The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-05-25
THE LUMBER INDUSTRY Of NORTH CAROLINA IN DETAIL
The Number Mills in the State, Volume and Value of the Output,
Local and Foreign Consumption. Number OF Employees
Engaged, Wages Paid and the Amount of Money Brought
Into the State Annually From the Sales of Lumber

VIII the price OF SldllO4uS liHlDtl b0
correspondingly affected and accord
ingly reduced in price and value.
As one result Of the present opera
tons Of the tariff on lumber, l would
say that TO the writer's own knoWl-
edge hundreds and thousands OF
farmers in North Carolina 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 origi-
nally cost them. In this way what
has been carried year after e as a
dead asset, yielding no n anything
IN return. mas now, under the opera
ton Of the present tariff law, been
converted into tangible assets Of dol
lars and cents. With the outcome OF
such results farmers. merchants ana
others were. in many cases, enabled
thereby to lift from their homes and
plantations mortgages that had been
hanging over their heads like a pail
for years, the Interest on which had
kept their nose to the grindstone, in
season an out sapping their very
vltals. Lifting these Nightmares from
their own vine and fig tree and re-
moving the spectre of the MORTGAGE S
possibility of foreclosure er these
red flag of distress IA made these
| people breathe for the first time in
possibly a lifetime, an air of ~independ-
ence and freedom never before known
and at the same time enabled them
to do a better part by their children
and household in the way Of eouca-
ton. home comforts and social ad-
Hantagcs, thereby gising to the world
a higher standard of citizenship and
womanhood. Could more be said of
any policy? ! hardly think so.
50 much toI the concrete facts in
the case. The present tariff Of s. per
! amounts to an ed valorem duty Of
about u per cent on all im~portatiOns
! into this country from Canada and
Mexico. while the duty on yellow pine
from North Carolina and other South
ern States. going into Canada. is IS
per cent a0 ValOrem. OF anywhere
from s4.25 to $3.50 per thousand feet,
a""o~ding 10 the grade and quality of
material shipped. and yet, on the
other hand, the American tariff on
Canadian and Mexican lumber in the
Payre tariff bill is only 5 IL per cent
or Il per cent in the Dingley tariff
bill. In other words. the yellow pine
manufacturer of the South has to
ray % the Canadian Government from
$4.25 to $3.50 per thousand feet on all
yellow pine he ships into that coun-
try, while the Canadian manufacturer
has only to pay a tariff of II per cent
ad Valorem or 81 per thousand feet
on lumber he ships into this country.
even under the inele tariff law, and
VII have to pay only ) IL per cent
ad Valorem. or $1.00 per thousand
feet. according to the provisions of
the Payne tariff bill.
ON the other hand. everything the
lumber manufactures buys and con
SumcS around his mill that enters into
the cost price of lumber production
is protected with a tariff anywhere
from "a to IS per cent. That is to
say, his circular. band and cross-cut
saws are protected with "a tariff Of
about IS per cent. the files with which
these S3 KS are Ch2rnpnnd arn nCn-
tected with a tariff Of 46 per cent, his
: cant-hOOkS, chains, engines, boilers,
shafting, pulleys, betting, steam fit
tings, dry kiln equipment, etc, are
protected with a tariff averaging IS
per cent; while the Western farmers
oats, which he sells the Southern lum-
German With which to feed his stock,
IS protected with an ad yalorem tariff
OF "A per cent, p per cent on every
buShel of corn the mill man con
sumes. 81 per ton on every bale of
hay he purchases, 20 per cent on every
buShe1 OF wheat. rye or barley he
uses, % per cent on his live stock,
mules, horses. etc, and so on down
the list. And set the poor lumber
man only asks II per cent ad valo-
rem on his rough lumber, and is
"cussed" for it.
Their why compel the Southern
manufactures to buy everything he
must of necessity have to purchase in
the conduct of his business in a highly
protected market. and sell the pro-
ducts of his mill in a free trade mar
ket, in open competition with the pro-
ducts Of Canada. that are produced
largely with Hindoo. Chinese and
Japanese labor. at q much less cost
than the American manufactures
must necessarily pay American labor
and where stumpage is one-third
cheaper than in this country? These
are facts that must appeal to every
reasonable thinking man in North
Carollan and throughout the South.
l am free to confess that the last
Democratic platform called for the re-
peal of the tariff on lumber. timber.
wood pulp. and all forest products.
but that plank in the National Demo-
cratic platform was Only written at
the behest Of and inspired by a man
OF 1nordinate ambition to occupy the