Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1911-07-05
MEAN TO END ABUSE
PiRATIcAL COMBINATIONS HAVE
TIRED PATIENCE OF PEOPLE.
Paper and Lumber Trusts Have Long
Been Conspicuous for Their Grasp
Ing Prociivlties-Report Of Corn
missioner Of Corporations.

There is a relationship between the
paper trust and the lumber trust. The
lumber trust is the most conspicuous
of the selfish interests fighting the
Canadian reciprocity treaty. The
American people believe In the protec
tive tariff, but not In the abuses Of
the protective tarin-the excrescences
and abnormalities. which are not pro
tective in the sense Of safeguarding
the general interest, but which on
the contrary permit swollen combina-
tions Of capital to gouge the people
by contriving artificial conditions
which create monopoly and enable
INSCRIPTIONS manipulators to exact
extortiolate prices.
It Is not the protective tariff. but
an abuse of the protective tariff. which
and that spoiled child OF the lumber
combine, the paper trust. Here are
conclusions presented In a report by
the commissioner of corporations,
Herbert Knox Smith:
In the last forty years combination
has so proceeded that 195 holders,
many inter-related, now have prac-
tically one-half of the privately owned
timber in the investigation area
(Which contains 80 per cent. OF the
whole). This formidable process Of
concentration In timber and land GER
tainly involves grave future POSSIBLE
tiles OF impregnable monopolistic con-
ditions, whose far-reaching conse-
quences to society it is now difficult
to anticipate freely, or even to esti-
mate"
The report OF the commissioner of
corporations reviews the recent his
tory OF combinations In the lumber
industry and remarks:
"Such concentration In standing
timber, IL permitted to combine and
increase, makes proable final cen
trail control of the whole lumber in
dustry. A few strong interests ulti-
mately holding the bulk Of the timber
can set the price Of timber and its
products. The manager Of the Ma
tional Lumber Manufacturers associa-
ton recently said to lumbermen on
the Pacific coast: The day Of cheap
lumber is passing and soon will be
gone. but the men who make the
money will be those who own timber
and can hold 1t until the supply In
other parts of the country Is gone,
Then they can ask and get their own
price,"
Is this contamination which the
Americas people will permit? Will
they look kindly upon the mainten-
ance of artificial conditions to prevent
competition and wiring from them ex-
tortionate prices for commodity
whose preparation for the market
needs no skilled labor? The Taft ad-
ministration is proceeding, in two
ways to beat this game. 1t has insti-
tutcd suits under tn Sherman law
to call the consolidated lumber inter-
ests to account for organizing COM
binations in restraint of trade, and 1t
Is pushing the Canadian reciprocity
agreement. In the forests Of Canada
there are unmeasured billions Of feet
of lumber, stores sufficient to supply
the world for generations to come.
WHY should not the people of the
United States WHO are purchasers of
lumber have the benefit Of free access
to the Canadian supply? The recipro.
cal trade agreement with Canada for
which President Taft Is contendtng
would cut off the $3.50 tariff which
nov confers an inequitable advantage
upon the lumber trust Of the United
States. and would 60 far to check the
denudation of American forests.