The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-05-23
HOT DEBATE ON
FREE LUMBER
IN THE SENATE
Fiuht Led by MCCumber of
North Dakota for the Re-
form Side.
ELKNS, SCOTT, B0RAH
AND HEPBURN OPPOSED
SESSION DEVOTED TO SPEECH
MAKING FOR THE CONSUME
TON OF FOLKS AT HOME.

Aa& . o @ 8 q. o Z. o . . o {,
d. Washington. May 22.-By special @
q, agreement the senate took no o
q. votes today on any subject. and O
q. The entire session was devoted to 9
d. sueechmaking. The lumber sched- @
@ uIe was under discussion during o
q. the greater part Of the day, and &.
o the controversy between the free o
q. lumber advocates and the high 9
=, tariff opponents was sharp. .
+! Senator McCumber introduced .
6 the subject by presenting an o
d. amendment providing for free o
z. lumber. and he was on the floor .
., several times during the day in .
q, support Of this provision. He con- &.
o. tended that the American forests o
z. we're being rapidly depleted and o
g, urged that every encouragement @
. should be given to the importation g
e. Of lumber for the protection of our o
q. 0vsn supply. @
o. On the other hand. Senator FL q
g, kins. Senators Scott and Hepburn. 8
q. all Of them representing lumber o
% producing constituents, cOntendfng o
e. strenuously for a higher duty than .
d. Is allowed by the house bill. They o
q, cOntTOverted the theory that the o
% American lumber supply is rapidly .
Q 8&@ o 9 o o . o o o o o o o .
Washington May 22.-After a long
waiting the lumber schedule was today
given its inning in the senate. When
the lumber paragraph was reached Mr.
McCumber presented his amendment
providing for free lumber, instead of g.
per thousand. as I'm the DingIey law,
and 81 as provided by the house bill
The action preCipitated the long threat
ened fight. and il was evident from the
beginning that the ground would be
stubbOrnly contested. BY agreement
reached yesterday, there was no vote
today.
Mr. McCumber led the debate He
declared the lumber companies need
no protection. IT, ere was not. he said,
any danger that any Of the American
lumber mills would be closed because
of the foreign competition. The increas-
ing demand for these forests products
tend to keep Up the prices. Mr.. Borah
opposed the measure McCumber-s
view was that tariff on lumber would
tend to deplete the forests 1T is In
credible" he said. that the human race
is going 10 perish rather than plant
trees
Would Conserve the Forests.
Mr.. McCumber insisted that the IN
dussry had reached its highest point in
the United States. and urged that free
lumber would partly supply the Amer
lean market with a product that could
not be supplied from American forests
without exhausting them.
Senator Elklns defended the lumber
interests and accused the senator from
North Dakota as being a spotted pro-
tectionists. favOring protection on
products Of his own state. but not on
those of other states. Exchanging views
with Mr.. McCumber on the need for
protecting everything produced in this
country, and occasionally appealing 10
Mr. Aldrich. Mr.. Elkins was interrupted
By the senator from Rhode Island who
asked. apparently jestingly, with
whom he wanted trade"
81 would rather make it with YOU, "
said Mr.. Elkins, laughingly. and speak
ing directly TO the Rhode island sena-
tor. which is contrary to senatorial Ell
quette
Principles of Protection.
81 want to direct attention" inter-
posed Mr.. Bailey. ito the fact that the
principles of protection merely consist
of bargaining"
Mr.. Elkins cOntended that there could
DE- no protection in spots, and declared
he was from the south. a section which
could not afford to have its products
placed on the free list. He commended
That there was no danger of the timber
supply Of the country becoming ex-
hduSted, but argued that the lumber
interests would suffer disaster should
lumber from Canada come into the
United States free of duty.
Would Like 20 Per Cent.
Saying he would be satisfied with a
protective tariff of 90 per cent, Mr.. e.
N-ns declared that the farmers Of the
northwest had received an increase of
~ Per cent over present rates on their
products. That lumber is only a small
percentage of material which enters In
lIe construction of a house was a con-
.t'ton made by Mr.. Elkins. who gave
an instance of a building costing 1851
'' which ouiy 1927 was for lumber. MT
scott supplemented the remarks of his
''.ieague by an earnest appeal for a
Eler duty on lumber and the restora-
~ of thgcilouse rates on briar wood
"N oriar root which were placed on
me Tree list in the senate bill
DO ] believed what the senator from