that We
| should not hesitate to take advantage
| of it. But does it help us? All of the
! surplus lumber manufactured through
this section finds a market in the
| ~ ST IN no n1yr fnr ion,
| lumber that can compete with us in
! this territory is lumber from Canada.
| Canada has no lumber that comes in
competition with our yellow PIN.
! The Canadian lumber does in some in
| stances come in competition with our
second growth pine. The second
| pine is manufactured principally into
| box boards and "roOfers." SiX-inch
'roofers' are worth in Baltimore to-
| day $14.50 per thousand: in New York
| they are worth 81 per thousand more.
| Why? Simply because it costs 81 per
| thousand more freight to ship them
from the South to New York than it
does to ship to Baltimore. In Buffalo,
! n. Y, almost in sight of the Canadian
! line. this same lumber is worth 81
! per thousand more than it is in New
! York. the difference being exactly the
difference in the freight rate from the
! South. If the cost of Canadian lum-
Der regulated or influenced the price
| as We approach the Canadian line, we
| would find the cost of lumber re
duCtd as the cost of the transportation
| grew less.
but l have sold this year in North
| TOnawanda. right on the Canadian
line. a number of car loads of lumber
and the price paid was more than
enough to pay extra freight to North
| Tonawanda over what the same lum-
Der would have brought in New York
city This makes it plain that the
Southern lumber and not the Canadian
lumber fixes the price that our lumber
brings in the territory that furnishes
our customers. Then why any tariff
on lumber? | will tell you why. Back
in the Northwestern States, along the
| Canadian line. there is the same KIND
of lumber that Canada produces.
These forests are controlled almost en-
tirely by three or four large COM
panies. Now, in all these Northwest
ern States. it is to the interest of these
large companies to keep out the Cana
dian lumber in order that they may
monopolze their local trade. These
States cannot ship lumber from the
South on account of the high tariff.
and the local companies are protected
by the result.
But. there are ways that the South
ern Iumberman feels the effect of the
protective tariff. When he buys a
saw for $40. he pays S14 OF that price
by reason of the tariff tax. When he
buys s100 worth of betting, SIS of
that amount is added by the tariff.
When he buys boiler and engine for
$500, about $500 of it is lis tribute
to our tariff policy. To every mile OF
railway from his mill to market the
tariff has added an extra cost of ST.
600. and his freight rates must bear
the burden.
The truth is the Souths two chief
products cotton and lumber, cannot
be protected by the tariff since we
produce a surplus of both. Every
piece of machinery that we use in
manufacturing the one and cultivat-
irg the other is added cost of % to
so per cent, as a result of the tariff
schedule.
, "CHAS. ROSS.