The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1909-05-14

0"SiuoiSCiy IudL IL NdS HOL LOT FoVe.
nue.. but for making a few men, al
ready rich, still richer, at the expense
OF the consumers of lumber, and yet
the bill passed. and it will pass this
year, with all of it's Objectionable
features (if there is not courage
enough left in the senate to amend
it, as obnoxious to the people as the
finance committee dares to make
them.
II happen to have in my pocket an
extract from the statement just re-
ferred to made in the debate on the
Dingley bill in 1897, which you can
reprint if you have mind to. 1t was
to the point then, is now, and ever
will be, world without end, so long as
the art of tariff trickery endures."
The extract referred to by Mr.. Petit
grew reads:
"That is only one thing in the bill
The bill is full of such things. / do
not know of any English word that
better expresses it than tricks. We
pretend to put duty on mica The
conferees have fixed it so that trim
med mica comes in for five cents a
pound and twenty per cent ad valor-
EN-, and the word trimmed lets in
all the mica that We will import. Any
other provision as to mica is simply
nonsense; 1t Is words thrown away
Take the cotton phrases that ordi-
nary people cannot understand. 1t is
the same with that. So you can go
through the whole of the bill. 1t is
gotten up to foster special interests.
"But l said that tthis lumber duty
did not go into the treasury. Let us
see where it does &c. have in my
hand the Northwestern Lumberman of
February q, 1897. 1t appears that
there was meeting here in Wash
ington of men interested in having a
duty on lumber, and will read what
Mr.. Winchester says about it. MI.
Winchester has been quoted by the
senator from Michigan (Mr. Burrows)
and others as man of great reliable
ity and truthfulness. He says:
Now, you take our average cut of
the United States, and 81 thousand
advance means what? 1t means $685.
100000 to the lumbermen of the Unit
ed States in year. Now, if we car
ry out this idea 81 duty don't take it
to that. Lumber in Canada would
come down whole dollar and it
wouldn't help us any. Get it up to
about 81, and then 1t would begin to
have its effect To illustrate little
farther: There were q lot Of gentle
men from the northwest, up Minneso-
ia way. in Washington the other day,
and they were sitting in Senator
Burrows committee room.
Incident In Committee Room.
AN interesting incident occurred
there. Senator Burrows is chairman
of the committee. The committee
hadn't had meeting for long time
We happened to- be sitting in that
room, and one Of the gentlemen from
Minnesota had an env slope and lead
pencil. He walked around the room,
and he ciphered out Z. little bit, and
he said: "Mr. Burrows, do you know
what 81 thousand would mean to
this little crowd of men in here?"
There were not as many in the room
as there are here. He said the ad-
vance CT 81 a thousand on lumber
meant $6,125,000 on last years pro-
duct.
I'm other words, the proposition is
to take $6,125,000 out of the pockets
of the people who consume lumber in
the states tributary to Michigan. Wis
consin, and Minnesota, and put in into
the pockets of this little group of men
who gathered in Burrows room. That
Is the proposition from beginning to
end"
"These lumber men, or their sue
cessors, are here again urging the
passage of the present bill. in order
that they may continue their exac-
tions. and they will again get what
they want, even if they are obliged
to part with good slice of it to do
so. And they will get what they are
after in spite of the fact that the
number of people who own the stand
ing timber are less than they were
twelve years ago. and the number of
people who use lumber has enormous
ly increased since that time; and in
spite of the further fact that lumber
in the last twelve years has nearly
doubled in value. 1t is contended that
the difference between the price then
and now has gone to American labor?
This fact makes glaringly apparent
the hypocrisy of the argument that
the protection is for the benefit of the
American laborer."
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