Seattle Merchants Rally to Keep the Tariff on Coal and Lumber
Meeting at the Chamber of Commerce, business men draft a memorial to Congress warning that free trade in lumber and coal will hand the Northwest's timber trade to British Columbia—then vote to put the whole fight off another week.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The memorial to congress protesting against the removal of the tariff on coal imported from foreign countries was the special order of business at the meeting of the board of trustees of the Chamber of Commerce yesterday afternoon. The memorial had been introduced at the previous meeting and postponed, in order that a full attendance might be secured. After considerable lively discussion yesterday on the subject of again postponing the consideration of the memorial—the merits of the question only being incidentally mentioned—the subject went over until next Tuesday evening at a general meeting of the chamber, when all those interested in the handling of coal and lumber are invited to be present.
The meeting was more largely attended than for some time, and quite a number of the directors of the Merchants and Manufacturers' Exchange were in attendance, although the consolidation of the two bodies does not go into effect until next week. The question occurred on the motion of J. S. Goldsmith that the whole subject be laid over in order to enable the business men to prepare themselves by the collection of statistics, etc. Discussion of this question was participated in by Messrs. Ramsey, Gilman, Goldsmith, Cosh, Heilbron, Mackintosh and Boone. A standing vote was called for and resulted in a tie. Then a roll call was insisted upon and showed eight votes in the affirmative and eight in the negative. Just at this point Griffith Davies came in, and as he voted for postponement the question was carried.
In order to enlarge the original question to include lumber, T. W. Prosch introduced the following, in accordance with previous notice:
'To the Honorable Congress of the United States: Your petitioners, of the great state of Washington, respectfully protest against the removal of the duty on lumber, and in furtherance of this protest make the statements following:
The manufacture of lumber is one of the great industries of this Coast. The capital employed in it is about $50,000,000 in amount. There are 840 sawmills and 54 shingle mills in the states of California, Oregon and Washington. Their output amounted in 1892 to 2,300,000,000 feet of lumber and 2,200,000,000 shingles, valued at $27,000,000. This vast product represents the work of 30,000 men, and the living of 100,000 people. The wages aggregated $18,000,000.
British Columbia has an area greater than the three states combined, and is said to have a greater area of timber land. Its woods are like those of Washington—fir, cedar, pine, hemlock, etc. The industry there has grown rapidly of late, as indicated by exports valued at $325,881 in 1890, at $425,278 in 1892, and at $999,904 in 1893. The tables have been turned on us, and notwithstanding the imposition of tariff charges of $1.50 and upwards per 1,000 feet they are now shipping lumber into the United States.
It is well known that wages are lower in the Dominion than in the republic, and things generally cheaper. Adding to these transportation (cheaper in British vessels than American), and, with the duties off, the provincial lumbermen will have advantages over ours of sufficient moment to give them a vast deal of the trade now held by us. We do not believe that congress wishes to assist them, nor do we believe that such assistance will be given when its hurtful effect upon our own people is stated and understood.'
“The tables have been turned on us, and notwithstanding the imposition of tariff charges of $1.50 and upwards per 1,000 feet they are now shipping lumber into the United States.”
In 1893 Seattle's economy was timber and coal, and its merchants saw free trade as an existential threat from north of the border. The petition's logic—protect the region's resource industries, count the jobs and wages at stake—is the same argument that surfaces in every modern trade fight over lumber, aluminum and tariffs. Then, as now, the debate was as much about political timing as economics; the chamber simply adjourned it another week.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.