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2 Champ Clark’s Washington Letter. Hon. Champ Clark, member of Congreea for the Ninth Miaeour! district, was born In Kentucky In 1850, and for twenty-two years held the record for being the youngest college president in the United States. In hie varied ca reer he worked ae a farm hand, clerked in a country store, edited a country weekly and practiced law. He was permanent chairman of the National Democratic Convention at 8L Louie in 1904. He ie now eerving his sixth term as a member of Congress. It is rare indeed that a Democratic representative in congress from the wild and woolly west has the distin guished honor of a correspondence with his excellency, the governor of Massachussetts, even on a public question. This honor has lately come to me. It will be remembered by those who pay any attention to poli tics that the Hon. Curtis Guild, Jr., was elected governor in 1905 and re-elected in 1906 as a Republican, As soon as he was first elected he wrote a letter to the president urging him to incorporate a tariff revision section in his annual message to congress, in which letter he stated that had not the Massacuhsetts Republican plat form of 1905 declared for immediate tariff revision he and all the rest of the Republican ticket would have been overwhelmingly defeated. President Roosevelt paid no attention to the let ter, so far as any one ever discovered. At least he made no such recommen dation to congress. From that time to this certain Massachussetts Repub licans, of whom Governor Guild is the most distinguished, have been agitat ing for tariff revision with great earn estness and voting the Republican ticket with great regularity notwith standing the fact that the Republican machine in the United States is com pletely in the hands of the stand pat ters. Quite recently Governor Guild wrote me the following letter, with the inclosure, to which he refers in his letter: “Executive Chamber, State House, “Boston, Mass., Feb. 12. “Hon. Champ Clark, House of Repre sentatives, Washington: “Dear Sir —I beg to inclose for your information a copy of a petition ad dressed to the president and congress in regard to a matter of public impor tance and also a copy of my letter of transmittal. With high respect, be lieve me, faithfully yours, “CURTIS GUILD, JR.” Copy of Letter from Governor Curtis Guild, Jr., of Massachusetts, to the President. “Feb. 12. “To the President of the United States, White House, Washing ton: “Sir —I have the honor of transmit ting to you herewith a petition signed by me and by more than three-fourths of the members of each branch of the general court of Massachusetts in sup port of the tariff policies recommend ed by Secretary Root and by the late national foreign trade convention. Copies of this address have, been for warded to the members of each branch of congress. “You will, I am sure, appreciate that a signature by which the indi vidual makes himself publicly respon sible as indorsing the views to which he subscribes is of greater signifi cance than anonymous assent to reso lutions passed in the legislature by vive voce vote or even a record by roll call. “The signatures to this memorial include those of the governor, the president of the senate and speaker of the house and of every member of the legislative committee on federal relations. There are 280 members of the general court, of whom 221 have signed this petition. Os the 40 mem- bers of the senate 34 have signed. Os the 240 members of the house of rep resentatives 187 have signed. Os the 203 Republicans in the general court 154 have signed. Os the 77 Demo crats in the general court 67 have signed. 1 am confident that, were it deemed desirable to keep this peti tion open longer for signatures, more members who, because of absence or other personal reasons not affecting the merits of the matter, not yet had sufficient opportunity to sign it would do so. “In the conviction that this expres sion of public opinion will be given every proper consideration, I have the honor to remain, very respectfully, your obedient servant, “CURTIS GUILD, JR.” (Copy of petition.) “Boston, Mass., Jan. 30. “To the President and the Congress of the United States: “Believing heartily in the mission of Secretary Root to establish closer relations between the peoples of America and being also of the opinion that tariff laws should be changed as conditions change, we indorse the at titude in behalf of tariff revision taken by the late national foreign trade con vention at Washington. “We indorse the principle there ap proved of the creation of maximum and minimum tariff schedules to be applied without the intervention of treaties, but otherwise following the general precedent of the reciprocity clause in the McKinley tariff in favor of such countries as will make con cessions to us. “We further favor the establishment, as urged by the convention, of a tariff commission that shall impartially in vestigate and report from time to time to congress when schedules appear to be in need of modification, whether in cases where duties are needed for the protection of American industries have become or may become obsolete or unnecessary or, on the other hand, where new industries may require new protection or new expenses fur ther revenue. “In all cases of tariff revision, how ever, the test should be not ‘ls such f a duty demanded?’ but ‘ls such a duty needed?’ • “We respectfully urge upon the president and the congress immediate action along these lines, and should the limitation of time make this im possible in the present session of congress we respectfully petition the president to use the powers placed in his hands for the consideration of this subject without further delay. “CURTIS GUILD, JR., Governor. “WILLIAM D. CHAPPLE, President of the Senate. “JOHN N. COLE, Speaker of the House of Representatives.” To Governor Guild’s letter I replied as follows: “House of Representatives, Feb. 19. “Governor Curtis Guild, Jr.: “Sir —Your favor of February 12 to Aand, inclosing copy of your letter to the president, together with copy of a petition to the president and con gress of the United States in favor of tariff revision. I beg leave to suggest that you have just about as much chance to be translated in a chariot of fire aa you have to secure tariff re- THE WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN. vision at the hands of the stand pat ters, who now control the congres sional machine. They are deaf as posts