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 1 
 
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'^, 
 
 
 
 ^ V 
 
 FOREST PROTECTION 
 
 AND TUB 
 
 1i 
 
 TARIFF OK LUMBER. 
 
 SPIRIT OF THE PRESS. 
 
 NBW YORK. 
 1888. 
 
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 Neiu Yor'-: City, Jiiizzcary. 2S8C-. 
 

PUBLIC OPIN'ION 
 
 ON 
 
 FOREST PROTECTION 
 
 AND THK 
 
 LL'M BER TARIFF. 
 
 ■ 
 
 {From the McMiufe of PrcsitUni Arthur.) 
 
 The condition of tlu' loreHts of the countrv, and tho wasteful manner 
 in which their destruction is takini? jdace, irive cause for serious ap- 
 prehension. Their action in |»r<)te<tinu the earth's surface, in modify- 
 ing tlu extremes of climate, and in reufulatin.t; and sustaininj-; the flow 
 of si)ring8 an(t stvenms, is now well understood, and their importance 
 in relation to the growth and prosperity of the country cannot be 
 safely disregarded. 'I'hey are fast disappearing before destructive 
 fires an<l the legitimate re(iuirements of our increasing ])opulati(.n, 
 and their total extinction cannot be long delayed w ^'sbett-r methods 
 tlian now prevail shall be adopted for their protect luu ..nd cultivation. 
 The attention of Congress is invited to the necessity of additional 
 legislation to secure the preservation of the valuable forests still re- 
 maining on the public domain, especially in extreme Western 
 States and Territories, where the necessity for their preservatic.n is 
 greater than in less mountainous regions, and where the jtrevailing 
 dryness of the climate renders '\r restoration, if they are once de- 
 stroyed, well-nigh impossible. 
 
{FVom Prof. C/iarlen iS. ^Sarij( ut. Director oj the Arnold Arhoreturn, 
 Harvard UuiKerfity and JSpecifd Agtnt hi C/utrye of Foranlry 
 IStatisticH in the V. >S. Cemms. — North Aiucricun Jieviei''.) 
 
 TIIK I'ROTKCTION OF KOKK8T.S. 
 
 Forest preservation, as a national (piestion, must soon «)ceupy public 
 attention. I'lic problem involved is one of ^rave import, and its 
 solution is not easy and cannot be inimediate. The part taken by the 
 forest in the economy of nature, and its relations to the wants of man, 
 are complex, and tlu^ American people are still ignorant, not only of 
 what a forest is, but of the actual condition of their own forests, and 
 of the dangers which threaten them. The future prosperity and de- 
 velopment of the country, however, are so largely dependent upon the 
 prcservatioTi of the forest that these lessons will in time be learned, 
 although, judging from the experience of other countries, tl-.ey will be 
 learned oidy at the cost of calatnities which a better understanding of 
 the subject might perhaps have averted. 
 
 Fatal inntads have already been made into the great pine forest of 
 the Morth Atlantic region. Its wealth has been lavished with an un- 
 sparijig hand; it has been wantoidy and stupidly cut, as if its resources 
 were endless; what has not been sacrificed to the axe has been allowed 
 to perish by tire. The pine of New Knglatid and New York has al- 
 ready disap))eared. T'ennsylvania is nearly stripped of her pine, which 
 only a few years ago appeared inexhau.stible. The great northwestern 
 pine States, ]\Iichigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, can show only a few 
 scattered remnants of the noble forests to which they owe their greatest 
 prosperity, and which not even self-interest has saved from needless 
 destruction. 
 
 The belt of red-wood forest along the California coast has already 
 suffered severely at the Iriinls of the lumberman, and many of its 
 finest and most accessible tr» es have already been removed. A large 
 amount of this valuable timber is still standing — less, however, than 
 has generally been supjiosed ; and at the present rate of consump- 
 tion the commercial importance of this forest will have dir>appeared 
 at the end of a few years more. 
 
 ) 
 
'Uin, 
 
 Htr}/ 
 
 fn Proff-amr Srirt/ent^s papa; read hefore. the Mussarhusetfn State 
 Hoard of Aifrimlture^ the follooiing itnportant afatetnent respecting 
 the white pine in made : 
 
 Tlie entire supply (white j)ine) i^rowiiij^ in the United States .-vnd 
 ready for the axe, does not to-d:iy gieatly, if at all, exceed S0,(»()(),0()(),o()() 
 feet, and this estimate includes the small and inferior trees, which a 
 few years at^o, would not luive been considered worth c;)nntin<^. 
 The annual production of this lumber, is not far from lo,()()(t,O0(),O()() 
 feet, and the demaiul is constantly and rapidly increasing. 
 
 The publication of these ficts a few months ago has greatly in- 
 creased, and in some cases more than doubled, the value of piiu' 
 lands; and it does not recjuiri' any j)articular powers of foresight to 
 be able to predict that the jtrice must a<lvance to still higher figures. 
 Enough is now known to permit the positive statement that no 
 great unexplored body of this pine remains; and tliat with the ex- 
 ception of che narrow red-wood belt of the California coast, no North 
 American forest can yii'ld in quantity any substitute for it. 
 
 ) 
 
 ) 
 
 {The iVetn Yor/i 'J'hncx, Ihr. ;io, 1SS2.) 
 
 The Tariff Commission, for some reason which they have not 
 th(mght fit as yet to explain, made no change in the lumber schedule. 
 They left the tax on sawed boanls, planks, deals, and other lumber 
 of hemlock, white-wood, sycamore, and bass»wood as they fouiul it, 
 $1 per thousand feet, board measure. They also left the duty on all 
 other articles of sawed lumber at ^2 per thousand feet, board measure. 
 As shown by a correspondent in another column, the amount of sawed 
 lumber imported in IHBli was about Ul(),0()(),000 feet, of which less 
 than 7 per cent., or 4(),()(Hi,()00 fei't, consisted of the kinds above 
 enumerated, i. e., of hi-mlock, white wood, sycamore, and bass-wood, 
 while the remainde.r consisted almost altogether of white pine and 
 spruce. The duty on the 40,0(10,000 feet was *l per thousand feet, 
 an average of about 12 per cent.; the duty on the "other lumber " 
 WJis $2 per thousand, or an average of nearly 18 per cent. * * * * 
 White pine and spruce, though nu>re costly than hemlock, are still 
 cheap woods. 'IMiey are the raw material of the greater pirt of the 
 building trade. They furnish the Hoorings, the doors and window- 
 sashes, the stair-wsiys, the outer approaches, the outer covering of the 
 great mass of the houses of wood erected all over the country. They 
 
A 
 
 enter in the saine way itito the (onstniction of all outl>uil<liiigN, Itariin^ 
 shedH, stables, of tlu' sliops, stort's, and work-hiiildin^H of tlio conntry 
 and stnalU-r towns and villairi's. They arc used oxfj-nsivcly in tht' 
 c'onsl ruction of vessels, uK|ieeially for inland and river naviuation, an«l 
 for vehicles of tratisportalion. They are the material of the tables, 
 bedsteads, and furniture of the laborini; classes and of those in ino<irrate 
 circumstances. They are thus an indispensable elenu'Ut in the cost of 
 liviuij, of agricultural ami other labor, of trade and transportation. 
 The tax on them is paid by the consumer, ' •• the conipetition at 
 home is usually suHiciently limited to secure th:i result, and it is levied 
 exclusively for tl)e benefit of tlie pine and spruce lumbermen. 
 
 At the same moment that this is being d<»ne, the Government, which 
 im]>oses this arbitrary tax, is cnirag«'d in costly researches and ex- 
 periments to dieck the wanton waste of pri'cisely these materials, to 
 induce the lumbermen to adoi)t more intelliiifent and economical 
 methods, and to promote the growth of trees, because the fact is 
 established bt-yond all tjuestion that the consumption is far outrunning 
 the natural suppi}'. This is so true that, as our eorrespoudent points 
 out, Prof. Siirgent, in charge of the census statistics for this interest, 
 warns the country that the total estimated supply in the Ignited States 
 cannot at the present rate of consum])tion last more than eight years. 
 In other words, to enable the lumbermen to obtain a higher price for 
 woods which they an- rapidly exhatisting, we tax imported woods 
 which in eight years will be our sole dependence for one of the most 
 important necessary articles in use. This is protection run mad. It 
 is one of many instances in which Congress, under the pretense of 
 protecting American labor, imjtoses a t!'.^ on the livelihood of Ameri- 
 can laborers. Nothing can be plainer th;in that, iusti'ad of compell- 
 ing our people, by an import duty on foreign lumber, to u<e more of 
 our limited and fast disappearing supply, we should admit such 
 lumber free of dui v. * -i: * * * * 
 
 (7'//c .\'(^/" York- World, Xew VorA; iJcccuihe)' 'M).) 
 
 Professor Sargent, of Harvard, showed in his recent article on our 
 forests, in the North Anierieitn Jievieir, the necessity of taking some 
 immediati' ste|)s for their preservation. As a first step, it is evident 
 that the duty on Canadian lumber ought to have been removed. We 
 impose a tax of |S^ per 1,000 feet on lumber entering the United States 
 
 ^ 
 

 Fr«)in Caiiiid; , and this duty, of courKt.', instt'ftd nf |ti<itt'(tiiijr ihv 
 foresrs, serves as a houiity for the rap'ul destruclioii of them. It 
 takes ^2 out of tliO pocket of every man who Imys 1,1)00 f«'et of him- 
 l»er and hands it over to the lumher manufacturers of Chi'-a.^o and the 
 Northwest wliom a»id whom only it (h)es protect. Tht's*' lumhermen, 
 as they very eU-arly ^l»owe«i when they went before the Tariff Com- 
 mission to <lemand still more protection and en<'oura«;ement in cutting 
 down such of the pine forests as still remain, are as <rreedy and sluirt- 
 sij;ht(Ml a class of leeches as even our ridiculous tariff has develope<l. 
 They will not easily let «;<» their hold, hut tlu'y are not so nuiuj'rous or 
 so powerful as to offer an effective resistance to the friends of tariff 
 reform in ('on«^ress, if the.se will work tofjjether. The public miscliief 
 the lumbermen do is so patent and so serious that there shouhl be no 
 difficulty in i^i'ttinj; this special ai>omination removed from the tarifl' 
 durinj; the present session of ('onjjiress. 
 
 I 
 
 
 (77t( Sim, \>'>r York, iMumber ;}l, 18H'i.) 
 
 TIIK TARIFF ON Ll.MnKK. 
 
 The TariflF Coranussion does not recommend any change of impor- 
 tance in the present s(diedule of <luties upon imported iuntber. Under 
 the law there is a duty of one <lollar per thousaiid feet upon hemlock, 
 whitewood, sycamore, :nnl l»asswood luml)er, and two dollars upon all 
 other varieties of sawed UunbcM' entering the I'^nite*! States. No sawed 
 lumber is imported into the United States excejit from Canada, so that 
 this law operates (udy so far as Canada is ccuurerned. Canada cannot 
 send us sycamore or white wood, for the reason tliat she has none t<) 
 send; and we do not require Canadian Iiendock or bass-wooil. It is not 
 apparent why those words are mentioned at all, except for the pur- 
 pose of disguising the real meaning of the law, which was intend(>d to 
 i'heck or prevent the introduction of Canadian white pine and spruce 
 into our markets ; and this is done for thi' benefit of indivi<iuals 
 maimfacturing a similai- class of luml)er in the Utiited States. 
 
 Pine and spruce are articles of prime necessity; they enter int<) the 
 construction of all our buildings, and our forests afford no substitute for 
 these woods. It is, moreover, now well known that the supply of white 
 pine and spruce in the United States has l)een greatly reduced, and 
 that the speedy and entire extinction of our forests r)f thes*' trees can 
 be safely predicted. 
 
8 
 
 
 Public attention has been called to the necessity for forest protection; 
 the subject has been widely discussed, and its importance is known. 
 Instead of husbanding our own forest resources, however, and allowing 
 our neighbors across the boundary to cut their forests for our benefit, 
 we continue to impose the duty of two dollars a thousand feet on all 
 pine and sj)ruce entering the United States; that is, we take that amount 
 from the pocket of every perscm using one thousand feet of these j)rirae 
 necessities of life and pay it to the lumbermen as a bounty to induce 
 them, not to protect our forests, but to destroy them with (juitc unneces- 
 sary rapidity and waste. 
 
