The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1909-03-19
THE TARIFF AND FOREST CON.
SERVATION.

SERVAIION.
Mr.. Clifford Pinchot at the head of
the forestry department of the govern
ment, has written a strong and con-
vincing letter to Chairman Serene E.
Payne. chairman of the ways and
means committee of the house, stating
his views upon the tariff on lumber
from the standpoint of one charged
with the preservation of the forests
of the country. What he says has Off
cial authority and carries with it great
weight. AT the outset he makes it
clear that the forest service has never
advocated either the reduction or the
abolition of the present duties upon
lumber and shingles. On the contrary,
the forest service, he says, has been at
some pains to avoid taking any posi-
ton one way or the other until it
could complete satisfactory investi-
cation of the subject He was moved
to make this declaration because many
believe that the forest service has de-
clared in favor of the removal of the
duty upon forest products as means
ice has made no such declaration.
If the tariff on lumber were to be re-
moved it would be done for one or
both of two purposes-either to re-
duce the price to the consumer or to
preserve our forests. In Forester Pin
chot's Judgment it would accomplish
neither, as he thus clearly shows:
Free lumber would not materially
reduce the price to the consumer.
Most of the lumber we now import
comes from Canada, as most Of it
would If the duty We're taken off. We
are importing from Canada only about
y percent as much lumber as we are
cutting from our forests. 1t is not like
! ly that under free lumber more than 5
per cent as much would como from
/ Canada as we would cut at home Con.
/ trary to the general impression, Cana
! da, as compared with the United
/ States, has no great timber supply.
Her total amount of standing timber
is probably not more than one-third of
what is left of ours. In the end the
Canadians will undoubtedly require
for home use all the timber they can
produce. Imports from Canada would
not be enough, therefore, to limit the
cutting of our own forests or to re-
duce the price of lumber in any inn
portant degree.
"Stumpage prices are at present
lower in Canada than in the United
States. The taxation of Canadian tim
herland is better adjusted to the ccndi
tons under which timber must be cut
than it is with us. but the average cost
of logging and manufacturing are prob
ably as great there az here. If the
duty We're removed the effect of these
factors taken together would be to
: increase the value of Canadian stump
: age. and to some extent the profits OF
. the Canadian manufa cturer and the
A American retailer. There would re
/ main little, IL any benefit to the ulti
mate consumer of lumber III the United
!, States
The fundamental question at issue
y in the lumber tariff is forest conserva
ton. I believe that the demand fol
free lumber rests mainly on the hon
n that it offers a way to protect our for
S ests. If I were of the same opinion
Y I should favor the removal of the tariff
n But ! am unable to see how free lum
: There is only one way to save oul
: forests: That is to see that they are
kept at work growing new crops O
timber as the old are cut away
'The lumbermen are right wher
o they tell you that in times of higl
= prices for lumber they do cleane
work in the woods and cut more timbe
from given area than they do whe1
prices are lower and only the bes
grades can be marketed. Low price
for lumber unquestionably increase
V waste. If the removal of the tariff
had any effect on work in the woods
It would be to displace the lowe
grades of lumber now cut by our owl
mills. which must be either logged o
left in the woods when the highe
grades are taken out, and to that ex
tent it would increase the woods vast
in this country. The waste in loggin;
+ is already enormous, several time
;, larger than our importation from Can
. ada. I do not believe that the increas
. ed use of Canadian wood under fire.
o lumber would equal the increase
Y waste, and even if it did. the large
a danger from fire and the greater diff
e culties in the way of forestry whic
d follow wasteful logging would proba
&c bly, more than Offset the gain. In othe
i words, the drain upon our forest
y would not be relieved by allowin
4 Canadian lumber to come in free"
+ Mr.. Pinchot believes that there /
Q now sincere desire on the part of
u large number of 1umbermen to handl
II their forests more conservativels
y They face difficulties in their efforts
a and the people of this country hav
r often been at fault because they hav
e not made it easy for the lumbermen t
O practice forestry at profit The
e have often taxed standing timber $
& heavily that the owner was forced t