The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1910-08-18

in a very narrow zone on which
tariff can be levied, while Mexico and
the South American countries are
barred out by the high tariff wall.
He didn't tell us, but | would like to
know how much revenue these few
low, coarse, knotty" boards from
Canada bring in to the Government.
Bah! Mr. Lumberman knows as wei!
as anyone that the object of the high
tariff on lumber of the Payne bill,
which he demonstrates is prohibitive,
except along the Canadian border,
is not for the purpose of raising a
revenue, but to enrich him and others
like him at the expense of the vast
army of. the buyers and consumers
of lumber throughout the country.
Mr. Lumberman holds up his hands
in holy horror at the idea of there
being any such thing as a lumber
trust and yet confesses that he left
his business and went to Washing
ton, lobbied among all the Congress
men from this State, implored them
to vote against free lumber and vlo-
late their solemn obligations, while
the rest of us were at home busy
plowing, believing that our pledged
representatives would remain true
to us. But alas! alas! the lobbyists
(including Mr. Lumberman) captured
Door Ellerbe and little Lever, while
Senator's Tillman and Smith and Rep
resentatives Finley, Johnson, Aiken,
Patterson and Legare remained trre
to the people who had elected them
and strictly observed the solemn o. =
legation each had taken to support
the principles and policies of the
Democratic platform of 1908 which
demanded the immediate repeal of
the duty on lumber, logs, etc, and
that they be placed on the free list. y
How much did it cost the lumber
lobbyists to accomplish this nefari-
Gus, dirty work? Mr. Lumberman
ought to know, He was on the
ground, and lumber people keep a
strict set of books. What was the
cost of the automobile spins around
the city, the frog-leg suppers, the
champagne, wines, lager beer, corn
and rye liquor, the promised trip to
Canada this summer-what did all
these cost the lobbyists or trust
magnates in order to capture the
two weak and approachable Con-
gressmen from South Carolina? Fur
ther, in order to serve your interests
and take money out of our pockets
and put it into yours, Mr. Ellerbe
had to violate his solemn obligation
made to us when he pledged himself
to support the Democratic platform
which demanded free lumber. When
he first started out on the campaign
he dramatically waved a bunch Of
letters and kilograms over his head
and said that 5000 voters of the
Sixth district, including lumbermen,
merchants, lawyers, boards Of trade
and farmers, had asked him to vote
for a duty on lumber in violation of
his pledge. He further said that
anybody, including his competitors,
was at perfect liberty to examine
these papers, which of course was an
Ellerbe bluff, but his opponents
called his bluff and got possession of
his papers. They have been careful
ly gone over and accurately counted
and instead of the boasted 5000
there are only 143 names attached
to the letters and kilograms and ev-
cry one of them in the timber busi-
ness or allied interests. Not a sim
gle one from farmer and consumer
of timber, and very few from this
State. There are letters and tele-
grams from New Orleans, La, Nor
folk, Va, Lynchburg, Va, Tifton,