 The arguments wliich have been used, and which will be brouTlit 
 forward aijain l)v the representatives of the lumber industry of (he 
 Northwest — for the exclusion of Canadian lumber is urged in no other 
 part of tlie country — do not interest the general public. The ])eople 
 want a constant and reasonably cheaj) supply of lumber; they want to 
 know that the forests of the country are not unnecessarily destroyed; 
 but they are indifferent whether a local bt)dy of selfish manufacturers, 
 already I'liormously rich, became still richer at the expense of the gene- 
 ral prosperity of the country. 
 
 'J'he present Congress will certainly neglect one of its most important 
 duties if it fails to provide means for the better protection of the forests 
 of the country. Tlie first step in tliis direction which will be followed 
 by immediate and tangible results is to place sawed, hewn, and square 
 timber upon the free list. 
 
 We urge tlie consideration of this subject up )n the Committee of 
 NVavs and Means. 
 
 {The Evetnntj l^ont, Xeio York, Ja/inan/ 2, lH8\i.) 
 
 THE TAUll'F ox LUMDER. 
 
 There is the l»est statistical authority for the statement that, if the 
 ]»resent rate of consuinj)tion of lumber continues, the entire supply of 
 white pine growing in the United States will be exhaiisted in eight 
 years. As our ])opulatioii increases, our industries expand, and our 
 settlements spread, it is certain tliat the consumption of lumber of all 
 kinds will not only not deciease, but grow considerably larger. It is 
 no less certain, therefore, that if the (piantity of white pine consumed 
 be entirely drawn from our home supply, or, at least, in the same pro- 
 I'ortion as at present, that home supply will be exhausted in less tlian 
 
9 
 
 eight years, ospecially as a vast deal of wanton destruction <»f trees by 
 improvident lumbermen and by fires goes along with th<* regular eon- 
 sumption in a business way. What is true of the white pine is more 
 or lerts true of every other kind of timber. There is not the least par- 
 ticle of exaggeration in the prediction that, if we continue to drrav on 
 our timber resources at the present rate, the people of the United 
 States will, in less that twenty years^ not only depend for tlie neceej- 
 sary supjdy of lumber to cover their current wants entirely upon foreign 
 countries, but our country will l)e almost completely stripped of its for- 
 ests. What the conserjuences of s'tch a condition are every well-informed 
 person knows ; dried-uj) springs ; destructive Hoods at one season of 
 the yeai', dry river-beds at another; jjarched fields ; once fertile plains 
 turned into deserts. We can seethe lesson illustrated in Spain and in 
 the ruined countries of Asia. This will be our inevitable fate unless 
 the suicidal course we are now pursuing be i!itopi)ed. 
 
 What are we doing? We are levying a tarifl' duty not only on 
 articles manufactured out of wood, such as furniture and wheel hubs, 
 and staves and the like, but on sawed boards and hewn tind)er and 
 other things that may j)roperly be called raw material. What is the 
 object of this tariff duty ? Scarcely to raise revenue, for the stun of 
 money flowing into the Treasury from this source is compnratively 
 small, the duty being high enough to prevent large importations. 
 The object is, by impeding foreign competition, to enable liind)ermen 
 to cut and saw tind)er at a tempting profit ; lo protect and encourage, 
 not the manufacturing of house furniture and caliinet wa' e, and wagon 
 boxes and band staves — for those branches of industry would be 
 encouraged most by cheapening, not by increasing the jtrice of the 
 raw material — but, lo protect and encourage the cutting and sawing 
 up of trees, and thus the rapid destruction of the forests within our 
 own boundaries. We ])revent the British possessions north of us from 
 furnishing from tlu'ir abundance the raw material to our manufactor- 
 ies, thus obliging our neighbors to keep their forests comparativcdy 
 intact, while we insist upon swei'ping away (jiir own. In otiu'r words, 
 we pay to the lumbermen a prenuum for the devastation of our 
 country. 
 
 These facts are so plain and patent, and the disastrous consequences 
 are so obvious, that it would seem the mere statement of them must 
 convincre every sane man of the imperative and immediate necessity 
 of changing our )>olicy. It is not a matter that will l)rook delay from 
 year to year, for if we persist in our present course, our middle-aged 
 
10 
 
 iiK'ii will surely sim liictiiiu' wlu'ii tlte tMsi* ix past n-iiUMly. VV«' sIkmiM 
 nitlit'i' pay a bounty to every ii'iporler of sawed boards and liewii 
 timlier than impose a duty upon those articles. Only the Tarifl" C'oni- 
 inission did not si'c ihe pre-sintr iieed. It thoui;ht that this was too 
 Hourishins^ an industry to he disturl>e(l hy the witlnhawal of encourag- 
 ing protection. The preiniuni on the devastation of tlu- eountiy is 
 therefore sustaiiu'd. Hut may we not at least hope that son>i' men 
 may he found in Congress to rt' 'OoiMze an<l urge ujton their colleagues 
 the ni'cessity of immediate ;ind sweeping action 'i The Committee of 
 Ways and Means recommends oidy a jtartial and insiginticant reduc- 
 tion of the (hjty. It is evident that in this case nothing will do short 
 of placing the raw material, such iis sawed boards, hewn aiul scpiared 
 timber, etc., on the free list. Of cotirse, there will be the usual screech 
 against this indispensable measure of protection on the part of the 
 lumbering interest. But can the American peo))le aflford to sacrifice 
 an essential condition of the future ]»rosperity of tlie couiitry to the 
 destru<'tlve irreed of a few lumbermen ? 
 
 (.Itul cifftfin, JfdiU'iri/ 0, 1 SJi.) 
 
 Lei us now see what they did with regard to those kinds of tind»er 
 and lumber whidi can be imported for the benefit of the United 
 States. Pine and spruce lumber to tlie amount i»f o7f), ()()(),()(»() feet, in 
 round numbers, was imported into the United Stntes during the last 
 fiscal year. The Government received less than !!5l,'J(i(i,(»iii) in duties 
 upon this lumber. 
 
 Pine and spruce lumber to the amount of 11,()()(),0()(»,()00 feet was 
 matnifactured in the United States during the past year. The pur- 
 chasers of this domestic lumber paid a duty of ^22,0()(),itO() — not to 
 the Government, but to the manufactarers of lumber ; that is, the 
 great sum of §'2'_',()()(i,(>0() was taken from tlu' growth and pros[»erity 
 of the country, and ]>aid to a few manufacturers of lumber. It is not, 
 then, surprising that the manufacturers resist all attempts made to re- 
 move this duty. Pine and spruce hnnber are necessities of our civili- 
 zation, but the reduction in price which would follow the I'emoval of 
 the duty would probably not greatly stimulate their consumption. 
 Certainly, looking at the subject in the light of the necessity of forest 
 preservation, the danuvge done to the forest by increased consumption 
 would be nn»re than offset by the effect which thi' admission of Cana- 
 dian bimber would have in sparing our own forests. 
 
11 
 
 11(1 lu'Wii 
 
 ill (\.„i- 
 
 \v;is too 
 iiL'oiira^- 
 
 iintry Ik 
 >nic iticti 
 
 llt'Htriies 
 nitft'i' of 
 t rcdiic- 
 <lo sliort 
 
 scjuart'd 
 
 1 scret'ch 
 
 \ of the 
 
 sacriHci' 
 
 y fo tlu' 
 
 f tiniljiT 
 United 
 
 > fcc't, in 
 the la><t. 
 
 in (luiies 
 
 lei't was 
 riie pur- 
 
 — TU)t to 
 
 t is, the 
 DSperity 
 I is not, 
 \e to IV- 
 ir civili- 
 loval of 
 inption. 
 •f forest 
 imption 
 f Cana- 
 
 Tlu' roniovai of this duty is soniethin^ inoif tiiaii a <|iicsti(>ii <if five 
 trade or protection. Its importance must not hi' measured by the ad- 
 vantages of cheap or dear lumber for the consumer, important as this 
 (jueslion is, nor by its effect npon the manufacturer. Il means pro- 
 tection or destruction of tlie forests, and thi- destruction ol ilic fori'sts 
 means a yreat natit>nal calamity. 
 
 This matter cannot be postponed ; our forests, as has been shown, 
 are rapidly s^vejit away by the drains now made upon them. They 
 iruist be relieved, and their only possible relief is foutid in Canada. 
 The ti22,(K)(),000 which the tarilY takes from the pockets of the con- 
 sumers of lumber is unimportant in comparison with tJie indirect 
 damaji;e tliis tariff causes to the country by liastening the destruction 
 of the forests. VV^e must lof»k (his matter clearly in the face ; we 
 must not deliberately allow our forests to be destroyed, and entail 
 upon ourselves and our children all the evils which their destruction 
 will bring, merely to make a few lumbermen rich. On this one point 
 tariff reformers and protectionists can well meet on tlie common 
 ground of public necessity. The future prosperity of tlie country is 
 at stake ! 
 
 (77(6 EcenliKj /'out.) 
 
 PROTECT THK FOKKSTS. 
 
 It is to be hoped that our protectionist friends will, at their meeting 
 to-night, say something on the subject of forest protection. This is 
 one of which all can unite in urging upon Congress the immediate 
 necessity. As the Metropolitan Industrial League, a truly protectionist 
 organisation, most pertinently says, "It seems so unnatural that we 
 should consuu)e ourselves [meaning our forests | first, and then depend 
 upon the chance generosity of <tthers, that the free admi8ist>n of 
 timber is recommended " 
 
 The white pine, that has in the past furnislu'd nearly the whole of 
 our timber su|)plies, and is now furnishing al>out one-half (according 
 to Profes.sor Sargent), will cease to exist if tlie present destruction of 
 it is kept up for eight years longer. 
 
 Our own State of New York, which thirty years ago swp])lied one- 
 half of the ei\tir»' production of the United States, is now dependent 
 wholly for its suj)ply of this wood on Canada and the lower peninsula 
 of Michigan, 'i'he latter has so far exhausted its supply of this 
 
Ill 
 
 12 
 
 timber tliat it in elaitncd from invost illation tliat four years more, at 
 tlie present rate of euttiiig, Avill exhaust the wliole stock. 
 
 Whatever difference may exist as to the ])ropriety <"f protecting 
 other interests, there can be none patriotically urged against the pro- 
 tection of tlie remnant of our pine forests. While taking care of 
 favored industries, the advocates of high tariff duties sliould aid the 
 pcuplc at U'ast in securing tliis crumb of l»encticent protection for so 
 imjiortant a general interest, by recoinmen<ling the striking off of the 
 duty oil lumber and all kindred duties which eJicourage the devasta- 
 tion of tlie country. 
 
 {Kansas Citi/ Times, Jannarij ;i, 188M.) 
 
 THE TARIFF ON LIMHKR. 
 
 No change will be made \v the tariff on lumber. The <luty is $2 per 
 1,000 on pine and %\ on hemlock, basswood or lin, as it is called here, 
 and other soft woods. Lumber is used by every farmer who must 
 build himself a house or fence his farm. Why should it be taxed? 
 No country brings lumber lure but Canada. The pine timber there is 
 practically inexhaustible, while, i( is said, the pineries in Michigan and 
 Miimesota, and also in the eastern states, are rapidly becoming ex- 
 hausted. Why not, when the new farms are being settled up and the 
 l»eople poor, let them get hnnber as cheaj) as possible? Soon our 
 pineries will be used up and then W"' will be dej)eiident altogether on 
 a foreign supply. 
 
 Great <juantities of saw logs were cut in Canada and brought to the 
 IJniteil States to be cut into lumber, but when the tariff was put on 
 Canadian lumber that go\ernment retaliated by putting an export 
 duty on saw logs, so that the business of importing logs was killed. 
 The price of lumber here weilt up two dollars ]»er thousand as soon as 
 the tariff went into effect, so the Canadians got the old price for their 
 lumber, and the jx'ople here, who are trying to make the country, are 
 absolutely robbed of that amount on each 1,000 feet of pine lumber 
 they buy. The United States treasury don't want the money. It only 
 enhances the price of lumber to a business the most lucrative and |»ro- 
 fitable in the country, and certainly opjiresses the farmer in getting 
 comfortable buildings. Of all senseless tariff regulations this is the 
 most senseless. 
 
