The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-05-25
LUMBER INDUSTRY GREAT IN ALABAMA Writer Points Out Need for
 Protective Duty ATTITUDE OF THE SOUTH Believes New England Should Not Have All Advantages of Protec-
 ton While South Has
 Nothing.
ATTITUDE OF THE SOUTH

TO the EdltoT or the Age-Heraid.
 have observed with more or less sur
 prise a disposition on the part of two or
 three papers in Alabama to unfavoraby
 criticse the vote of Congressmen c. w.
 Taylor and R. P. Hobson for opposing
 free lumber in the Payne tariff bill and supporting s1 duty in favor of this
 great southern product, which the great
 state of Alabama has been famous for l producing during the past 100 years. As
 a matter of fact 1t has been said that the failure of. Congress to put lumber on lhe free list can be ascribed to the action of | southern democrats, when the question
 was up before the House several days l ago. Be it said to their honor and glory l that this is true, and I make bold to say | that not only the present but generations I yet unborn will rise up and call their names blessed, for at the hands of the l good people of Alabama, along with those | of the other southern states, they have richly earned the plaudit, Well done, | good and faithful servants" Those who voted to place lumber and other southern 1 products on the free list and permitted | the products of other sections of the coun- | try to be placed on the protected list,
 under the shelter of a tariff ranging from l 22 to 76 per cent, will be the ones who will have to do the explaining before the people at the next election, and not those who voted for a policy of free l trade for the south and protection for other parts of the country.
 In Alabama there are, under normal conditions, S92 saw and blaming mills, giving employment to approximately So,- 6sO employees, whose income, at the min
 imum figure of s2 per day, would amount
 to S71, ,360, or s1,S55 36o per month. Total this out for the year and it will be seen that the lumber industry of Alabama pays out several millions of dollars in la bor alone Statistics show that no other
 single industry in the state pays out more money for labor Another thing
 that should be taken into consideration is
 the fact that all these several millions of dollars paid out annually for labor are practically spent among the local mer-
 chants in Alabama for food and raj ment. the farmers for supplies and stand
 ing timber, the bankers for interest and
 discounts on notes, the doctors for medi- cine and professional services the lawyers
 for legal advice, and otherwise not speci- fed
 The total annual production of lumber in Alabama amounts to about 1.920, ,167, 600 1 feet. The percentage of local consump tion in the state is about per cent of the output of the mills. It will thus be
 seen that 94 per cent of all the lumber manufactured in Alabama finds a mar
 ket in other states. Valued at $l5 per
 thousand feet, mill run, the 1920, 167,00 feet would bring back into the state $lS- s02,5O5 yearly, or more than $1,oo0,oOo per month. Now granting that the consumer got the benefit of the repeal of the s2 tar fir on 1umber-and upon the same method of reckoning we must concede that the manufacturers would lose that amount or be short that much-the repeal of the tar
 if on lumber would cost Alabama ap-
 proxlmately S2,50o,00o per year, or in ten years time ten times that amount-$25,- 00o,o00-to say nothing of the loss that would be sustained by the allied indus tries, transportation companies, etc. In a word, the repeal of the present tariff on lumber would involve a loss to Ala
 bama of g per thousand feet on 94 per cent of the output of the mills in the state in order that we might save g per | thousand on 6 per cent of the output of l the mills, which is consumed within the | borders of Alabama. Now, any banker, | railroad man, merchant or otherwise con | ducting his business along this line of | thought or policy would be adjudged lit | tie less than insane.
 ! Now, to appreciate more fully Alaba- | mas importance in the lumber world. the
 output of her mills should be considered
 along with the lumber manufactured in
 the United States In this connection it might be interesting to state that the lumber industry alone brings back into
 the south an average of $1,O0O,00 for ev- l cry working day in the year. Are the | people of Alabama and the south really | conscious of the magnitude and import | ance of this great industry in Alabama, | giving employment to not less than 35, ,6S0 | employees, and feeding and clothing not | less than 151, 40 mouths and backs? Sure 1 ly they must be unconscious of the vol | ume and importance of this great indus | try If they would have the Alabama rep | resentatives in Congress- sit idly by and
 see 1t led to the slaughter house of de- | struction by legislation that would mean | nothing more nor less than free trade
 for lumber and other southern products
 and protection for the products of other
 sections of the country.
 According to the best information ob- | tainable, Al per cent of the standing tim
 Der in Alabama today is in the hands of | the farmers. merchants and other land | owners in all the counties and districts | throughout the state. Of course the
 larger bodies have been purchased by the
 mill owners, but even then only the
 standing timber has been purchased | largely, and the land owners have prac-
 ticslly as much real estate as they had | before. From these figures 1t will thus
 be seen that Al per cent of the loss occa- | stoned by the repeal of the present tariff
 on lumber. or more than $1, ,0oo,O0O per
 year, would be sustained by these same ! farmers, merchants and other land own
 CTS in the country, for in proportion as
 the price of lumber Is lowered in equal proportion will the price of standing tim
 Der be correspondingly affected and &C., | cordingly reduced In price and value
 As one result of the present operations | of the tariff on lumber l would say that
 to the writer's own knowledge hundreds
 and thousands of farmers in Alabama
 have sold their standing timber on their
 lands during the past few years for as
 much as> two, and in some cases, three
 times what the land. timber and all orig
 inally cost them. In this way what has
 been carried year after year as a dead
 asset, yielding no one anything in re-
 turn. has now, under the operation of