The Hattiesburg news., 1909-02-22
ANOTHER MEETING IS
CALLED FOR FRIDAY
Mississippi Members of Congress Are
Urged to Oppose Repeal of So Duty
on Canadian Lunber.-Delesation
to Be Sent to Washington.

In response to call issued by the
Hattiesburg Commercial Club and the
Mississippi Pine Association, lumber.
men representing holdings valued at
more than fifty millions of dollars, to-
gether with many of the leading mer
chants and business men of South
Mississippi, assembled at the Auditor.
iune Saturday night to devise means
to prevent, If possible, the repeal of
~ a thousand feet now collected on
Canadian lumber.
The meeting was called to order by
Secretary M. J.. Bixler, of the Hat.
tiesburg Commercial Club, and w. NJ.
Conner was made chairman, while
c. Fl. Ambrecht acted as secretary.
After the address of the Chairman.
who stated the object of the meeting
and discussed at some length tn
futility oftrying to compete with Ca
madam mills, where common labor can
be procured at seventy cents a day.
President ]. F. Wilder of the Missis.
sfppi Pine Association was introduced.
He argued that the repeal of the Cana
dian duty would effect primarily only
the low grades of lumber, as the high
grades produced in South Mississippi
will take care of themselves. He
called attention to the fact that dur
ing the year of 1907 nearly two bill
lion feet of low grade Canadian lumber
found its way into the United States,
nettingTthe government more than five
million dollars in revenue. He said
that by repeating the so tax the gov
ernment would not only lose this rev.
enue, but that it would occasion
great waste of timber, as the South
ern mills would then be unable to COM
pete with Canada on any of the low
grades and the mills would be forced
to use only the choice cuts from their
trees, leaving the remainder to rot
on the ground.
President Wilder was followed by
Philip Wisner, of Laurel who has Just
returned from Washington. He said
that a great many northern people be-
lieved that the lumbermen were mem
bers of trust and that it was a diff
cult task to convince them of the
impossibility of a combination of the
twentyeight thousand saw mills locat-
ed in the United States. He said that
the lumbermen of the South had a
strong ally in the lumbermen of the
Pacific coast, who would be forced to
compete with British Columbia and
Hindu labor in the event the Canadian
tariff is repealed.
Other speakers of the evening we're:
DR. P. z. Saunders, president of the
Commercial Bank and Trust Company
of Laurel; r. L. Bennett, active vice
president of the Hattiesburg Trust and
Banking Company; F. w. Foote, of the
First National Bank of Commerce oi
Hattiesburg; Maor ]. D. Donald and
E, McIennan.
Mayor Donald urged the meeting
not only to insist that the Canadian
duty be retained, but that it be raised
to S. or even so, so that people
would stop making pine trees into
cheap boards and kindling wood ant
that the forests of South Mississippi
mi. 1T be conserved.
On motion of Philip Wisner th'
chairman appointed a committee t.
draw suitable petitions to be circulat
ed throughout the State. and that mel
chants. bankers and farmers be urge
to sign them and forwerd immediatel
to the Mississippi members of Coz
gress.
Mr.. Wisner doubted the possibilit
of influencing the Ways and Mean
Committee, but said that fight woul
be made on the floor of the House
which the Mississippi members woul
be suyL5fted by the lumbermen
the West and South.
committee was appointed to sc
licit funds to send delegation
Washington and this committee wa
Instructed to report at meeting to
held in Hattiesburg next Friday nigh