 Lumber is an article no farmer can do without. The first settlers 
 in any new locality have to live in any kind of habitation they can 
 
13 
 
 < more, at. 
 
 protecting 
 st the pro- 
 '_C <ar{' of 
 <1 aid the 
 • 111 for so 
 off of the 
 devasta- 
 
 y is $2 per 
 lied here, 
 who must 
 he (axed? 
 M- there is 
 li^an and 
 )niing ex- 
 p and the 
 Soon our 
 <j:ether on 
 
 fht to the 
 as put on 
 m exj)ort 
 as killed. 
 8 soon as 
 for their 
 ntry, are 
 e lumber 
 ■. It only 
 and pro- 
 getting 
 is is the 
 
 settlers 
 they can 
 
 get — sod houses, diig-ouls, tents, every kind of sul)stitute. Tenderly 
 nurtured women, men who have been brout^dit up in tine homes, ehild- 
 ren upon whom the winds of heaven liave never blowri roughly, ujton 
 some reverse of fortune liave, with breaking hearts and weejting eyes, 
 found themselves upon the bare prairie with scareely a shelter but the 
 blue areh of heaven, with the wild winds more pitiful than the pitiless 
 moekery of a free government at Washington. Why tnx the rough 
 boards they must have not to make a comfortable liome, but to save 
 even their lives? Whv, bv a hiuh taiiff, stimulate the i)riee of a e<Mn- 
 modify that must soon be gone, and thus cause our pineries to be 
 sooner exhausted ? To keej) the money in the country, do yon say? 
 The $2 j)er thousand extra would never leave tlie poor man's pocket 
 that now goes to enrich a few hunber rings who lu.w coi.trol the price 
 of lumber all over these United States, and not a foot can be soltl be- 
 low the price they name. The tariff makes it possible for them to do 
 this, and it should be abolished. 
 
 (77!*' Ndtion, A'em York, JunKar;/ 4, I88M.) 
 
 THE TAUIFK ON 1,1 MUKR. 
 
 The representatives of the Chicago lumber manufacturers who ap- 
 peared last autumn before the 'J'ariif Commission and advocated tlie 
 retention of the tariff on lumber, were endowed, it is to be hoped, witli 
 a f.'iir sense of humor, else they must lose much of the enjoyment to 
 wliich they are entitled in contuiiplating the readiness with which 
 their bait was swallowed by the conmiii-sioi.. The joke is excellent, 
 ev«'n if the jiublic at large ciunot quite appreciate it. Tlie luml)ermen 
 tliink that (he present <liity ef ^2 jier l,()(i() feet imposed upon lumber 
 entering the Vnittd States from the l)<imiiiion of Canada is reason- 
 abb', and the 'J'arift Commission ctiiciiis with (lum in this view. 
 What are the facts in the case which the T;iiiff Coniiiiission should 
 have taken into consideration in disdissing this duty iipen Canadian 
 lumber? We are now, since the jmblication of the Fiiiestiy Bulletins 
 of the Census, for the first time in a position to examine the subject 
 really intelligently. 
 
 The duty was placed \\\)o\\ Canadian lumber in tlie interest o( the 
 Northwestern lumbemun. It benetited no other class, and was desired 
 in no otlier section. The lumbernKn of the Northwest argued that 
 
14 
 
 thi'ir pine t'on-sts were inexhaustibh' — aMe to .^upply indertnitrlv all 
 the demands till' country could ever make upon tbera: and that beyond 
 the houndary these forests extended indefinitely, e^Mitainisig such a 
 body of lunihcr that tlie human mind could not even gra.ip its im- 
 mensity. They could manufacture all the lumber the country couhl 
 ever need. IJut if the Canadians, with their fj;reater facilities fm- uian- 
 iifacturinu:, their lower wages and l)elter timbt-r, should be admitted 
 to comiietition, the home manufactories nnist perish. By exaggerat- 
 inir the extent of the nine forests of the I'nited States, thev we'-3 able 
 to purchase pine lands at a nominal price. l>y maintaining the duty 
 upon Can.adian lumber, they were enabled to manufacture lumber at 
 a large ])rofit. The plan was well conceived and suc<'essful ; but un- 
 fortunately the census brought some disagreeable facts to light. It 
 showed that in I8S0, even, the pine forests of the country had already 
 severely suffered, and that chey were not only not inexhaustible, but in 
 reality almost exhausted. It showed that the proiluction of white-pine 
 lumber had increased and was increasing with dangerous rapidity, and 
 that the complete extinction of Chicago as a great lumber-distributing 
 ])oint could be foretold with entire certainty. The publication of these 
 facts was followed by the natural results: the ))rice of pine land 
 doubled in a few nu)nths, and in some i-ases even quadrupled. But 
 the lumbermen still presevered a bold front. They denounced the 
 census, and set to work to discover undiscoverable pine. 
 
 Their first venture was in Tennessee; and on the western slopes of 
 the Allegheny mountains and the Cumberland Plateau, where the 
 broad-leaved forest of the Mississi])pi b.i 'n culminates in all its rich- 
 ness and beauty, their organs discovered grt-at body of white pine, 
 wb .oil contained more lumber than Michigan could boast upoa the day 
 of its discovery. The choice of locality had been badly made; Kast 
 Tennessee was too well known, and had to be aband<med. Their next 
 attempt was made in the North. A traveler and woodsman of tre- 
 mendous experience and intelligence rushetl into Chicago, breathless 
 with excitement. He had discovered, on a little stream flowing from 
 the north into the Georgian Bay, a body of the most nnigiiificent white 
 pine the eye of man had ever beheld. It contained hundreds or thous- 
 ands of billion feet of lumber — enough to supply the United States 
 and Canada for at least a century. Tnliappily, it was shown that the 
 stream in (piestion was only about thirty miles in length, that the val- 
 ley which it w;itere(l was situated near the extreme northern edge of 
 the pine forest, and that the few pine trees which grew along its banki* 
 
15 
 
 I'fmilrlv .ill 
 hat bfVoiKl 
 ing siuli a 
 a.-p ils im- 
 111 try could 
 <'s tor iiiaii- 
 e ailmittfd 
 t'.\a<r<j;erat- 
 \vt" ' able 
 ir the duty 
 luHjlter at 
 I : l»iit u!i- 
 ' liu'lit. It 
 lad already 
 il)lf, but in 
 white-pine 
 pidity, and 
 istributing 
 on of these 
 pine land 
 )led. Bui 
 >unced the 
 
 n slopes of 
 when the 
 all its rich- 
 ivliito pine, 
 ►Oil the dav 
 ia<le; Kast 
 Tlu-ir next 
 lan of tre- 
 breathless 
 \\'\n]i from 
 cent white 
 Is or tlious- 
 it»'d States 
 n\ that the 
 lat the val- 
 Tii edtje of 
 \l its Iiaiiks 
 
 among the han'ior denseness of the great sub-arctic forests of the 
 north, \sere sirattered, small, and utterly worthless for commercial pur- 
 p(»ses. 
 
 All this had occurred before the meeting of the Tariff Commission 
 in Chicago, The lumbermen, finding that they could no longer secure 
 the raw material at a nominal prii-e, were more anxious than ever to 
 maintain the duty «>n Camulian lumbei-, and so kee)» up the price of the 
 luanuractured article. The vast resour<'es of the Canadian forests, and 
 the dangers which I lirealeiud the lumber m.-iiuifactories of the rnite<l 
 St.ites from Canadian competition, were still held up as sullicient rea- 
 sons for maintaining the duty. It is still im]).»ssible to spi'ak with great 
 precisi«»n of the Canadian forests. Their extent, but not their produc- 
 tive capacity, is known. They arc composed, east of the Kocky 
 Mountains, of pine and fir, and west of the liocky Mountains largely 
 of fir. The number of broad-leaved trees whi(^h extend north of the 
 Iduindary of the United States is (•oniparativel> small, and none of 
 them attain either the size or quality of the sann' species further south. 
 Thecomiietition, tlu'u, which we have t<» fear fnnn Canadian lumber isin 
 |Mueand spruce; that is, in <'omparatively cheap woods, which enter into 
 the general ('(/iistruction of all building."*, and which are among the prime 
 necessities of civilized lifi'. But if the productive capacity ol Canadian 
 j)ine forests is less known than that of our own, reliable information is not 
 entirely wanting in reg.ird totiiem. Intelligent estimatesof the amount 
 of pine standing in Canada have been made, and, although ditf. ring con- 
 siderably in amount, they are not without value, as it apjiears that the 
 last estimates made differ from the earlier ones principally because they 
 include small trees, which a few years ago were entirely disregarded. 
 It is safe to assume, in any case, that the existing Canadian ))ine 
 forests will not yield more than 40 to .^(^ooCOOOjOOO feet of mer- 
 chantable pine. The pnxluction of white-pine lumber in the United 
 States is now not fur from l(),()()0,oO(t,()0() feet. annually ; so that, in 
 order to protect the Chicago lumbermen from competition with a 
 l>ody of pine which does not exceed four oi five years' supidy for this 
 country, we impose a tax of $2 upon every 1,()00 feet of white pine, 
 spruce, or Oregon fir used in the Inited States. The manufacturers 
 of lumber grow rich ; the consumers and the forests suffer. 
 
 The country is not without words of warning in regard to the 
 dangeriL' which threaten the forests ; they have been spoken far and 
 wide. !'• the meantime we continue to take ^2 from the pocket of 
 every man using a thousand feet of pine or spruce lumber, an<l hand 
 
16 
 
 it over to the in:muractun'rs jih a bounty <o indue*' fliciii to (U'Ptroy 
 the forests more iai)iflly. It is natural, then, that the tnanufacturers 
 renist any attempt to have this duty removed. Tliey will make si still 
 more determined Kj/lit to prevent it. 'I'liey are bold, rich, and tinited. 
 They are actuated by a single purpose — to convert the greatest amount 
 of forest Into the largest amount of money in the shortest possible 
 time. Their organization is perfect. They contnd Legislatures and 
 elect members of Congress ; they own (lovernors and Si'uators. They 
 know what they want and they mean to have it any cost, and without 
 regard to the future j)ros)MMity of the country. It will lake something 
 stronger than the Tariff Commission to make them let go their grip 
 upon the people. We repeat, the tariff duty <,n lumber is a premium 
 on the devastation of the country, and should be repealed without 
 delay. 
 
 {Tltii WeeJdy Wifvrsn, Neir i'ork, Ja/iuan/ -it/i, l^S:i.) 
 
 TIMHKK AND IHIC TAIUKK. 
 
 Of all the features of the jtresent tariif it would be difficult to find 
 one .so utterly stupid and blind to self-interest as that regarding lum- 
 ber. As every one knows, our timber supjily is being used up with 
 alarming ra[)iility. Yet we put a jiremium upon the destruction of 
 our forests by obstructing the importation of lumber from Canada, 
 and preserve the wealth of our Northern neighbors l)y discouraging 
 them from cutting their timl»er for our benefit. 
 
 The proti'ctive system as applied to manuf:ietui"ing industry, has 
 many |)lausible arguments in its favor. It is claimed for it that it 
 makes the country self-dependent in case of war, and that is certainly 
 a great advantage. It is claime<l that this system makes wages 
 high. It is clainu'd that protection makes things cheaper in the h)ng 
 run by inducing such competition in the favored industries as to bring 
 down prices. There are many plausible argunu'iits such as the fore- 
 goii'.g, in favor of jjrotection to manufacturing industries; and how- 
 ever fallacious these may be jiroved to be, it is not to be wondered at 
 that they find credence in many honest but unreflecting minds. 
 
 There is likewise something to be said in favor of duties even upon 
 many raw materials roduced in this country. 
 
 But how is it in tuc case of timber? Our forest resources are not 
 only not inexhaustible, but a very few years will see the end of them. 
 
