OCR Text |
Show North Carolina, one of the minority members of the committee on ways and means. . Mr. Mason, of Arkansas, censured the provision putting Buch articles an uncut diamonds, ruble?, sapphires and other pr-rlous stones and old woiks of art isc free Hat. He demanded to know why. class of labor their fre Importation to this country would, benefit. ben-efit. Laborer hardly ever wear' diamonds, dia-monds, he said, and' they never bought rare old palntlnc He argued that these prolsions were placed in the bill In the Interest of very rich people who had means to squander for ornamental purposes. Mr. Macon rldlcuTed the free list of the pending bill and said that while It was drawn as a sop to the American people, it ought to be received as on insult to their intelligence. Ho said that balm of Ollea.l dried blood, worm gut and divl-dlvis, kindling wood, leeches, manns and pulu have no moro right to be on' the free IIm than Eng-Ish Eng-Ish sparrows and African baboons." "and yet," he said, "they are some of tho things that are set forth iu tho free list as a make-believe that there is a disposition on the part of the party in power to give to the American people some things free of duty. Till ISSUE IRK LUMBER Hnraphreys Declares Tiat Fifty Per Cent of Employes Are Orientals Washington, March ,26. When tho tariff bill was laid before the house-today, house-today, Mr. Humphreys of Washington, t'wik issue with some statements mado by Mr. Payne In his opening speech regarding the number of Orientals engaged en-gaged in the lumber mills in British Columbia. Mr. Payne said that he thought there were fewer Orientals working in such mills thero than in the state of Washington. Wash-ington. That statement was erroneous, errone-ous, he said. He declared that over 50 per cent of the men engaged In tho lumber and shingle mills of British Columbia were Orientals, who were paid lower wages than American mill laborers, and that, therefore, the cost of production was less. Out of the 13,-500 13,-500 men employed in the shingle mills of Washington, Mr. Humphrey claimed there were but 41 Orientals. Ho also said that of the 110.000 men employed In the lumber and shingle Industry of that 6tafe, there were but 13.000 Orientals. Orien-tals. Mr. Humphrey, in pleading for an Increased In-creased luty on shingles, warned the Republicans that thev coul.i not escape es-cape their responsibility insofar as the problem of Oriental labor was concerned con-cerned . ' " ' ' "Now." he said, "we have au opportunity oppor-tunity to' sec whether or not wc arc going baik on what we have said abovt protecting the labor of this country from tho ruinous competition of foreign countries." While the Payne bill, he said, has protected tho industries of New England, Eng-land, Pennsylvania and New York and they were in operation, out In Washington Wash-ington the conditions were exactly tho reverse, "Our mills are closing." " he said, "and men are - being thrown out of employment." He recounted the benefits derived under the Dingley bill and Inquired how he, as a Republican and a protectionist, protec-tionist, could go back to his constituents constitu-ents and say that the Payne bill was hotter than' tho Dingley bill. On the .authority of Mr. Fordney, of Michigan, . . the Washington member said that (ho witnesses before the committee com-mittee on ways and means, who wanted want-ed lumber put on tho free list, were men interested In Canadian, timber, while those who asked for the retention reten-tion of tbe Dingley duty, were men Interested In-terested in timber ' in the United States. "We ought not to hesitate long when the question Is presented." he said, "for whom wc shall legislate?" Mr. Bud asked Mr. Fordney if it were not true that a combination existed ex-isted among the retail dealers of Mississippi, Mis-sissippi, to which Mr.1 Fordney "8 firm vyhlch Is operating in that state, was a party, Mr. Byrd added that be knew whereof where-of he spoke, when be charged the existence ex-istence of such a combination. ' "The gentleman does not know a damned thing about it," shouted Mr. Fordney. Immediately Mr. Byrd made his way toward Mr. Fordne, but several Democratic Dem-ocratic members stopped him. Mr. Fordney apologized to the house. He added, however, that Mr. Byrd could not say that his firm was a member of the lumber trust. Mr. Byrd then explained that it was not his intention to make such a charge, and the incldeut closed. Mr. Fordney, who is a member of the ways and means committee and an avowed high protectionist, discussed at length the lumber schedule. Some people, he said, had gone into hysterics, over the question of free lumber. He challenged any one present pres-ent to pick out a single prominent Industry In-dustry In the United States that had as low an ad valorem protection as lumber. .Ir response to various questions regarding re-garding the Canadian competition in lumber, Mr. Fordney declared high and low grade Cauadlan lumber were met with their respective grades in tho United States. Duty on tho grades, he said, was not needed as much as on tho low grade and this was desired In order to compete with the foreign production pro-duction He denied that lumber from the southern states was going to Canada Can-ada in any considerable quantity, except ex-cept long "leaf and yellow pine Mr. Fordney admitted in response to a question by Mr. Itartlett, of Georgia, that whether the duty on lumber was Increased, lowered or reduced, southern south-ern lumber could not be carried into tho territory north of the Ohio rler In competition with Canadian lumber, because of prohibitive freight rates. Mr. Slayden of Texas and Mr Hardy of the same state, declared they had good reason to believe a lumber trust or combination exists to fix the prices on lumber. "I have been In the lumber business since I was a boy," said Mr. Fordney, "and I have never known of a lumber trust." Tlie cross fire regarding a so-called lumber tni6t irritated Mr. Fordney, who finally refused to answer any more questions, and Insisted on proofs and not general statements. Mr. Fordney said those who had appeared ap-peared before tho ways and means j committee to ask for free lumber had large holdings In British Columbia. Mr. Fordney declared there had bea a marked downward tendency in tho price of lumber during the last two j years, and that if the duty on lumber ' had been taken off, his lumber manufacturing manu-facturing company would close .Its mill, throwing 300 employes out of work and keeping the mill Idle until better times. He said in response to a question ques-tion from Mr. Rnnsdell. of Ixulslaua, that much of the complaint of the present pres-ent duty on himber came from regions re-gions where all of th timber had been cut and which had been largely benefitted by the Dingley law. Mr. Fordney admitted that most of tho large timber tracts were owned by men of means, who. he said, could afford to hold on until prices suited j them. I The next member to command the attention oj the house w as Mr.. Fou, of |