January 25, 1921 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



21 



Lumbermen Ask for Tariff Protection 



Hearings were held in Washington, D. C, on January 15 to 19 

 before the Ways and Means Committee on Schedule D, wood and 

 wood manufacturers, in connection with the new tariff. 



In addition to the testimony given before the committee, sev- 

 eral of the witnesses filed complete briefs with the committee. 

 Among those were General L. C. Boyle, D. O. Anderson, of Marion, 

 S. C, and Charles A. Bigelow, of Bay City, Michigan. 



Mr. Bigelow, representing the Northern Hemlock and Hardwood 

 Manufacturers ' Association, asked that a reciprocal rate be placed 

 in the new tariff law, similar to that of Canada. He stated that 

 the rate on manufactured hardwood was 25 per cent ad valorem 

 in the Canadian law, and he wanted a similar rate in the new 

 American tariff. He called the committee's attention to the fact 

 that ill addition to the import duty, Canada allows a rebate on 

 finished products of lumber. Questioned by members of the com- 

 mittee, he stated that Canada sends annually to the United States 

 from 50 to 75 million feet of flooring valued at from five to seven 

 million dollars. 



Mr. Bigelow told the committee that there is an ample supply 

 of timber in tlie United States, a great deal of which is now "ripe" 

 and sliould be cut. Members of the committee questioned him in 

 regard to Canadian and American wages. He stated that the wages 

 and stumpage are less in Canada than they are in the United 

 States. He told the committee that the manufacturers which he 

 represents would be content if Canada would repeal its present 

 tariff law. 



Practical abolishment of the free list and substitution of a tariff 

 for revenue, was urged before the committee by John H. Kirby, 

 of Houston, Texas, rejjresenting the Southern Tariff Association. 



He recommended a tariff of 15 per cent ad valorem on lumber 

 and logs, which would yield .$6,000,000 revenue, a tariff of .$1 a 

 barrel on fuel oil, the yield being $250,000,000 and possibly tariffs 

 on bituminous coal, iron ore, cotton bagging and other articles on 

 the free list. Lumber is on the free list. Under the Payne- 

 Aldrich bill the lumber tariff was placed at $1.25 per one thousand 

 feet. The rate suggested by Mr. Kirby would be higher. 



Mr. Kirby said that the timber supply of the United States is 

 diminisliing, but when asked for an estimate of the standing 

 timber in this country, he told the committee that there has never 

 been a correct survey made. Mr. Kirby stated that there are some 

 instances where tariff protection is really needed, such as the 

 competition with Japanese imports on the Pacific Coast and with 

 imported floorings, etc., from Canada. He said he advocated an 

 ad valorem duty on lumber instead of a specific duty because he 

 felt that it would operate better. He said that the imports of 

 lumber into the United States last year were valued at about 

 $40,000,000 and on the rate lie advocated this would bring the 

 Government approximately $6,000,000 per annum. 



Mr. Kirby stated that 15 per cent ad valorem duty would not 

 keep Canadian imports out. The imports from Canada have been, 

 he said, approximately 1,250,000,000 feet a year. Regarding the 

 shutdown of the lumber mills of the northwest, he stated that this 

 was not due to foreign competition, but almost entirely to domestic 

 conditions. He called the committee 's attention to the protection 

 which is needed by the flooring manufacturers in the United States. 

 Asked if he would favor an even higher import rate than 15 per 

 cent which he advocated, Mr. Kirby stated that he would tax 

 lumber imports all that the traftic would bear. 

 Oak Flooring Man Heard 



W. J. Eckman, of Cincinnati, Ohio, representing the M. B. Farrin 

 Lumber Company and the Oak Flooring Manufacturers' Associa- 

 tion, brought samples and described the process of manufacturing 

 flooring. He asked that a 25 per cent ad valorem rate be put on 

 flooring. He told the committee that Japan sends oak flooring to 

 this country in competition with the domestic product. He said 



that at the present time first grade flooring is selling at about 

 $125 per thousand while the peak reached during the war was 

 about $200 per thousand, as compared with approximately $80 

 during normal times. 



W. L. Saunders, of Cadillac, Michigan, representing the Michi- 

 gan Hardwood Manufacturers' Association stated to the committee 

 that he did not believe the 15 per cent ad valorem rate which was 

 being advocated by some of the lumbermen would raise the domes- 

 tic price. He wanted the tariff not as a protection, but for revenue 

 purposes. 



Bobert B. Allen, of the West Coast Lumbermen's Association, 

 said that from 120,000 to 125,000 men are employed in the lumber 

 industry in Oregon and Washington. He stated that the West 

 Coast lumbermen want a reciprocal tariff with Canada. He told 

 the committee that leaving out pulp wood, there is more standing 

 timber in the states of Oregon and Washington than there is in the 

 Dominion of Canada. He told the committee that he would soon 

 file a complete brief on the whole lumber schedule. 



He told the committee that the Japanese labor in Vancouver is 

 paid $2.10 per day against $5.25 per day which is paid in the 

 Oregon and Washington mills for common labor. The present 

 eight-hour day of the Northwest is proving satisfactory, and said 

 that white labor is more efficient than Oriental. 



He spoke briefly on the exchange situation, explaining just what 

 difficulties the northwest lumbermen encountered in competing with 

 Canadian lumber on account of this situation. 



Tariff Is Opposed 



Opposition to the tariff was voiced by Donald D. Conn, of Minne- 

 apolis, Minnesota, representing Shevlin, Carpenter and Clark Com- 

 pany. He stated tliat a tariff on lumber imported from Canada 

 today "is economically unsound and is not essential to the welfare 

 of the American mill, is detrimental to the best interests of the 

 public, will compel excessive depletion of our natural resources 

 and will call forth strenuous retaliation on the importation of pulp- 

 wood and other wood products. ' ' 



Mr. Conn told the committee that Canada exports to the United 

 States approximately 1,000,000,000 board feet annually. The 

 annual cut in the United States approximates 40,000,000,000 board 

 feet. Our exports from the Pacific Coast to foreign countries have 

 exceeded in proportion, compared with prior years, the exports of 

 British Columbia. "We can, therefore," he said, "successfully 

 compete against Canada in foreign markets and it follows that 

 Canada can be no serious competitor in the domestic field." 



Mr. Conn said that when the demand exceeds the supply in the 

 United States and a duty is placed upon Canadian Lumber it will 

 follow that the American producer will increase his price to absorb 

 the slack. Two dollars, per thousand, he said, means an outside 

 revenue of $2,000,000 to this government and it may mean an 

 increase of $80,000,000 annually iu the consumers lumber bill. 

 More than 15,000,000 feet of pitch pine was shipped into the pro- 

 vince of Ontario in the last five months of 1920, he said. This 

 amounts to over 680 cars of lumber put into Ontario on a lean 

 market displacing Canadian woods in their own market. 



He told the committee that on December 31, 1920, there was 

 less than three billion feet of lumber in pile, or only 7.5 per cent 

 of the annual needs of the country. 



Mr. Conn told the committee that the substitution of patent 

 roofing for wooden shingles is the cause for the decrease in the 

 production of that product in the United States and not Canadian 

 competition. Substitution, he said, is equivalent to 1,440,000,000 

 board feet annually. 



Bigelow In Rebuttal 



Mr. Bigelow made a supplemental statement, in written form, 

 taking objection to his assertions. 



(Continued on page 25) 