17 
 
 to (loptroy 
 MifnctiirtTs 
 iimIvc ',\ still 
 i!i(l united, 
 est amount 
 'st possible 
 aturcs and 
 tors. They 
 lid without 
 
 HoinetliinLj 
 • their grip 
 a premium 
 'd wil^hout 
 
 ult to find 
 •tling lum- 
 'd up with 
 ruction of 
 ;n Canatla, 
 !Cou raging 
 
 lustrj-, has 
 it that it 
 5 certainly 
 :es wages 
 ti the long 
 s to hring 
 s the fore- 
 and liow- 
 indered at 
 ds. 
 iven upon 
 
 es are not 
 i of them. 
 
 Wood is a raw mali'rial than whieii there is none of more general and 
 imperative need. Frame houses are huilt of it. JJri :k and Htone 
 houses recprire it for floorings, doors, window-sashes, roofs, etc. It 
 enters into the construction of barns, stables, sheds, and outbiiildingf? 
 of all kinds. It is the material for tables, bedsteads, and other furni- 
 ture. Steamboats and wagons are made of it, and it i» used in im- 
 mense quantities for railroad tics. Indcc*! it would be hardly pos- 
 sible to overestimate the value of wood, and the impcjrtance of ensur- 
 ing an abundant supply. And yet wh.i bus been our policy in this 
 matter? With one hand the government offers timber claims and 
 various bonuses to induce farmers to jdant forests which will not be 
 available till some distant future day; while with the other hand it 
 offeis a premium to lumbermen to cut away the forests we have, which 
 have been generations in attaining their present size. Canada has 
 vast forests which wo might hive drawn upon, under free trade — 
 that is, if the Canadians had been foolish I'nong'-. to cut them as reck- 
 lessly as we have cut ours. On the contrary we have delil)crately 
 obstructed the importation of Canadian lumber, and not only com- 
 pelled our people to i)ay a big' er price than otherwise for this article 
 of prime necessity, but destroyed in the m<^st prodigal fashion a herit- 
 age which it is hardly possible in the lifetime of this generation to 
 restore. All this has been done for tl.. benefit of a few wealthy lum- 
 bermen, who may be depended u})on to make consumer* pay the high- 
 est possible i>rice, and who care moi'e for immediate profit to them- 
 selves than for the future timber resources of the country. If there is 
 any possible way of defending such protection as that, we would like 
 to know it. 
 
 {27i£ Commercial Gazette, Cincinnati, January o, 1883.) 
 
 nOUNTIKS TO DKSTKOY THE PORKSTS. 
 
 Scientific people say that forests temper the extremes of climate, 
 equalize the rainfall, equalize the flow of streams, and so preserve fer- 
 tility, and increase comfort. They dej^lore the rapid cutting down of 
 our forests, and patriotic men have formed associations to promote 
 the jdanting of woods, to counteract this tendency to drouth and bar- 
 renness. The object seems highly patriotic. But while we are thus 
 trying to propagate forestry by individual and associated voluntary 
 
18 
 
 :lii 
 
 HI 
 
 cflort. arc wo !!.»!, as a wliolc, stiiinilatii)f; tlic (■uttii\g(»f our fore t by 
 an cxtraord'marj' (JiiviTiimcut Ixmiity y The duties laid on iinportc*! 
 tinilKT and linnbcr arc a direct l»«tunty j»aid l>y the i»eo|»Ie for inowinj; 
 down the forests of our country. 
 
 As well send out an army of incendiaries, and then expect to ecjual- 
 ize the moisture by following witli a liand-sciuirt, as trying to counter- 
 act the effects of this bounty in cutting down the forests, by planting 
 trees. We are even more absunl than this ; for the Government gives 
 the ])ublic lands as bounties to those who [)lant them with trees, whili! 
 it pays this bounty for cutting off the natural forests. The duty on 
 timber is tweuty-tive per cent, on ''hewn and sawed, and timber us.ed 
 for spars, and in Ituiiding wharves," and ^1 a hundred cubic feet on 
 '' s((uared or sided, not especially enumerated;" on sawed boards, 
 deal, and other sawe(l lumber, jj!;.' per thousand feet, e.\ce[)t on hendock, 
 basswood, sycamore and wliitewood which are '%l per one thousand 
 feet, board measure, and from si. 50 to ¥.{.r)0 for boards in the several 
 'degrees of planing and grooving ; <ti) hubs for wheels, posts, wagon- 
 blocks, and all sorts of sawed or rough-hewn blocks, twenty per cent.; 
 and so on through staves, shingles, lath, clapboards, and tlie rest. 
 The Tariff Commission lets these duties stand. 
 
 These duties on timber and luinlier are not jtrotective in the sense 
 that other protecti- ibities are held ; they are destructive. The ob- 
 ject of protective duties on foreign products is to extend over our pro- 
 dnctio'i of th(»se articles; but the lundier dutiesdo not promote the pro- 
 duction of lumber in our country ; on the contrary, they destroy the 
 s«ip|)ly. It is like paying a bounty to encourage the eating up of seed 
 corn. These destroyed forests are not renewed. Either the land is 
 taken for tillage, or it is left to grow up with poor scrubs. It does 
 not again renew the same timber. This affair can be considered apart 
 from any question of the theory of protection, for these duties are 
 not protective of the home product. 
 
 The sn\all revenue from the wood duties proves their effect in stimii 
 lating the destruction of our forests. And while these duties are ex- 
 tinguishing the great store of timber which the bounty of Nature gave 
 us, they are a burden upon every industry and upon the living of every 
 workman. Besides, their lack of discrimination makes the farmer ])ay 
 the same bounty to the domestic lumbermen on the inferior boards- 
 for fences, barns and sheds as the importer pays upon clear lumber 
 and the finer (jualities. And at the same time mahogany, rosewoo<l 
 and satinwood are admitted free. 
 
[• fore ?t bv 
 
 * 
 
 1 iin]M)rt('<l 
 or mowinic 
 
 ;t to equal- 
 to couuttT- 
 )y planting 
 mu'tit n'lvi'H 
 IrceH, while 
 he 'liity on 
 iniber uicd 
 bit', feet on 
 'ed boards, 
 )n hemlock, 
 e thousaiKl 
 the several 
 sts, wagon- 
 y )»er cent.; 
 d tlie rest. 
 
 the sense 
 The ob- 
 er our })ro- 
 [jte the pro- 
 estroy the 
 up of seed 
 the land is 
 It does 
 lered apart 
 duties are 
 
 ct in stiniu 
 
 ties are ex- 
 
 ^"^ature gave 
 
 tiLT of every 
 
 farmer ])ay 
 
 lor boards- 
 
 ar lumber 
 
 , rosewood 
 
 
 19 
 
 Let Congress al)olish its land bounties for tree culture, so long as it 
 continues to force the consumers of lumber to pay a bounty to the 
 hnnbernu'ii for mowing down our forests. Canada has a vast <lofnain 
 of forest, conci-rniiig whose uitinnte I'xhaustion we need not trouble 
 ourselves. Let her furnish our lumber, or a part of it. Let oui lum- 
 bermen go there and bring it iii free of duty, and so do good to every 
 branch of labor. Even if i> should diminish the protits of the great 
 iuono[»olists, who have bntuirht up va<t tracts of the pine lands, it will 
 he for the general good, .md, prol)ably, in the end, will not reduce 
 their gains. The duties on tind)er and lumber should be wholly abol- 
 ished, as not protective but destructive. 
 
 ( 77/r iSk/i, Jdnuarif iStli, 188:}.) 
 
 FOKEST I'RoTKiriON. 
 
 The intelligent discussion which the action of the Committee oi 
 Ways and Means in recommending the retention of the duty upon 
 lumber entering the Cnite<l States has excited in all ])arts of the 
 country, is gratifying. It indicates that purely economic (piestions are 
 growing in popular favor, and that everything relating to our fore^'.s 
 or forest protection interests the jjcople. 
 
 It is probably this interest in forest protection, rather than the de- 
 sire for cheaper lund)er for the consumer, which underlies this discussion. 
 
 It is the height of folly, of course, to tax foreign lumber. The 
 duties collected in this way by the Government are insignificant in 
 amount, and every dollar thus collected is taken, over and over again, 
 from the consumer of domestic lumber for i le sole benefit of the man- 
 ufacturers. These have not the excuse of a weak and undeveloped in- 
 dustry which must be built up at the expense of the consumer for the 
 general good of the country. 
 
 The manufacturers of lumber are rich, prosperous, and strong. 
 Their methods and facilities for carrying on their business are unsur- 
 passed. No possible competition can deprive them of large profits. 
 If there exists mi the l"'nited States a single industry which is in the 
 position to flourish without protection, it is the lumber industry. 
 
 From purely economic grounds this duty should be removed. It 
 has served to build up dangerous monopolies, and it represses the pros- 
 perity of the country. It is evident, however, that the wide interest 
 manifested in this question arises less from the feeling that it is desir- 
 
m 
 
 *0 
 
 ablo fo prevent monopoly tliiin Ironi the fact that the removal of this 
 •luty is tlie iirst, and :ui in<lispensal»K'. step toward forest protection. 
 The forest (juestion is hecominj; one of the popular (pie<tions «»f the 
 day, and every thinjx which relates to the extent and eondition of our 
 forests is eagerly read an«l disensseil. It reipiires no great knowledge 
 of the siihjccl to und(Mwtjjiid that if Caii;idian hnnher is i-vcludcd hy 
 the tariff, tlif drain upon on. forests must he greater tlian if Canadian 
 lumber was alloweil to ('<impete on e(pial terms w ith the product of 
 our own forests. Tiu' people undti'stand this ; tliey understand that 
 the destruction of the forests means something more serious than a 
 <learth of lumlter. They apprehend that the removal of the forests 
 will he followed hy se\<'re climatic changes; that the rivers of the 
 country will often he eliange<l t(» torrents or I'cdiiced to streandcts; 
 that springs anil streams will disapjjcar ; that agriculturi- will perish 
 and niinufactures languish. They see these evils hastened hy the re- 
 tention of this pnttective duty; they ask themselves hy what right the 
 prosperity of the country is])laecd in jeO|iai'dy because it is the pleasure 
 of a group of men to grow rich, and because Congress is too ignorant 
 or too indilTercnt to stop this abuse. No more vital (piestioji can come 
 before Congress; perhaps no Ci)ngress has ever been called on to de- 
 cide an economic (piestion of greater moment. 
 
 Is there no man who can j^in tlu' discordant elements of the Pro- 
 tectionists, the Tariff Reformers, and the Free Traders; who can unite 
 Democrats and llcjiublicans on the broad plat form of public nei-essity, 
 to check this destruction of our wasting forests ? Such a man will 
 deserve the name of statesman and the gratitude of tlie countrv. 
 
 {lioxtou lit r all, Janmirij 10, 1883.) 
 
 LOGIC OF P!{OTi:CTION. 
 
 In the tariff on lumber another consideration apjjcars. Lumber 
 needs no protection. The price has rapidly advanced under the law 
 of supply and demand. Our forests are disappearing. We need to 
 protv'ct them from destruction. 
 
 It wo>dd be wisdom to encourage the importation of lumber from 
 Canada to save our own forests. On the c(mtrary, we shut out Cana- 
 dian lumber by the tariff. * * ♦ * * 
 
 -j»».i_. 
 
■al of tlnH 
 protection. 
 HIS of tlie 
 loii of our 
 ktiowK'di^o 
 :chi<l('(l l)y 
 f Caiiinlian 
 |»ro<liu'l of 
 staml that 
 ous than a 
 tht' forests 
 '^ers of the 
 streamlets; 
 will perish 
 l)y tiie re- 
 it ritj;ht the 
 he pleasure 
 DO ignorant 
 m can come 
 il on to de- 
 
 of tiie Pro- 
 
 o can unite 
 
 necessity, 
 
 a man will 
 
 nlrv. 
 
