The Blackfoot optimist. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1907-1918, 1915-08-26
REPUBLICANS CONSTRUCT
DEMOCRATICS DESTROY

WASHINGTON, Aug 25.-(speeial
correspondence) - The lumber trade
quite naturally reflects industrial con-
ditions through out the country. Lum-
Der is peculiarly constructive mater
ial. There is steady and growing de-
mand for it when the country is going
ahead and comparatively little demand
when enterprise is at standstil. When
times are dull few new houses are built
in the cities, erection of business block
is suspended, farmers put up no new
buildings, repairs to old buildings in
both city and country are postponed.
The steel industry and gross earnings
Of railroads are frequently accepted as
barometers Of industrial conditions, but
they are not SO accurate as the lumber
trade, as indicators Of business condi-
tions.
Among all the manufacturing indus
tries Of tho United States, numbering is
the leader in number Of employees en-.
gagged. Over a billion dollars is invested
in saw mills and probably t~caty bill
lions more in standing lumber. The in
dustry, under normal conditions, gives
employment to about 10000 men whose
wages compare favorably with those
received in other occupations. Eighty
per cent. Of the gross price of lumber
goes to labor, farm products and trans.
portation. Lumbermen are the largest
buyers of farm products and they furn.
ish the railroads with the largest num-
Der Of cars of freight.
numbering, therefore, not only re-
fleets conditions in other industries, but
very greatly affects those industries.
LAUNDERING is the chief industry in more
than a dozen states and q large indus
try in half the states of the union. There
are $4,000 saw mills or an average Of
900 to each state.
On the northern shores Of the Great
Lakes and in British Columbia, lumber
producers have several advantages over
American mills. Wages are less in all
Canadian lumber districts. The govern
ment owns the timber land and sells
the timber to the mill as needed, thus
relieving the mill owner of the great
expense of taxes and insurance and loss
by fire. In the Great Lakes region the
Canadian operator has a large advant-
age because he transports his product
chiefly by water and gets the cheaper
water rate. The British Columbia lum.
herman has an advantage in being per-
mitted to ship in Canadian or British
bottoms, while American lumber going
from one American port to another must
be shipped in an American boat, built
by American labor, and manned by
American seamen, living under Ameri-
can conditions and receiving American
wages.
Formerly these advantages were part
~ offset by a protective tariff, but a
Democratic congress repealed the tariff
and threw our markets open to the
Canadian producer. General depression
in all industry curtailed the demand and
then the Canadian lumbermen was in
vited to supply large part of the de-
mand that remained. The Canadian
government, however, was not 80 care
less of the interests of its people. It
maintained protective duty on the
higher grades Of lumber which Ameri.
can mills could produce in competition
with Canadian mills and also prohibited
the export of logs to be manufactured
in this country.
LAUNDERING is to-day a thriving in
dustry in Canada while American mills
are running on short time and reduced
wages or are closed down entirely. Many
mills, in an effort to keep their men
employed, cut timber in excess to any
prospective demand and piled it in their
yards to deteriorate with age while they
pay taxes and insurance upon it.
American tariff thinkers practically
lparalyzed the chief industry of the
country, while Canada diligently and
intelligently looked after the welfare
of her people. But, since Democratic
LEADERS insist upon it. we must UStand