Evening star., 1909-03-12
LUMBER TARIFF KNOT
Conflicting Interests Perturb
Revision Statesmen.
FARMER WANTS 1T FREE
Manufacturers Stand Pat and Plead
for Retention of Duty.
WARNING SENT TO CONGRESS
Ways and Means Committee Told of
Lobby" Busy Entertaining
in Capitol.

About this time. in the tariff revision
proceedings. look for mares nests to be
found. The woods are full of EN-
| Now is when the fearsome "lobby'' puts
! in its appearance Judging from reports
current. it isn't at all safe for member
| of Congress. especially new one, to
venture forth. \ lobby might get him
| If he doesn't watch out
| You can always tell a lobby when YOU
| see it. Any aggregation of persons op-
posing some schedule of the tariff bill that
| you are for, or advocating schedule that
| you are against, is lobby
| A lobby is also plethoric, white whis-
kered and given to much dining and win
| ing. No self-respecting lobby ever gets
along without champagne three times a
! day
If some manufacturer engaged in line
| of Industry threatened by tariff reduction
comes to Washington to point out the
close margin upon which the business is
being run he must be careful how he
| talks First thing he knows he will be
| called lobby
Congress was warned through the mails
today of the presence right now of one OF
these dread lobbies in Washington. The
editor of an agricultural paper out i'll
st. 10, Mo-. tipped off the game in a let
ter which came to hand this morning.
Lobby Is Told Of.
In the letter, which was an appeal for
the removal of the tariff on lumber, was
the following galley proof:
'Later-.February IS. Desperate fight
for the lumber tariff
The one great stand-pat fight being
made in the interests of an unjust tariff
is that being put up by the lumber man
ufacturers for the retention of the duty
or - to $50 per thousand on lumber
Compared with the lumber lobby there is
no other lobby in Washington at present
From twenty to fifty of the biggest
lumber manufacturers in the country are
now in Washington with their paid sec
retaries and press agents, bringing every
to bear on members of Congress in favor
Of the high tariff on lumber
The other night this lobby entertained
159 members Of Congress at dinner at
entertained at a sumptuous banquet
score OF the national officials and repre-
sentatIyes of organized labor.
1T has had Clifford Pinchot, chief OF
the forestry service, 'on the carpet and
is trying to bully and cajole him into
taking the absurd position that the best
way TO conserve our domestic forests is
to keep out the products of foreign for
eStS.
Lobby Boasts Of Victory Won.
This lobby, while admitting that pub
lie opinion is against if. now boasts that
it has accomplished its purpose, and that
whatever the lower house Of Congress
may do, the Senate will block any at
tempt to repeal the duty on lumber.
THE only way the carefully planned
and efficiently executed schemes of the
lumber manufacturers can be blocked is
by indignant protests from the lumber
consumers Of the country. of whom the
farmers constitute a large portion.
In former issue we urged our read
ers To write Immediately to their men
berS of Congress and to Serene f. Payne
chairman of the ways and means COM
mittee. telling them that the lumber tariff
must come off. We repeat this advice
IF there is a single industry in the
United States that does not require pro-
lection, and should not have it, it Is the
lumber industry. IF the duty cannot be
removed from lumber what can it be re-
moved from?
Attitude of Farmers
The letter itself. after expressing the
fear that 'the press of the country is not
paying enough attention to the work of
the ways and means committee" goes on
to speak in behalf OF The farmers as fol-
lows:
Rightly or wrongly, the farmers be-
lieve that what amounts to lumber trust
I
all over the country. They know that
the price of lumber has Increased any
where from 90 TO 200 per cent in the past
ten fifteen years. They also know
from the publications of the Department
OF Agriculture that our forests are near
ly exhausted. They cannot understand
how Congress can for a moment permit
any portion of the tariff on lumber,
whether rough or finished to remain at a
time when our forests are dwndling and
the price of lumber is endlessly ascend
ing.
The way the farmer figures it out, he
is taxed 10 per cent on every post he
buys: 80 per cent on every box shook, 81
thousand feet on every rough board and
from $50 to $50 a thousand on the
| finished lumber he may require, all for
the purpose of creating tariff wall
which makes his lumber higher. enor-
ing timber held by spectators, and en-
courages the destruction OF the remaining
! forests. which eventualty can only be
regarded as a national disaster.
Puzzle for Revisionists.
| Statesmen revising the tariff likely
! to find the lumber problem a trouble
! some question The latest edition of
the tariff hearings before the ways and
means committee contains some unique ar
guments for the maintenance of the
tariff on lumber.
These consist cf twenty-five :ull-pa ge
half-tone engravings OF photographs of
actual labor conditions in the lumber
mills of British Columbia and the mills
| OF the state of Washington, just across
| the line. These mills but few
| miles apart in geogra phical distance.
| They seem to present some striking diff
| ferences of conditions
| The first photograph represents group
of warkingmen outside the Larson Lum-
Der Company's mill at Bellingham. Wash.
They all white men, a sturdy and
| healthy looking group. The legend be-
meath says that they are paid s. to 81 u
day and that the experts receive from
| 50 TO $40 day
| The next page shows a group al the
/ Fraser River mills New Westminster
| British Columbia. They are all Hindoos.
wearing the turbans of their caste The
| legend alleges that they are paid from
50 cents &c S1.25 day.
Another picture shows Il group OF Japa-
| nese immigrants on board ship coming
/ TO work in British Columbia mill at
Si.:a day. On the next page are the
white workingmen I'm an American mill,
WHO get from $40 to 81 IL day.
So there y.u are: the farmers demand
! ing free lumber. the workmen IN the
mills and lumber YARDS demanding pro-