 Lumber 
 
 er the law 
 
 Te need to 
 
 iniher froni 
 
 t out Cana- 
 * * 
 
 31 
 
 An>/ (iifithi Jiiniiiir;/ 14: 
 The tariff on luniher is woiking as badly o»i the Pacific coast as in 
 the rest of the country. The mills on Pni^et Sound, which supply a 
 larLCe proportion of the lumber other than redwood used on the coast, 
 are in tlu' eontnd of a combination by wl.'ieh prices are kept up, which 
 bears heavily on the growth of Washington ttMTifory and Oregon. 
 There is an abundane of lundn'r in liritish Columbia, but it is ke]>t 
 out by the duty of *'2 a thousand. The Anu'riean forests, which most 
 needs protection, ar(> not protected by this jiroleetion polic}'. 
 
 ( The Iti'.fnr^l and (iituh, Xein yOrk. .huinnnj l.'J, 188.'J.) 
 Ill his last messsage. President Aithur made reference to the ra})id 
 destruction of the forests throughout the cou'itry, and stated that 
 ''their total extinction cannot long be delayed, unless better methods 
 than now jirevail shall l)c adoptccl for their protection and cultivation." 
 Ani)ther eminent autln»rity, Professor Sargent, give^ it as his opinion 
 that within eight years the whole of the white pine forests will have 
 been subjected to tlu' axe, and that the c((untry will thereafter be 
 dependent for its supply from foreign sources. It will thus be seen 
 that unless Congress interferes to stop the further destruction of these 
 trees the country will within a few years be deinided of a timber 
 which is usi'd more than any other f(»r buihiing. furniture, ship-build- 
 ing, and a variety of other |»urj)oses. It is true that forests of pine 
 trees can l)e recultivated, but as it w<iuld take a generation before 
 they would reach maturity and be ready for th'> ;narket, it is evident 
 that for many years the country would have to obtain its supi)ly from 
 Canadian and other extraiu'ous sources. It i surprising, in view of 
 the>e facts, that neither the Tariff Conunission nor the House Com- 
 mittee of Ways and Means have reco]nmende<l tiie abolition of the 
 tariff on timlier at a linu' when this appears t<* be so necessary. It is 
 true the latter lia\i' advised t' „• reduction of twenty-tive per ci'iit. on 
 certain articles of lumber ; Imt as the items I'ected do not yield an 
 annual revenue of nu)re than a few thousund collars, the (piestion can 
 hardly bv^" said to have been touched on the fringe. The entire annual 
 revenue from imports on all kinds of lumber is <jnly ^i,500,i)()(>, a sum 
 which can be easily spared from the Treasury ; and now that the 
 necessity for their abolition has been evident, it is to bi ho[)eil that 
 Congress will not fail to place them on the free list wlien they come 
 to deal with the (piestion of tariff reform. 
 
(il 
 
 22 
 
 {The Nein Yor/>- Dail;/ Commercial Bulletin, Januar)/ 1:1.) 
 
 TIMHEK ANI> TIIK TAKIFF. 
 
 For some years past there has been a growing interest in the suhject 
 of forestry, and througli tlie labors of Forestry Associations the pub- 
 lie have been brought to some extent to reaUzethe ]»ro<ligality in our 
 consumption of timber. The interest has irisen mainly from eonsid- 
 era*^ions of climatic and meteoric changes, thought to be induced by 
 the destructions of forest, liurtful l»oth to the public health and to 
 tlie agricultural interests of the country. It has been sought to 
 remedy the evil by inciting the landowner to i)lant trees, and to 
 endeavor thus, for the benetit of i)is posterity if not for himself, to re- 
 store the equilibi'ium that has been so unwittingly desti'oyed. Some 
 enthusiasts have even urged the prolitableness of tree-i)lanting as a 
 cr<»p, seeking to demonstrate that the growth would yield a good rate 
 of interest, and that profits can be taken in a very few years. Nor 
 has this matter bec" regarded as concerning solely, or even mainly, 
 the oldei" sections of the country, l)ut rather as having a special bear- 
 ing u])on those regions of the West where llu' large supply of par- 
 ticular kinds of wood have brought them i to common consumi)tion, 
 and where vast prairie regions are treeless and the teeming iidiabitants 
 and their property are at the mei-cv of storm- and winds that gather 
 fury in their long sweep, unltroken and rntenipcred by forests. 
 
 All this is very \vell, no doubt, and j)rizes, as pro)»osed, may well be 
 offered fen- tree-planting in this country, as in England and im the 
 Continent. Hut there has suddenly come to the front a new ])hase of 
 the subject, brought conspicuously to light by the late census report 
 on the lumber industry of tin; country. This report was made by 
 Professor Sargent, a gentleman eminently fitted for the task, and it 
 reveals the startbnix fact that the destruction of our forests, in the 
 prosecution of the lumber industry, is proceeding at so rapid a rate 
 that we are on the verge of an exhaustion of the su)>])ly This com- 
 mercial aspect of the situation is of })arami>uut interest to the country, 
 and deni'inds a pronijit and candid consideration <»n the part of the 
 people and of Congress. The extent of the tree slaughter may be 
 seen in the following item of sawed products as returned in the 
 census of 1 .S80 : 
 
 Feet of lumher 18,091, iWfJ.OOO 
 
 Nutnhor of laths 1.7(il ,7H8,0()0 
 
 Numhei' of sliiugles 5,5.').'), 04r),000 
 
 Number of staves l,248,22r).00i) 
 
1^3 
 
 n the subject 
 )ns tlic pub- 
 j;ality in our 
 rom consid- 
 iiuluccd l)y 
 'liltli •md to 
 1 soufxht to 
 rees, and to 
 injself, to rc- 
 oyed. Sonic 
 anting as a 
 a good rati" 
 years. Nor 
 'vcn mainly, 
 special l)ear- 
 )l)ly of par- 
 consumption, 
 g iidial)itants 
 that gather 
 Drests. 
 
 may well he 
 
 and on the 
 
 u'w ))has(' of 
 
 cnsus report 
 
 as made l»y 
 
 task, and it 
 
 orests, in the 
 
 ■apid a I'ate 
 
 This eom- 
 
 ) the country, 
 
 part of the 
 
 liter may he 
 
 turned in the 
 
 18,01)1, :5.')(i,000 
 l,7(il, 788.000 
 
 5, r,r)r>, 040,000 
 
 1,348,220.000 
 
 Numberol' sets lieadiiigs 14(5,523.000 
 
 Feet of bol)l>in and spool 34,070,000 
 
 Value of products |233,307.729 
 
 But, besides these items, there are great quantities of trees brought 
 down for other purjjoses than for sawing. Professor Sargent says 
 that in a few years the entire present stock will be gone. This is 
 especially the ciise with the supply of white i)ine. Tiie total quantity 
 of this timber standing is ])ut at not above S0,00(),0()0,0()() feet, ;ind 
 the annual cutting of it at about 1(),()0(),()00,000 feet ; at which rate, 
 before another census year rolls around the sui>ply will be exhausted, 
 A genuine alarm has l)een sounded for some months. The President, 
 in his late me.s.sage, referred to it, and advised legislation for the pro- 
 tection of < ii forests. It is certainly incundient u))on Congress to 
 discourage this wholesale and reckless destruction of an articde of 
 ])rime necessity. We have to t'le north of us, in the British Domin- 
 ion, a storeh(»use of pine timber, j)erpetual by its situation beyond 
 the encroachments of agricidture, to which Ave should be looking for 
 relief. We have gone far enough in the direction of consuming our 
 own su])i>ly at anything like the jux'sent rate, and should begin at 
 once to draw more freely upon other sources. 
 
 But, in the face of these facts, the late Tariff Commission further 
 eiu'ourage and stimulate the present rate of oi'v timber waste by 
 continuing the tariff on the imi)ortation of lumber. This would 
 incite not only the lumber dealers to itu'rease production, but every 
 farmer having a marketable tree, tc cut it down. On the other hand, 
 the dealers are numerous and wealthy. The numl)er of sawing estab- 
 lishments in 1880 was 2"), 708, and their cai)ital ^lyi, 180, 123. They 
 have bceti alive to the situation that has been revealed, but in a direc- 
 tion (»})p()sed to the welfare (d' the country. They l\ave sought to 
 <lisparage the census report and have been shrewd enough to capture 
 the Tariff Commission. It is ordinary human nature on the ]»art of 
 the dealers to do this, though short-sighted ; but it is humiliating 
 weaknes on the ])art of the Commission to make sucii an exhibition 
 of its ignorance. What the country really needs is to have the duties 
 on foreign limber abolished altogether. It is another one of those 
 blunders on the part of protectionists that are rapidly arousing the 
 people to demand of their legislators to dissociate taxation from pro- 
 tection. Let us have a tariff that will protect the jieople — the country 
 at large — as against special interests. If the present tinkerings do not 
 do this, they should be thrown aside until real representatives of the 
 
24 
 
 people are intrusted with legislation. At any rate, let, us have the 
 legislative protection to our forest supplies that the President lately 
 advised ; and beyond this it is highly important that the public should 
 be brought to understand the advisability of using other materials 
 than timber, such as coal for wood, wire for fences, and stone, brick 
 and concrete for houses, as well as planting trees for health, use and 
 beautv. 
 
 {Daibj Gazette and Free I^ress, Elmira, Ja)niary 15, 1883.) 
 
 TIIK DUTY ON LUMUER. 
 
 If there is any one article which should jO admitted into our ports free 
 of duty and the import, of which should be in every way encouraged, 
 that article is timber. It is the height of folly to tax it. The duties 
 collected in this way are insignificant in amount, and every dollar thus 
 collected is taken, over and over again, from the consumer of domestic 
 lumbei- for the sole benefit of the manufacturers. These have not the 
 excuse of a weak and undeveloped industry, which must be built up at 
 the expen&e of the consumer for the general good of the country. 
 These manufacturers of lumber are rich, prosperous and strong. Their 
 methods ;uid facilities for carrying on tlu'ir business are unsurpassed. 
 No possible competition can dej)rivc them c their immense profits. If 
 there exists in the United States a single industry which is in the posi- 
 tion to fiourisli without protection, it is the lumber industry. 
 
 If from no other, from purely economic grounds, this should be 
 removed ; not reduced but absolutely, completely removed. It has 
 served to build up dangerous nu)nop()lies and represses the prosperity 
 of the country. There is a wide interest in this matter manifested in 
 this country, not only from the fev ling that the duties at present ex- 
 isting tend to the buihling up and continuance of monopolies, but from 
 the fact that public attention is at present specially directed toward 
 the preservation of our forests. 
 
 As a first step toward their preservation it is evident that the <luty 
 on Canadian luml»er ought to be removed. We impose a tax of two 
 dollars per thousand feet on lumber entering the United States from 
 Canada, and this duty, of course, instead of protecting the forests, 
 serves as a bounty for tlieir ra]»id destruction. It takes two dollars 
 out of the pocket of every uuui who buys a thousand feet of lumber 
 and hands it over to tlu' lumber manufacturers of Chicago and the 
 
 m 
 
25 
 
 IS have the 
 sident lately 
 lublic should 
 ler materials 
 stone, brick 
 ilth, use and 
 
 I, 1883.) 
 
 [)ur ports free 
 
 encouraged, 
 
 The duties 
 
 •y dollar thus 
 
 r of domestic 
 
 have not the 
 
 )e built up at 
 
 the country. 
 
 rong. Their 
 
 unsurpassed. 
 
 ite profits. If 
 
 IS in the posi- 
 
 try. 
 
 lis sliould be 
 )ve(l. It has 
 he prosperity 
 u;\nit'est(.'d in 
 \t |)resent ex- 
 •lies, but from 
 ccted toward 
 
 th;ir Ihe duty 
 a tax of two 
 d States from 
 >; the forests, 
 I's two dollars 
 L»et of lumber 
 cago and the 
 
 northwest, whom and whom alone it protects. This duty is a daily, 
 deadly drain on the resources of the country. It touches every man 
 w!)o builds a wooden liouse, barn or fence, or who pays rent to the 
 builder. It attacks every industry which uses wood in any way. We 
 pay more for our furniture, for our floors, even for our daily kindling 
 wood, because of this duty, and in addition to this per|)etUMl tax we 
 are destroying our own forests, robbing our children and doing incal- 
 culable iniurv to the climatic future of the ('<)untrv. 
 
