The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-07-28

spruce Tor pulp WOOD, 1OEudue TIE cA-
port<of pulp in order to force Ameri-
cans to buy their paper there.
There are more than 800 paper
and pulp mills in the United States,
more than 800 millions of dollars in
vested in them, and more than $4,000
working men employed in the miI1
alone without counting those who
are employed in the forests preparing
the timber, and without counting the
population which has grown up
around the paper and pulp mills, de-
pendent upon them for their market
from the farm.
mo further reduction of the tariff
upon paper could have been made
without forcing a reduction of the
wages of the men who work, or clos
ing up the mills and allowing the Ca
madam to FURNISH the paper.
Lumber Rate Lowered.
1--WE reduced the tariff upon lumber
in every item of the schedule, except
the tariffs on mahogany and hard
woods of that kind. We reduced the
tariff on rough boards from $500 a
thousand to $1.25 a thousand. and
within two weeks the Canadian mills
advanced the price of lumber at their
mills 75c a thousand and the price of
lumber remains the same to us, only
they get the money and we lose the
revenue.
I'VE put hides on the free list
though 1 was opposed to this. There
was no tariff upon any hides coming
into this country except little tariff
of Is per cent on heavy hides which
come principally from South America.
We put them on the free list, and with
in ten days the price of hides had gone
up in South America 16 per cen,. We
lost the revenue; they get the money.
1--WE reduced the rates upon leather:
on sole leather from 20 cent sto 5
cents a pound; on boots and shoes
from 25 per cent to Is per cent upon
saddle and harness leather from Is
per cent to 10 per cent; and the price
of leather has gone up instead Of go
ing down.
att has always been so i'm every case
where we reduced the tariff below the
protective point: the foreigner has
taken advantage of it.
"Sfnce we made iron ore 5 cents
ton millions of tons of iron have been
sold from Spain to Philadelphia, at a
price which the mine owner in Michf-
gan could not meet. because the
freight rate by rail from Michigan is
greater than the ocean rate from Spain
to Philadelphia.
The Truth About Rubber.
Another -ievance, Senator Bris-
lows speciality, is the increase of the
tariff on rubber. We raised it from
80 per cent to So per cent on manu-
featured rubber. Crude rubber comes
in free. and always has. The manu-
facturers of hard rubber and mechan-
ical rubber goods showed us that for
eign countries were making the same
kind of goods and putting them on the
market here at a price they could not
compete with, and maintain their
standard of wages. They were manu-
featuring telephone receivers. combs,
and all kinds of rubber manufac tures,
and we raised the rate per cent.
of do
Der for ten years under the Dingley
law were a little over 48 million
pounds. In the ten months of our law
more than So million pounds of rub
Der were imported. This means that
somebody was at work manufa curing
that rubber in America.
ct do not know anything about the
corporation in which Mr.. Bristow saws
Senator Aldrich has an interest but if
he is manufacturing rubber tires thew
are covered by patent. and the own
er of natent fixes the price at which
the thing is sold. and no. tariff can
have any effect upon him during the
life of the patent. 1 do not know any
thing about any corporation making 8
per cent of dividends on 40 millions of
capital in three months. and do not
believe the senator does either, for l
notice that he says it was made by
manipulation of the stock.
81 do know that if there is any in
d1stry in this country that will earn
Is per cent dividends in three months
there are thousands of millions Of dol
lars ready to engage in that industry.
At No Mans Dictation.
Further than that, the senator in
c1lges in language which is unworthy
OF him and of his high office, when he
says that I ever voted at the dictation
of any any man on any subject.
Il nave always known and realized
that as Your representative was there
to stand guard over your interests, and
see that no legislation was passed at
the demand of any other portion of
the country that would be Injurious to
your interests. I have remembered al
ways that you are the only people to
whom / am responsible.
Sense liz Tariff Making.
1.-THE tariff reformers profess to be
inspired by a desire to benefit the
ultimate consumer and protect him
from the greed of the manufacturer.
The idea that protection is a spe-
cial advantage given to the manufac-
turer at the expense of the nation is
wrong. If that idea is right. then pro-
lection is wrong.
Under the Dingley bill the manu-
featuring interests were steadily en-
ployed and were on the average very
prosperous, but were they more pros
porous than the farmers?
There can be no valid argument in
favor of reducing the tariff that Is not
based on the assumption that the man.
ufacturer is making an unjust profit;
but the figures of the census show in
Bulletin No. 81, Department of Com
merce and Labor, page IS. the COM
parative summary of all the marufac-
turing industries divided into fourteen
groups. 1t gives the number of estab
lishments, the apital employed, the
& a a ri nf Inso he. 10