Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1911-06-29
MEAN TO END ABUSE
PIRATicAL COMBINATIONS HAVE
TIRED PATIENCE OF PEOPLE.
Paper and Lumber Trusts Have Long
Been Conspicuous for Their Grasp
inc Proclivities-Report Of Com
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 tariff-the e~xcrescences
and abnormalities, which are not pro
tective in the sense of safeguarding
the general interest, but which on
the contrary permit swollen combina-
lions of capital to gouge the people
oy %contriving artificial conditions
which create monopoly and enable
INSCRIPTIONS manipulators to exact
sxtortionate prices.
1t is not the protective tariff, but
an abuse of the protective tariff, which
is responsible for the lumber combine
and that spoiled child of the lumber
combine, the paper trust. Here are
exclusions presented in a report by.
ne commissioner of corporations,
Herbert Knox Smith:
In the last forty years combination
has SO proceeded that 1876 holders,
many inter-related, now have prac-
sically one-half Of the privately owned
timber > in the investigation area
(Which contains so 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-
uuences 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, If permitted to combine and
increase, makes proable a 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 owr
price,"
Is this a contamination which the
American people will permit? vii
they look kindly upon the mainten
ance of artificial conditions to prevent
competition and wiring from them ex
to~rtionate prices for a commodity
whose preparation for the marke
needs no skilled labor? The Taft I'D
ministration is proceeding In tive
ways to beat this game. 1t has insti
tuted suits under tn Sherman Law
to call the consolidated lumber inter
ests to account for organizing com
binations in restraint Of trade, and !
is pushing the Canadian reciprocit.
agreement. In the forests Of Canadi
here are unmeasured billions Of fee
of lumber, stores sufficient to suppl,
the world for generations to come
Why should not the people of tn
United Etates who are purchasers 0
! lumber have the benefit Of free acces
70 the Canadian supply? The reciprc
cal trade agreement with Canada TO
. which President Taft is ~contendinl
! would cut off the $1.50 tariff whicl
! now confers an negotiable advantag
upon the lumber trust of the Unite
States, and would go far to check tn
! %denudation Of American forests.