 The forest (piestion is becoming one of the popular (juestions of the 
 day and everything which relates to the extent and condition <»f our 
 forests is eagerly read and discussed. It requires no great knowledge 
 of the subject to understand that if C'an;idian lumber is excluded from 
 this country l»y reason of a tax on its importation, the drain upon our 
 forests must be much greater than if foreign timber was allowed to 
 compete on equal terms witli 'he products of our own forests. The 
 people understand this. They know that the removal of the forests 
 will be followed by severe climatic changes; that the rivers of the 
 country will often be changed to torrents or red::ced to streamlets; that 
 springs and streams will disappear ; that agriculture will jx'rish and 
 nuxnufactures dwindle and languish. 'I'hey see these evils hastened, 
 by the retention of this protective duty and see no earthly reason why 
 it should be retained. Tile puhlie mischief that this tax is dobig is 
 so potent and so serious that its early abolition is imperatively de- 
 manded. 
 
 [Boston Dalhj A(ln*'rtisei\ Jan. 16//j, 18S3.) 
 
 THK LI MUKU TABIKF. 
 
 Neither in the senate nor in the house tariff bill is any ciiange made 
 in the wood schedule, which was also left unchanged l)y the Tariff 
 C'ommission. It wouhi be interesting to learn by what process of 
 reasoning the nu'inbers of the Tariff Commission an<l two conunittees 
 of C'Ongress have persuaded themselves that the I'nited States should 
 continue to iuij)ose a duty on lumber. The question may be looked 
 at from various points of view, but we can discover no way in which, 
 from any point of view, the tariff can he logically defended. It is 
 certainly not because we need the revenue that the duty should be 
 retained, antl that part of the case may be dismissed at once. It is 
 equally certain that the reason cannot be that the c iisumers of lum- 
 
^rr 
 
 I ! 
 
 I 
 
 L'G 
 
 bcr dt'siiv that :i ta\ l)e l:ii<l iii)on a part ov wlioU.' of tlie liinibor they 
 use. H(i\v is the duty t<i be (lefeiidcel as a ineasuii' of protection V 
 The object of protection is not to confer a benefit Uj>on the producers 
 of the articles protected, but to benefit tlie whole country. Unless a 
 protective duty either lielps to develope an industry which it is im- 
 ))ortant for the whole country shall be developed, or helps to maintain 
 the cxisteiure of industries which the good of the i-ountry requires 
 shall be maintained, there is no good defense of the <luty. How 
 stands the case with lumber V Tuder the])reseiit tariff the whole bur- 
 den of the home demand for lumber is thrown u])on the home forests. 
 Less than si\ ]»er cent, of the pine and spruce manufactured in the 
 United States in the course of a year is imported from Canada, which 
 is our only foreign source of su])j)ly. But we u^^e about eleven thou- 
 sand million feet of these kinds of wood every year, and according to 
 the last census there is left stamling not more than eighty thousand 
 million feet of white pine in the whole country. 
 
 The protective sy;-;tem, as applied to sugar, is not justifiable, be- 
 cause it is imj>ossi1)le that with the utmost possible protection the pro- 
 ]»roduction can be so stimulated as to give us a good supply 
 from home sonrces. It was because the farms of Great IJritain were 
 incapable of producing enough wheat to feed the ])eoplc of the British 
 Isles that the corn laws became indefensible, and the repeal of them 
 was wise and necessary. It is the same with sugar in this country ; 
 and it is even more strongly the same with respect to lumbiM*. Instead 
 of increasing under the stimulus of the tariff, our forests are d!sa])i)ear- 
 ing so rapidly tlnit in a very few years there will be nothing left to 
 |)rotect. Wood is a prime necessity, and will always be so. Notwith- 
 standing the use of stone and brick in building, and the abundance of 
 coal for fuel in England, enormous (juantities of wood ari' im])ort- 
 ed into that country annually. It must always be the same with us, 
 after our forests have beeii exhausted. Meantime, we are not dimii 
 ishing the consumption of lumber by the tarifl', nor are we inducing 
 anyborly to cultivate forests for timber, b .t we are enabling the own- 
 ers of woodlands to obtain a high price for their lumber. In short, 
 the protective tarifi" benefits nobody but these lumber kings. 
 
 Finally, the abrogation of the (bity is called for by the necessity 
 w»' are under of j)rotecting our forests in order to protect ourselves. 
 Instead of destroying our own forests we can destroy those of Canada. 
 And it must not be forgotten that the protection of forests means 
 something more thnn keeping up a supply of lumber. The ])roduction 
 
27 
 
 nibcr they 
 jrotfction ? 
 ' pi-oducors 
 I'niess ii 
 I it is ira- 
 to maintain 
 •y requires 
 ity. How 
 wliolo bur- 
 mo forests, 
 ired in tlie 
 I ad a, Avhieli 
 even thou- 
 ^cordinii; to 
 i tliousand 
 
 of lumber is by no means the most imjiortant function of the forests ; 
 the part they play in inoderatinii- climate, in proteetinij the surface 
 of tlie irround, and in re<>nihitintj the flow of streams, and in preserviiiij 
 springs, i;: now well understood by scientitie men, and we cannot safe- 
 Iv continue the rate of forest destruction which is now ifoino; ou in 
 every part of the country without serious danger to our future pros- 
 perity. As a step, then, towards checking tlie destruction of our for- 
 ests, for the removal of this duty can only delay for a few years thei 
 Hnal extinction of the white pine forests of the North, we urijjc u|)on 
 Congress the necessity of placing lumbei- and forest ))roducts of all 
 sorts, entering the United States, upon the free list. If there is any 
 place for protection in this schedule it is u])on furniture, woodenware 
 and other manufactures which recpiire something more than a saw-mill 
 for their ])roduction. 
 
 'ifiable, be- 
 ion till' pro- 
 ood supply 
 ritain were 
 the British 
 il of them 
 s country ; 
 Instead 
 disa]>pear- 
 ing left to 
 Notwith- 
 undance of 
 ire imjtort- 
 e with us, 
 not dimii 
 f inducing 
 g the own- 
 In short, 
 
 necessity 
 : ourselves, 
 of Canada. 
 ests means 
 ])roduction 
 
 (Spi'i.n(iP\i<l liipvhlican, Jait. IQf/i, 1S8.'1.) 
 
 TIIK Ll'MniOi; TAKIl'F. 
 
 Apparently neither the Seiiate Finance Committee nor lie Ways 
 and Means Committee of the House ])!-oposes to (jualify the duty on 
 lumber whicii thi- Taritt' Commission left as it was at |2 per M. If 
 wc had an unli-nited sup[)ly of lumber so that we could draw upon 
 oui' own resources without fear of exhaustion, or if timber <rro\vin«r 
 had become so well naturalized as to insure an unfailing supply by a 
 new growth, there might be some excuse for this imposition. As it 
 is, it simjdy shuts out the Canadian supply and puts a bounty on the 
 sweeping off of our own forests. It does not ''protect'' the forests 
 but destroys them, enriching the lumber niille:s, l)ut impoverishing 
 the people an<l inducing climatic changes and results of the greatest 
 gravity. 
 
 The census bureau investigation was able to tiiid only 8."i,()00,<>nO M 
 of white pine lumber standing in the United States, \\hich at th(> outside 
 would represent ten years' supply, at the present rate of c Iting. The 
 Canadian supply is estimated at less, but probal)ly approaches in amount 
 the American. The Canadian competition with our own forest> is in 
 white pine and s))ruce. — two of the most serviceable and Avidely used 
 woods in all the commoner uses to which lumber is put. The South- 
 ern supply is largely of hard pine, and the American broad-leaved 
 hanl woods can be ijrown much more readilv than a yood (lualitv of 
 pine. 
 
28 
 
 Prof. ('. S. tSargont who liud charge of the forestry statistics, found 
 staiKling May 31, 1S8(>, 47r),000 M of white j)iue in Maine, a, 000,000 
 M of spruce. During the year ending at that date there was out in 
 the same State i:)8,825 M feet of pine and .'K)1,000 M feet of spruce. 
 But in. Maine more attention is paid tluin elsewhere to tlie seh'ction of 
 oUl trees for market and the growth ot young ones, allowing tlie for- 
 ests to be prolital)ly worked at stated periods of from fifteen to 
 twenty-tive years. In New Hampshire and Vermont the white pine 
 is exliaustcd, and tlie spruce standing in 1880 was estimated at 1,510,000 
 and 755,000 M, res])ectively. But the destruction by one company 
 alone in Essex <'ounty, \'ermont, the i)resetit winter will be 80,000 M. 
 
 We believe that forestry growing is destined to be a j)roiltable in- 
 terest in this country, i)nt our peo|)le do not take leadily to invest- 
 ments which make slow reiuriis. In the intei'val it does not seem 
 wise to aggreijate the threatened destitution b\ excluding the Cana- 
 dian pine and spruce. Everything which enters into the construction 
 of duellings aflFects the j)eople most direccly. Besidi's. as Prof. Sar- 
 gent s)u)wed in some of his recent talks to farmers, there are numer- 
 ous industries in wooden ware of great nggregati' magnitude, wliich 
 depcml ujion a steady and reliable supi)ly of a stock at reasonuble 
 rates. Take off the duties and sj»;ire our own forests, for the jtresent 
 at least. 
 
 {'J7ie World, Xew York, JdiiiKfr;/ IX, \\m:^.) 
 
 TIIR LUMIJKJJ SWINDLE IN CONiiRKSS. 
 
 Mr. "■' * * the inde}tendent and public-spirited Senator from 
 Nebraska, yesterday made an emphatic protest against one partic- 
 ularly outrageous swindle of the tariff. Me moved to strike out the 
 wliole list of duties on wood and woodenware and let all these things 
 in tluty free. This was a ]>atriotic j»ro])osition, and was naturally oj»- 
 j)osi'd by * * who repri-seiits the men wh(» are anxious to clear out 
 what is left of the forests of Michigan, and * * who represents the 
 men who are anxious to clear out what is left of the forests of .Maine. 
 These greedy creatures in asking for a duty on timber or its products 
 are simply askii>g for a liounty to be given them for making awav 
 with the i)atrinu)ny of the country. The fact is that then is now onlv 
 eight years' supply of white pine left i^ the country. In round num- 
 bers, half the supj)ly in the markets of the Eastern States comes from 
 
 i 
 
r^asfS'^j 
 
 U's, founc] 
 0,000,000 
 as cut in 
 )f spruce, 
 lection of 
 i tlic for- 
 iftccn to 
 liitc |)inc 
 1,510,000 
 company 
 0,000 M. 
 i tabic in- 
 o iiivost- 
 lot seem 
 he Cana- 
 st ruction 
 *rof. Sar- 
 ' nunier- 
 c, which 
 ■asdiiable 
 I' lUH'sent 
 
 or from 
 * partic- 
 out the 
 e things 
 rally oj)- 
 •Icar out 
 icnts the 
 ■ Maine. 
 •roductK 
 g away 
 ow only 
 k! num- 
 es from 
 
 Canada and half from the lower peninsula of Michigan. In the latter 
 there were in 1880 estimated to be twenty-nine thousand millions of 
 feet remaining, and since then nine thousand millions of feet 
 have been cut and marketed, leaving at this rate between four 
 and five years' Hupply still available. It is this supply whicli we ought 
 to take some measures for preserving and protecting that * * * and 
 his clients insist we shall clear out as fast as possible. A pine tree is 
 not marketable until it is fifty years of age, and at that Jige only be- 
 gins to make clear lumber. The clear lumber, which ten years ago 
 formed 13 per cent, of the whole supply from Michigan, now 
 forms only 3 per cent, of the whole. This lumber comes from 
 trees between the ages of seventy-live and a hundred and twenty- 
 live years ; and the diminution from more than one-ninth to less than 
 one-thirtieth of the whole supply contributed by such trees means that 
 virtually all of them that are accessible have already been cut. How 
 their rei)lacement is to be secured is the problem that ought to agitate 
 statesmen. The problem that does agitate statesmen of the school of 
 * '^^ and of ■•' * is how can the rest of the forest be most speedily 
 and effectually cleared, and a bounty for clearing them, in the form of 
 a duty upon the competing product of Canada, is the device formed 
 by these statesmen for that end. We have seen tiiat the supply of the 
 lower peninsula of Michigan will be exhausted, at the present rate of 
 cutting, in less than live years. The pine forests of Maine, at the 
 present rate of cutting, will disappear in seven years. Mr. * * * 
 of Michigan, and Mr, * * of Maine, think it better that their lum- 
 bering constituents should have large profits and quick returns than 
 that the next generation should have any timber to cut. But there is 
 no reason why other Senators should not deem it more important that 
 the forests shouhi be preserved than that * * and * * should con- 
 tinue to adorn the Senate by dint of grinding the axes of their tiraber- 
 cuttine: constituents. 
 
