The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-05-25

GOdWln, Page and WEBB Tor opposing
free lumber in the Payne tariff bin
and supporting a one-dollar duty in
favor of this great southern product.
AS a matter of fact, it has been sald
that the failure of Congress to put
lumber on the free list can be aScrlDed
to the action of the SIX Democratic
Congressmen from North Carolina, as
named above, when that question was
up before the House several days ago.
II this be true, then not only the
present but generations yet unbor
will rise up and call their names bless
ed. for at the hands Of the good peo-
Pile of North Carolina they have richly
earned the plaudit We'll done, good
and faithful servants
In North Carolina there are. under
normal conditions, 1888 saw mills,
employing practically $3.50 opera
tiVes, whose income. at the minimum
figure Of $500 per day average, would
amount to $1i.140, or $3.50, 600 PEI
month. Total this out for the year
and it will be seen that the lumber
industry Of North Carolina pays out
annually $29.96O,00O per year in labor
alone. Statistics show that no other
single industry in the State pays out
so much money annually for labor. In
North Carolina, however, 1t must be
said that lumber leads in volume ana
importance that OF all the other m
dustrieS in the state; and all this $3@.-
9O6,G00 is practically spent among the
local merchants for food and ralnlent,
the farmers for supplies and standing
timber, the bankers for interest n
discounts on paper, the doctors for
medicine and professional services.
the avyers tor legal advice. and
otherwise throughout the State.
The total annual production OF lum-
Der in North Carolina amounts 10
about 100000. 900 feet. The per
cent of local consumption in this State
is about seven per cent of the>output
of the mills. 1t will thus be seen that
SO per cent of all the lumber manu-
featured in North Carolina tindS a
market in other States. Valued at SO
per thousand feet, mill rum, the l.
5000 900, 900 feet manufactured in the
State would bring into North Carolina
annually the magnificent sum OF VA
100000, or more than 1900 600 per
month. Now, granting that the con
sumner got thu benefit Of the repeal OF
the $500 tariff on lumber-and upon
the same method of reckoning We
must concede that the manufacturer
in this State would lose that amount
or be short that much-the repeal of
the tariff on lumber would cost North
Carolina apprONlmately $5,30o,0O0 per
year, or in ten years ten tunes that
amount, to say nothing of the loss
that would be occasiOned to the allied
industries. the transportation COM
panies and otherwise. In q word. the
repeal Of the present tarlff on lumber
would involve a loss to North Caro-
lima Of $500 per thousand on 93 per
cent Of the output OF the mills in this
State in order that We might save 81
per thousand on the seven per cent
consumed within our own borders.
Any banker. railroad man. merchant
or otherwise Conducting his business
along that line OF thought or policy
would be ~adjudged little less than in
sane.
Now, to appreciate more fully North
Carolina's Importance in the lumber
world. her utp should be cOnSid-
cred along with the other Southern
States, which combined produce As
per cent of all the lumber r~1anufac-
tured in the United States. In the
same connection it might be Interest,"
ing to State that the lumber industry
alone brings back into the South an
average of 81, 600. 600 for every work
ing day in the year. Are the people
Of North Carolina and the South
really conscious of the magnitude and
Importance of this great industry in
our midst, giving employment to fifty
odd thousand adult males. and feed
ing and clothing not less than one
hundred and fifty to two hundred
thousand mouths and backs? Surely
they must be unconscious of the vol
unle and Importance Of his industry,
II they would have our representa-
tives in Congress sit idly by and see
it led to the slaughter house of de-
struction by legislation that would
mean free trade for lumber and other
SoutleIn DIOQuctS ana protection Tor
products OF other sections Of the coun-
try.
According to the best Information
obtainable, 10 per cent Of the stand
ing timber in North Carolina today is
IN the hands of the farmers. mer-
chants. and other original owners in
all the counties and districts through
out the State. OF course the larger
bodies have been purchased by the
mill owners. hut even then only the
standing timber has been purchased.
and the land owners have practically
as much real estate as they had be-
lore. From these figures it will thus
De seen that SO per cent of the loss
occaSloned by the repeal of the pres.
eht~ tariff on lumber. or $11.3S5,OOO
%l annum would be sustained bv