to all appeals in that behalf. “They will never agree to any maxi mum and minimum tariff scheme un less perhaps to that of Mr. McCleary, of Minnesota, who proposes to make the Dingley rates the minimum and rates still higher the maximum, which from the standpoint of tariff re visionists would be the old and con demned performance of jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. Indi vidually I am in favor of a rational and comprehensive revision of the tariff. Yours respectfully, “CHAMP CLARK.” •t The Lumber Trust. That the lumber trust is a great iniquity everybody knows. Not long since the house passed a resolution authorizing an inquiry into the why and wherefore of the astounding rise in the price of white pine lumber, with special reference to the manipulations of lumber prices by the trust. My own judgment was and is that the high tariff on white pine lumber is the why and wherefore of the trust. One of my most valued constituents, Judge H. C. Lackland of St. Charles, Mo., a prominent lawyer and business man, wrote me the following letter on the subject, which is well worth con sideration. Judge Lackland says: St. Charles, Mo., Feb. 15. Hon. Champ Clark, Washington: Dear Sir —I wish to call your atten tion to the iniquities of the lumber monopoly in these United States, nur tured by the tariff. As you know, the whole lumber business is in the hands of a trust composed of a few thousand men, which levies tribute on and op presses and defrauds eighty millions of people without any corresponding benefit whatever. This syndicate or trust has got possession of all the tim ber lands and sawmills of the coun try, and it dictates the prices of lum ber to the whole country. There used to be a few independent mills, but they have all been compelled to come into the trust, and every bill of lum ber ordered by any retail dealer from a supposed independent mill is sent to one general office, and the order is filled from that office and the money collected by it. Every once in awhile this trust raises the price of lumber. Last January it raised the price of the retailers $2 a thousand; last week it raised the price again another 75 oents and $1 a thousand. The orders for rise of price are given to the re tailer, and he is obliged to obey at his peril. But, worst of all, they swindle, de fraud and cheat the purchasers and users of lumber in a most shameful manner. For instance, you are going to build a home, we will say. You put in a bill to the retailer for a certain number of 2 by 4 studding of the de sired length, a certain number of 2 by 12 joist and a certain number of feet of plank 1 by 10 of any desired length. Instead of giving you the dimensions your order calls for, they will give you studding 11-2 by 3 1-2 and joist 11-2 by 111-2, or even 11, and plank 3-4 by 9 or 9 1-2, and so on. No matter what dimensions you order, the lumber is cut down in dimensions from half an inch to one inchon all sides, and you are measured up and charged just as if you got full dimensions. If you do not take it that way, you cannot get it at all. The mills make in several ways by this method. They make all they cheat you out of in the dimen sions, which is a great deal. They can make more lumber out of a log in saw ing it up, and they can carry more in a car from the mill to the retailer, and, lastly, they shave a very thin skin off one side of each piece of lum ber (which is no advantage to it what ever) and use the shavings under the boilers for steam. Thus you see this trust is not satisfied with the monopoly of the lumber business in this big country and the big prices they make the people pay, but they swindle and cheat and defraud them in the meas urements in a most shameful manner. 1 know whereof I am speaking, for I have been compelled to buy a great deal of lumber for many years. If anything deserves to be investi gated by congress, it is this swindling, cheating lumber trust. The bar of the tariff on lumber ought to be thrown down so that it can come in from all the world. Very respectfully, . H. C. LACKLAND. P. S. The price of lumber has be come almost prohibitive. More Evidence. Under the caption “The Lumber Problem” the Kansas City Times, in dependent, says editorially: Minneapolis has been obliged to close down building operations because of a lack of shingles. This is due to a shortage of cars resulting from the blockade of transcontinental railroads and also to the lumber trust, which controls the traffic and the prices of lumber. The conditions call attention to two phases of the building situation which deserve serious attention. It has been suggested recently that congress shall lease the reserves for the cutting of such trees as have grown to maturity and are threatened with decay. In this way not only would the waste of lumber be prevented, but competition would be established with the lumber trust, which is pernicious and an obstacle to economical build ing. Another remedy is that now being considered by the Pennsylvania legis lature which concerns the future of forestry. It is proposed to preserve the state lands intact and make them nurseries for coming forests. Not only are the Alleghanies almost entirely de nuded trees, but the forests of Mich igan ar ‘ Wisconsin have been laid low, while the great northwest, in the grip of the trust, is fast being stripped of trees. It has been argued be fore the Pennsylvania legislature that, while iron ore can be turned into steel in a few hours, not all the wealth of the world can make a tree grow faster than nature has from the begin ning intended. The fault has been our great pro fligacy in the beginning. Where a few years ago lumber was sawed and sold green at from $4 to $8 a thou sand feet it is now being cured and planed and brings from S3O to SSO a thousand. There are probably enough trees to last a couple of generations, but what will posterity do if we not only refuse to preserve the small area of forests remaining, but, like the fool ish farmer who raised a single crop of wheat and then let the field He fal low for years, refuse to make provision for future growth of forests? The Stand Patters. As another demonstration of how completely the stand patters are wed ded to their idols the following trans action will show: Last week Hon. John Sharp Williams, the Democratic house leader, brought up in committee on ways and means the following bill providing for reciprocity with Cana da on coal, which was promptly ta bled by a strict party vote. If there