 {T/ir >Snn, New Voy/c, Jum/a/'// 2'3<7, 1883.) 
 LUMBER. 
 
 We observe with regret that some of the re])resentatives of Mich- 
 igan are mucli excited at the proposal to admit Canadian lumber free 
 o( duty, by way of ])reserving a little longer the pine forests of that 
 State, as well as those of our Northern country. 
 
 The speedy destruction of the forests of Micliigan will prove a ca- 
 
w 
 
 
 i 
 
 ii ' 
 
 30 
 
 lamity ol' which itts }»reseiit iiu'inhers ol" Congress appear to have no 
 adequate concej)ti()i). These forests can never l>e rej)rocliU!ecl, and it 
 is the ))art of wisdom t<» preserve tliem. Hy judiciously and gradually 
 thinniiii; them out, thev may be made to last for ages, and vet furnish 
 as much luml»er as is necessary for the use of the peo))le. On the other 
 hand, l)y destroying them at once a few lumber speculators may get 
 rich, but the State will be permanently impoverished. 
 
 This is not a question of protection or free trade. It involves no 
 controversy respecting the develoi)meiit among us of any branch of 
 useful industry. Wliy, then, sliould we hasten the destruction of our 
 forests? Why should we |)romote such a disaster, when the Canadian 
 woods are ready to be drawn ui)on ? Do our legislators think it their 
 duty to take better care of Canada than they take of their own 
 country V 
 
 Al! lumber should be admitted free of duty. Even protectionists 
 should vote for this measure, because it tends to ])rote('t the interests 
 of our own country. 
 
 :>■' 
 
 {77ie f<t(tr, A\'W York, Janunri/, 1880.) 
 
 LKT LU.NriiKlt UK I'KKK. 
 
 Were it known tluit the whole su|tply t)f iron and anthracite coal 
 remaining in the mines of the United States would be exhausted in 
 less than a dozen years at the ])resent rate of production, no one would 
 for a moment dream of e.xcluding iron and coal by a protective tariff. 
 Any step which could be taken to posti>one such calamities as would 
 follow the exhaustion of these articles of priine necessity would be 
 eagerly taken. Pine and si)ruce lumber are also articles of prime ne- 
 cessity ; and we know that at the present rate of consumption the 
 spruce and white pine lumber remaining in the United States must 
 disappear in something less than a dozen years, unless the present rate 
 of consumpti<m can be checked. But the forests of Canada still con- 
 tain large quantities of this lumber, and by admitting the Canadian 
 lumber to free competition in our markets, our own forests would be 
 [)roteeted and their devastation checked. Every builder in the country 
 is anxious for the remission of this duty. The lumbermen of Maine 
 and the Northwest, who have secured vast tracts of timber lands, 
 oppose it. The Tariff C'onmiission, captured by the lumbermen at 
 Chii ago, recommended the retention of the duty. The Committee of 
 
31 
 
 Ways and Means of tlu? Ilousf, and tlii' Finance Commit tec of the 
 Senate, in response to the tn-gc!)t demands of the representatives of 
 Maine and the Xortli western himber States in (\>ngres8, approve the 
 recommendation of the committee. Senator * * * declared that the 
 himber of Maine should be protected as well as the iron of Pennsyl- 
 vania and the sugar of Louisiana ; but in spite of his energetic i)ro- 
 testations, the Senate voted to |»ut himber on the free list, -whidi has 
 brouglit a powerful lobby interest to Washington to prevent the pas- 
 sage of tlie bill. And there is too much reason for believing that th^ 
 lumber monopoly will carry its point in the House or in the Confer- 
 ence Committee before the measure is whipped into shape for final 
 action. Free lumber would tend directly to save the forests of the 
 country, which, once destroyed, cannot be easily restored, if restored 
 at all. The interests of all classes, save the lumber speculators, 
 require that tliis article s^hould be free. 
 
 {The MctroitoUtdn Industrial Leagfie.) 
 
 WOOD. 
 
 The principle and j)olicy of the League is "true })rotection and 
 justice to all American Industries," based upon our true conditions and 
 possibility of future developments and say respecting lumber : 
 
 It appears so umiatural that we should consume ourselves first and 
 then depend on the chance generosity of others that the free admis- 
 sion of timber is recommended. Canada will doubtless protect 
 herself. 
 
 {SoutJwrn Lumherman, Nashrille^ Jan. \st, 1883.) 
 
 TIMBER TARIFF AUSIRDITY, 
 
 The report of the Tariff Commission naturally excites a great deal 
 of attention, and the fact that it is the object of high commendation 
 on the })art of })rotection journals, as naturally subjects it to a good 
 deal of suspicion. It certainly, in the words of the New York Post^ 
 although more enlightened than it was generally expected to be, con- 
 tains some very glaring absurdities. An instance of absurdity ap- 
 pears with respect to the timber duties, recommendini; that they 
 shor.ld be retained. The absurdity of this is a])parent, when we re- 
 member that with great cause we are complaining of the demolition 
 of our forests, and our government offers bounties to induce persons 
 to plant trees upon public lands. To offer a premium to extend our 
 stock of growing timber, and then give an inducement of twenty per 
 cent, to cut it down, is one of the most complete absurdities that can 
 be pointed out. 
 
S2 
 
 {Jiomr JJaifi/ Sentinel^ Jau. 8, l^ss:i.) 
 
 TMK FOUKSTS AND TIIK TARIFF. 
 
 I3y rc'cominoiidiii*; llic retention >f' tlio duty upon lumber enterinp^ 
 the Unite*! States, the Connnittoe of Wmvs and Means lian aimed a 
 blow at forest protection that generally finds no favor amonir the 
 people who have given the subjeet due attention. 
 
 As a matter of course it is folly to tax foreign lumber as far as the 
 national treasury is c(uu*erned. The duties which arc collected by 
 the government in this way are very small. Neither can the lumber 
 industry be said to ucimI the protection. It is one of those inclustries 
 Avhicli have long since passed their infancy and have reached a vigor- 
 ous manhood. It has outlived the necessity of protection supposing 
 it ever needed it, Tlu! manufacturers of lumber are powerful, even 
 to tlie extent of forming a monopoly, and they have grown rich from 
 the ]»rici's which taxation of foreign lumber lias enabled them to 
 charge the consumer of domestic lund)er. 
 
 Hut it is clear that the permission to buy Canadian lumber free 
 from tariff restrictions and demands, will cause a decreased drain upon 
 the forests of our own country. What tlie trees of America need is 
 a chance to grow and multii)Iy. It is well understood tliat the de- 
 struction of the forests means severe climatic changes, that the eflFect 
 upon rivers and streams will be such as to work iiu-alculable injury to 
 the agriculture, manufactures and commerce of the country. These 
 evils are hurried on by the retention of the protective duty, which 
 virtually tells tlie people that they must cut down their own trees first 
 befoie they can hope to go into a foreign m;»rket to buy their wood 
 without any tariff charges to i)ay. Meantime the prosperity of the 
 country is threatened that a little company of men wlio are already 
 rich, may add something more to their hoards. 
 
 This Tariff sharpens every woodman's axe. It encourages prospec- 
 tive wreck and ruin. 
 
 {The Chicago Tribune, February 3, 1883.) 
 
 TIIK LUMISER BARONs' PETITION. 
 
 Four respectable and worthy gentlemen in this city — large owners 
 of Michigan pine-lands — have issued an addrops to all persons engaged 
 in the lumber trade to obtain signatures as rapidly as possible to a 
 petition which they have prepared, and wliich they forward with the 
 address. This petition is addressed to Congress, and we reproduce it 
 that the public generally may see how in an emergency even such re- 
 
 V 
 
 5 
 
33 
 
 ^pec- 
 
 vners 
 aged 
 to a 
 the 
 ice it 
 ill re- 
 
 spectable gentlemen will resort to statements s«> utterly inc«tni|irehen- 
 sible that they wouhl, if uttered by otliers, be classed as exaggera- 
 tions unbecoming churchmen of their own high standing. The peti- 
 tion rej)resents that the signers do : 
 
 Most respectfully rtMiHiustiatciiirainst the pioposilion now before your ln)n(iriil)lo 
 bodies, iiiu. adopted in the Senate of the L'nited Stales, lookitijr to the admission 
 of the manufactured lumber of the Province of Caiiada to tlie markets of tlu; 
 riiil<''l States free from duty, to luinously compete witli h traflic triving ( niploy- 
 ment to fully one million ial)orers and involvinir <'Mpital of not less than sfliDO, ()()("),- 
 000 in its prosecution. I'ririui: that the admission of Canadian lumlwr free from 
 duty would be but adding tiie present rate of the duty to value of Canadian stand- 
 ing timber, opening up a competition injurious to Anuricau mamifacturerH. while 
 not decreasing' the cost of building material to tiie milli()ns who form the consum- 
 ing classes. Urging, further, tiial so h)ng as the Canadian (JovernnK'nt retains 
 th<' tax upon linuher imporledjnto Canada, it is manifestly unjust to admit Cana- 
 dian lumber free, wiiile the Anerican product, now largely in demand in VVin- 
 nepeg and some otlier portions of tlie Dominion of Canada, is iiurdened 
 with ii la.<, thus elfectiiall}' yivintr to tlie Canadian product the control of the 
 markets of this country by llie admission of their lumber product free in the East- 
 ern States, wliitlier it is most largely imported; and as well c Mitrol of the Western 
 markets tlirough their ability to exclude the American product, e.\ce[)t upon pay 
 ment of duties, from Winnepeg. to wiiich their own lumber may bo sent without 
 duty. 
 
 The statements of this petition are most remarkable. It asserts 
 \ that the " manufiictured" lumber of Canada is to be admitted with- 
 
 out tax, and by manufactured lumber is intended the rough i)roduct 
 of the saw mill. 
 
 This lumber is Intended for the use of Western farmers for fencing, 
 for outhouses, bains, and sheds, for all rough building ptirposes, for 
 rej)airs and sidewalks, aiid countless purposes for which rotigli ])ine 
 lumber can be emjduycd. To admit this lumber for consumers free 
 of tax, it is declared, will be ''ruinously" to compete Avich American 
 lumber. For whom is this government established ? Do the handful 
 of capitalists who own the renniants of the pine forests consume this 
 lumber? Do they pay the tax which is collected from it? Do they 
 produce the pine forests which they hold possession of and which for 
 purposes of insatiable greed they are rapidly destroying ? The ])er- 
 sons who are demanding and exacting this tax on the people of llli- 
 inois, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska have neither produced the forests 
 nor are they consumers. They are nothing more than toll-gatherers 
 standing at the gates and taking in a tax from tlie millions of con- 
 sumers in the treeless States to whom lumber \» an article of ])rime 
 necessity, but who are overcharged by these speculators in stumpage 
 and logs. They have the hardihood to say that this tax is levied for 
 the benefit of the "traffic." That is to say, not for the axemen or the 
 
 , 
 
34 
 
 ranncrs wlio l)uy the sttitT, Imt for tlio nKin who " tnifiic "— that is, do 
 Avliat llu'y can to ijct tlie advantage of each other. 
 
