The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1911-02-09
TOOK OFF THE DUTY

l : E,ea e. 81 = a. go
OBJECT LESSON OF HOW THE
TARIFF RAISES PRICES.
No Better Proof Needed to Show That
They Are Framed for the Benefit
Of Trusts.
In The Jetfersonion OF last week
Ex- Congressman T: E. Watson says
we have at the present time, an IL
lustration Of how. the removal OF a
tariff duty reduces the price OF the
commodity upon which the drey was
levied. Here is what Watson says
about it, which you can read for
yourself:
"You remember the great forest
fires which recently devastated so
many hundred square miles in Min:
nesota, and other, states lying along
the Canadian border. Hundreds,
perhaps thousands, Of people were
burned out of house and home. Their
misfortunes, like that Of the suffer-
ers Of the Sicilian earthquakes. was
of a dramatic character which ap-
|pealed to the Imagination and
aroused human sympathy. A great
cry for relief went up from the
sufferers-and what shape DC you
suppose it took? 1t was demand
for the removal Of the tariff duty
upon lumber.
"Of course, they wanted to rebuild
their dwellings as soon as possible,
also their outhouses and fences, and
therefore they wanted lumber at the
lowest obtainable price. Some OF the
very men who, in Congress-, had
voted in favor Of the Lumber Trust
and who had argued tnat the tariff
duties were an unalloyed and boun-
tiful blessing, used all Of their In
luence with the Taft administration
J to have Canadian lumber admitted
! free of duty. The Administration
yielded, the tariff law was set aside
in so far as it related to lumber, and
the citizens of those northwestern
states bought lumber at about half
the price which you and have to
pay.
srCould you want any better proof
that tariffs are framed for the ben
eft of the cruel trusts?. Do you any
longer doubt that the increase CT
tariff duties in the Payne-A1drich
bill, which went into effect last sum-
mer, was the true and only cause of
1.-THE Immediate advance in the cost
of living? Can you have any further
doubt that those who pretend that
tariffs are made : in the interest Of
labor and for the general welfare of
the country, are unmitigated liars
and hypocrites?
Consider the injustice Of the
thing; see with what favoritism our
government is run. We must not be-
grudge the enormous benefit Of cheap
building material to those burnt"out
unfortunates Of the Northwest. But
why shouldn't the same benefit be
enjoyed by all the rest of US? What
have we done that we are. less en-
titled to have the cost-increasing
tariff on lumber removed in our fa-
yor? Why should we be held down
by the government while the Lum-
DER Trust goes through our pock-
cts.
"There is not an hour in the day
when somebody is not burned out;
there is never a night when the
alarm-bell does not strike its terror
into some town or city. The number
Of dwellings, barns, gin-houses and
other necessary buildings that go up
in f-mes every year, far exceeds the
number of homes and other build
ings consumed by the forest fires
of the Northwest Therefore, when
you take bird s-eye view, mentally,
Of the entire United States, you can
not fail to realize that there are
just as many unfortunate burn-outs
outside the burned-over area of the
Northwest, rs there were within it.
When you think of this and bear IN
mind that the Law should be no re-
specter Of persons, and should treat
us all alike, you will deeply feel the
injustice of our Government, in COM
pelling millions Of people to surren-
der a part of their money to the
Lumber Trust to crafty it's inordi-
nate greed for gain.
"If you can think up any good
reason why the American saw-mllls
in the great lumber regions Of The
Northwest cannot produce lumber
profitably, as cheaply as the Canad-
ians can do it, please tell US what 1t
is. I venture to say that the steam
whistles of some Of the American
saw-mills on the border, can be heard
by some of the saw-mills Of Canada,
and vice versa The labor supply
is practically the same on both sides
of the line. The wages paid by the
Canadian mills are worth as much in
Canada as those paid by the Ameri-
can mills are worth in this coun-
try. The lumber is cut from the