The Robesonian. [volume] (Lumberton, N.C.) 1870-current, 1909-02-25
THE TARIFF AND POLITICS.
The Wood Schedule
Savoyard, in Charlotte Observer.

lancewood, lignum-vitea, mahog-
any, rosewood, satinwood-alI on |
the free list, all untaxed, all
used by the rich. They ought
to yield a big revenue and they |
all ought to be taxed 100 per
cent. for revenue only, which
would put into the Treasury
S, 900, 600 paid by men and wo-
men with money in both pock-
cts.
Now let us see about wood of
lower degree, the baser sort.
Board, planks and deals are ia. =
ed 81 a thousand feet, and if
the imported article has had a
HEX of work done on it the tax
is graduated up to 81 thousand
feet. Thus the heiress who
would buy a $1,000 piano pays
no tax on the rosewood in which
it is encased; but the day laborer
who would build a cabin worth
$500 must pay tax of $11.88 on
the lumber that goes into the
habitation. The brier-root, Of
which a very desirable pipe is
made, and of which we import
ed from the isles or shores of the
Mediterranean to the value of
$346 270 in 1907, is on the free
list. 1t ought to be taxed 100
per cent. The clapboard that
covers the beggar hovel is taxed
$1.5O a thousand feet.
Barrels, boxes, casks and hogs
heads are taxed from Is to 35
per cent; furniture is taxed 81
per cent; hubs for wheels are
taxed 20 per cent; slaves, 10
per cent; shingles, 80 cents a
thousand feet; but rattans and
reeds and bamboo are free.
The entire wood schedule is
set down at an average taxation
of 14.21 per cent, on the beau
tiful articles, and the revenue
collected On aggregate importa-
tions Of $50. 1863, Ill dutiable
woods and manufactures of was
| 81, 1886, 038. That was in 1907.
That year we imported of other
woods to the value of $11, 374, 925
that paid not a cent of revenue.
i 20, Well," the fellow says,
"the tax on woods is but 14.21
per cent. That's nothing" But
it is great deal, and as big,
relatively, as a tax of 80 per
cent. on wool. The bulk anc
weight of a cargo of lumber
, make the freight on it ample
protection" to the American
, sawmill. If wood were as light
| as wool we might be sure the
, protection" on it would be ex
pressed in as high figures as tina
on wool.
= Here is Canada at our doc
with 5000, 900 of woods, agains
our 100000 acres. If wood
were on the free list we woult
. stop cutting down so many tree
and we would not hear the clam
or in Congress for the govern
ment to buy lands on which t
: plant trees to conserve waite
d courses. When Daniel Boon
J.. first set foot on Kentucky soil
q doubt if there was a river il
: what is now that Commonwealth
s that had ever been muddy. To
e day half the rivers Of that Stat
!, are muddy half the time. Ar
: nually floods in the Ohio cost il
damage to property, to say moth
, ing of loss of life, tens of mi
q lions of dollars. Our scientif
l. men say that it is all because {
II this cutting down of trees, an
Il there is no doubt that the flooc
Il get worse. year by year, as til
cutting down of timber increase
ID Mesopotamia was the garde
re and the granary of the wor
ST when Cyrus was King Of Persi
le 1t was watered by mighty RI
ers, bedecked with boundle
e, forests and bejeweled wi
s. opulent cities. To-day the o7
lie and the bat dwell in Babylo
st and Mesopotamia is desert j
nd habited by Bedouins, for t
n simple reason that those fores
ne were denuded of their timbe
pc The valley of the Guadalquive
;er three centuries ago, was unss
as passed in Europe for salubri
of cline, fertility of soil, beau
rst of landscape and prosperity
ay inhabitants. Now it has becol
comparatively a desert. VIII
,,,r They cut down the forests a
rs w the soil went off in freshets,
N. it has on so many farms in Ke
lucky, and in 1909 there is
~ one family in the valley of t
Guadalquiver where there we
IL. four families in 17O9.
France and England profit
- by what befell Spain, and
France I am told no Elan e'
Re- felled a tree until he had pla
an ed another, not even on his o.
+ land. Perhaps that is W