 Mr. . ai-p^Miter and thi- other <,'entliMn"n wlio tralVic in liiinher make 
 the monstrous assertion tliat tlie hiiiibcr business wliich needs '' pro- 
 teetion" ^ives employment to - lully l,t)i)(),0():i hihon-rs." Even for 
 gentlemen who "swap" fish yarns this tin;urL' is a lari^e one. The 
 census reports show that in I8S() the whole numln-r of persons en- 
 craivcl ill the United States in tlie lumber business was loO,!?!^ males, 
 4:{;{ females, ;ind 5, '.17 I ehildren! That is a |)retty large fraction short, 
 even in lumber measure, of "fully 1,()()0,00(> laborers." Throwin,';- in 
 the women and chil(lr(>n, the whole is considerably short of a million ! 
 I>ut these gentlemen s]ieak only for a }' )rtiou ttf the three States of 
 3Iichigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota,* and the census gives tlie whole 
 nund)er of men engaged in felling, sawing, and planing lumber not 
 only in these three States, but in all the other thirty-five States and 
 the Territories ; and not only of the pine himber of these three States, 
 but of all the various kinds of lumber in all the States of the I'nion. 
 Moreover, the census returns show that the whole number of males 
 of 16 years an<l over engaged in all the industrial mechanical employ- 
 ments of the United States was 2,025,506. Mr. Van Schaick and the 
 other gentlemen send forth undtr their certification the statement 
 that "fully 1,000,000 of laborers" are employed in lumber-making — 
 that is, one-half the American males over It; years of age working foi- 
 wages in the whole United States at industrial oc(Uipations are en- 
 gaged in the lumber trade, and this, too, without including the w<^men 
 and children. Messrs. Carpenter and Van Schaick send the petition 
 containing this marvelous statement to their customers, with an ap- 
 peal that it be signed and sent to Senator * * * «< ^„([ j^ ,j^j^y ,iQt 
 yet be too late" to save the million of laborers who are threatened 
 with " ruin ! " 
 
 » 
 
 k 
 
 
 * Tlie census returns for 1880 of the Luuitiering Industry s;ive total average number of hands 
 employcil. includini,' wonicii and cliildicn. in Michigan, 31,'~'33; in Wisconsin. 8,4(15; in Minnesota, 
 •J,8.")4; nuilviiii^ in all 85, rw-.'. 'I'licse fj<'ntlenion. of course, meant when talking; of millions, tliose that 
 have to pay them the extra $3 per M on lumber the duty inlpoHe^^. J5ut, however many nuiy be 
 employed prodiicinu lumber, does any sane man fancy there would l)e one man less employed in 
 this country were the duly removed. 'I'he oidy etl'ect the removal of the duty would have would 
 be to allow Canadian lumber to compete witli "them, iuul possibly reduce somewhat the enormous 
 profits of a few lumbernun and land speculators. Take for instance the two establishments with 
 which these two f;entlemen are coninxted, which sawed in 188;J nearly 120,000,000 feet, or about ons 
 (juarter of tlie annual inii)ort of this lunilx'r from Canada— the duty on this at %'i would be 
 g210,0(Kl. Th(^ dift'erence of the comiietilion mi<,'ht be to reduce tlieir yearly revenue from about 
 88 per M, or §'.H)0,000, to ^(5 per M, or g7:i(»,0(X). Still with this amount comini; in yearly there 
 would be but slif^ht danfjer or their i;o:nt; to the Poor House, and it inijrilt be some little relief to 
 the poor people who are now compelled to pay them about any jirice they choose to ask. 
 
 A scnnewhat noted Senator once remarked, that about the only thiiiK meaner than $5(K).000 was 
 S1,0()0,(X)0. One wjuld he led, from the action of these gentlemen, to oelievc that the only thing 
 meaner than a poor lumberman was a rich one. 
 
 
^ 
 
 
 35 
 
 • 
 
 Th^' petition does not mi'iition what proportion of the lumber cut- 
 ters in Michigan and other States are CJanatlians hrouucht to tiiis coun- 
 try to c()mpete at h)vv wages with tiie rest of the million to tax the 
 farmers of the treeless States. 
 
 The pi'titiou asks intelligent persons, (!ven himber dealers, to certify 
 to Congress that to remove the tax from lumber would be to add 
 that much to the value of Canadian lu:<iber. If the repeal of the tax 
 on lumber will not admit Canadian lumber cheaper than our lumber 
 where, when, and how is the " ruin " to take place?, 
 
 The Canadian (Toverinnent will not admit Michigan lumber into 
 AV'in!iipeg freif of tax, and the reason is, that Canadian lui ber is taxed 
 in this country and has been for years. Their tax is in retaliation for 
 ours. The repeal of the American tax will, of course, be followed by 
 the repeal of the tax collected at Wiiniipeg. 
 
 Thi« petition is a most ^ludiitrous exhibition of the rage of the "fully 
 1,00(),0()() of American laborers" ;it the prospect of a repeal of a tax 
 under which the consumers of American luml)er have seen the price 
 of lumbei" rise from $-1 to $0 |)er thousand feet during the last four 
 years. We reproduce tlie Ciiicago prices of lumber since 1878 : 
 
 Nov. 15, 1878. Not. 9, 1883. Adv. p. c. 
 
 A Stock board.s .$ii4 00 .f :{0 00 25 
 
 Fcnciiiu-, No. 1 10 00 K! 00 66 
 
 Fciicinu-, No. 3 00 18 00 44 
 
 Oommon Imiuds 10 50@11 00 15 00(gil8 00 HOOftS 
 
 Oiiiu'iision .stiitT, SO to :}(> f(!((t long. 10 ()0@1« 00 10 r)0@23 00 65@43 
 
 Picket.-, lougli - 7 00 13 00 78 
 
 Shingle.s standiird 3 25 2 00 28 
 
 Lath. 150 2 75 83 
 
 Now, suppose the effect of the rejjeal of the bounty the Illinois 
 farmers pay to Mesers. Carpenter, Van Schaick, et (d., should happily 
 be to reduce the present excessively high price of lumber to the peo- 
 ple of the prairie States by $2 per 1,000 feet, would it not be aj)ublic 
 ))lessing to millions of toilers, and would it not still leave a big price 
 and a large profit for the speculator in pine lands'* 
 
 The Albany i)rices for the three up})er qualities show the follow- 
 ing changes in three years; 
 
 September, 187!». September. 1882. Adv. p. c. 
 
 Clear $40 to |42 $C3 to ,f64 56 
 
 Fourihs 35 to 37 57 to 59 61 
 
 Selects .• 30 to 33 52 to 54 71 
 

GENEEAL OBSERVATIONS 
 
 AOOOMPANYINQ PAMPHLET ON FOREST PROTECTION. 
 
 The compiler of this Paniplilet has been advised of excellent arti- 
 cles liavins: a])peared in other papers, but those inserted therein, were 
 all that came under his own observation, or of which he could immedi- 
 ately obtain copies. He had also in his possession, nuist valuable arti- 
 cles written by gentlemen who have devoted time and labor, in call- 
 ing the attention of the public, to this, the most important economic 
 question of the day — one, before which all others sink into insignifi- 
 cance in comparison ; for nothing can be more true, than the remarks 
 of " The Glasgow (Scotland) Herald " when reviewing an article on 
 the subject in 18V6, which says : " The knowledge we have gained of 
 a dearth of cotton may help us to appreciate ' the terribleness of the 
 calamity that would be experienced from a dearth of timber' in Can- 
 ada and the States. In point o" fact, both Canada and the States are 
 busy sawing from under them the high-reaching, fortune-making 
 branch, on which, like conquerors, tliey are now sittuig and overlook- 
 ing the world." 
 
 When we consider the importance that an abundance of the most 
 valuable timber has had on the past welfare of the country, and come 
 to realize what "a dearth of timber " means, all will readily see that 
 the foregoing is by no means an overdrawn statement. If we also con- 
 sider the fact, that every human being in this country, must have 
 timber in some form or another for his jirotection or comfort — t^hat 
 our shelter is of timber, the floors we walk on, the chairs we sit on, 
 the tables we eat from, the conveyances we use ; even our cradles and 
 coffins are of wood ; we can readily see that in one form or another 
 "we must have timber. 
 
 Tlie great ingenuity of "the everlasting Yankee "has not even yet 
 touched the subject. Notwithstanding the fences of wire, the use 
 of iron in building, the terra cotta atid straw-lunber, still the 
 
 i » * i 1 • J 
 
consumption of our old friend wooden lumber increased nearly 
 fifty percent, in the ten years from 1870 to 1«80, the former being 
 12.755.54:5.000, and Ihe latter 18,091,850,000 feet, and tliough it 
 has always been claimed that iron and lumber keep together, cheap 
 lumber accompanying cheap iron, we now finil iron so low that 
 producers claim they are at the lowest rung of the ladder, whilo 
 lumber has advanced in three years fully 50 per cent., with every 
 pi'ospect of still further increase ; and yet we, in the north, are 
 infonned that we are within eight years of the time when our sup- 
 plies of white pine and spruce, which are our great stock of this 
 indispensible material, must cease ; and this is not the stateinent of 
 interested parties, which might be open to suspicion, but of those 
 specially employed by the government of the country to ascertain the 
 true coixlition of the forests. 
 
 It will no doubt be said, "what of this, there are still vast forests 
 in the south to be drawn upon V " This may be a matter of great 
 value to the south, but to the people of the north, who now nuxke 
 and use five-sixths of the sawed lumber produced, it is a matter 
 of the most serious importance. The value of the lumber now pro- 
 duced in the north exceeds !5'200,(iOO,000 a year as it falls froni the 
 saw — that it is all wanted there can be no better evidence than the 
 fact that demand and price arc both increasing — and to replace it 
 would cost from two to three times this sum, even if the s.ame lumber 
 could be obtained elsewhere, which cannot be ; and 1500,000,000 a 
 year would not replace it ; so that in a verj^ short time this northren 
 country, instead of having a great and profitable industry, advancing 
 and helping every interest, will be called upon to pay out hundreds 
 of millions of dollars annually for such material. 
 
 But even our southern +"rieuds are interested with us in the jjreservation 
 of this timber, as the uses to which it is applied are so different from 
 theirs, that large quantities are aimually sent south, and the govern- 
 ment of Canada, recognizingthis fact, while imposing a retaliatory duty 
 on the white pine admits southern i)ine, <luty free. It is further to be 
 hoped that southern governments mav learn a lesson from the prodi- 
 gality of the north, and preserve their most valuable timber for the 
 benefit and wellfare of the con\munity, instead of giving it away to 
 timber land speculators, or to such an ignorant race of destruc- 
 tionists, as have gobbled up the timber of the north, or they too will 
 Boon be dispossessed of one of the greatest blessings that Providence 
 Las vouchsafed their country. 
 
 > • 
 
 t « • t 
 
 < > > 
 
3 
 
 When people talk, as they sometimes do, of the incxhaustable for- 
 ests of the south, they little know the sawing capacity of the northern 
 mills, which could in twelve months time convert the whole merchant- 
 able pine of the state of Georgia into lumber, and be but six months 
 in using up the pine of Florida: and the men that run these mills, not 
 only have the will but the greed to do it. 
 
 When one considers the many industries engaged in the various 
 processes involved in the use of this material and the hundreds of 
 thousands of laborers directly depending thereupon for their livelihood 
 — and that it is an ai tide required by every individual of the whole 
 community, one can readily see that every means should be adopted 
 for its preservation and protection. 
 
 While England that has cheap coal, cheap iron and cheap labor, 
 and that can get her supplies at the cheapest rates from the north of 
 Europe, annually expends nearly $1()0,000,()0() for timber, one can 
 readily recognize how much it would cost this country (that is yet to 
 be built up) to import its huuber from any foreign source. It lias 
 been estimated that it Avould take the entire sailing tonnage of the 
 world to convey the amount of timber annually consumed in this 
 country from any foreign lumber port. But where to get it at any 
 price in the enormous quantities used in this country is a question that 
 would puzzle those best informed on the subject to determine. 
 
 From the foregoing we recognize the truth of the statement made by 
 a writer in the accompanying pages, wherein he says : " No mork 
 
 VITAL QUESTION CAN COME HEFOKE CoNGRESS. PeRIIAPS NO CoNGRESS 
 HAS EVER BEEN CALLED ON TO DECIDE AN ECONOMIC QUESTION OF 
 GREATER MOMENT,"