Speech #530052722

I do not propose in the limited time at my command to discuss the threadbare fallacy and delusion that the foreigner pays the tariff tax. of which I spoke at length heretofore in this debate. but I shall assume as an absolute verity. as it is. that the imposition of a duty on lumber adds to its cost to the consumer. and this being so every one in the whole length and breadth of the country feels it to some extent. and possibly more generally than with any other article upon which a duty is laid. and eveiy one must concede that this should not be. unless there is some strong reason or urgent necessity for it. I must confess that if any such reason or necessity has been pointed out or even suggested in this discussion it escaped my notice. and I heard the whole of the speech upon this question upon the other side. that of the able and eloquent gentleman from Wisconsin . himself a lumber manufacturer. However. on the usual pretense it would be that it was necessary to keep up the wages of the laboring classes. pay the difference between the wages of our mill men and the pauper labor of Canada. or that the industry was of the infant variety and needed protection until it could get strong. stand alone. and be able to compete with the rest of the world. Neither of these positions has the slightest foundation. As a matter of fact our ordinary mill men have never received to exceed the lowest wages paid in the various other laboring occupations in the locality. and in reality the average has not been as high. and there has never been the slightest disposition upon the part of the millowners to contribute any part of the protection afforded by a duty to the men. but they have always paid just what they had to by reason of the supply and demand. and no more.