The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1909-01-22
THE OWOSSO TIMES
EDMUND o. DEWEY. EDITOR.
OWOSSO. FRIDAY, JAN. 90, 1909
SAYS LUMBER WILL NEVER BE
CHEAPER.
Removal of Duty Will not Lower the
Price, Declares Canadian
Operator.

Detroit, Mich, Jan. 90. E. Els
more, a veteran pine timber man,
who for the past 10 years has been
operating in Canada, from Toronto,
and prior to that was a resident of
Saginaw, says that a delusion is be-
ing harbored by those persons who
think that If congress removes the 81
per 1000 duty on Canadian lumber
they will be able to buy lumber that
much cheaper. Mr.. Elsmore has
spent half of his life in the woods of
Ontario. Michigan, Wisconsin and
Minnesota, so speaks from long OBJ
serVation and experience. q,
"Not more than 40 per cent of the
virgin forests of Canada remain" he
said. with the supply becoming
appreciably scarcer each year there
is not even a remote possibility of
the American consumer ever being
able TO buy lumber cheaper than to-
day. In my humble opinion he will
be paying from SO to SIS more before
1910 arrives. The 50 duty was an
important item when imposed by the
Dingley bill early in McKinley's adj
ministration. Because of the greatly
increased price OF lumber since the
item cuts but a small figure in fixing
the price to the consumer.
about 70 per cent of the men
manufacturing lumber in the Geor-
gian bay region are Americans who
were forced to go there when the So
duty was enacted 1t was more pro-
fitable in the long run to do this than
to pay export duty on the logs and
raft them across. The lumber is al
ways sold on the Canadian docks
The American purshaser pays the 50
duty when he brings it across the
line and adds it to the retail price.
The city man who builds house,
and the farmer who builds barn.
corn crib, chicken house or anything
else, has in the end to pay the 50.
Repeal the 50 duty and the Canadian
manu- facturer will boost the price a
81 notch. He knows he will be able
to get 1t.
''To give an idea of how the price
OF Canadian pine has been going up
I recall that on November 8, 1908,
there was sold at public auction in
three hours in Toronto a little over
s3,300,000 Of government standing
timber at an average price of So per
thousand. l then prophesied the
pnice would double in five years. The
government this year has sold the
same kind of standing timber for as,
higa as $12.20 per thousand. Prof.
Fernow, dean Of the forestry facul-
ty of Ontario, said recently that some
morning the people of the province
may wake up and find that their tax
list tnas changed its aspect that the
forests of Ontario have been drawn
upon TO such an extent to tighten the
tax bill that the golden goose is very
near its finish.
"Wfhy, the Canadian Pacific rail-
road, although it has been operating
but "a years, finds its timber lands
now so depleted it Is actually ship
ping ties from Ontario as far west as
Calgary-over 1000 miles-for the
company's own use. The Dominion's
$1,000 odd miles of railroad con-
sumed originally, in building, 49,
100000 ties. Such is the eagerness
OF operators to get hold of timber
tracts that I verify believe had re-
ports been published a decade ago
that there was raft Of square tim
Der at the north pole that geograph-
icaI point would have been located
ere this.
Sixty per cent Of the lumber en-
tering Chicago, Cleveland, Ton
a wanda, Buffalo and eastern. markets
comes from the south and the Pacific
coast The producers of it were hit
hard by the panic that set in early in
1907, and | don't understand they
are disposed to yield one penny's re-
duction in the tariff. 1t was this
way: Beginning in the early '90s|
lumbermen in the great lakes region
began picking up large tracts OIL
southern and Pacific pine at what are
now recognized as bargain figures.
A lot Of them plunged and they were
being carried by banks. They were
holding great stocks Of lumber, and /
ss the banks insisted on getting mon