6 The Conservative *
the planting , nnd so two hundred trees
were planted along the streets.
Again they sought the city officials
and plead their cause , arguing the finan
cial value of trees as seen in the sale of
laud bearing shade trees in preference
to treeless lots , in the greatly lessened
cost of watering bhaded streets , in the
attractiveness to summer visitors , and
above all to their health giving prop
erties.
The committee's desire was to encircle
the city trees with strong wire netting
six feet in height , to prevent gnawing
by horses , as they considered the dam
age done by horses greater than by ov
erhead wires , or underground pipes.
Many times during the three years
of working and waiting they had cause
to remember the psalm that reads ,
"Hope deferred maketh the heart sick ,
but when the desirecomethitisasa tree
of life"when a letter from the Mayor
announced that five thousand dollars
had been granted as an initial approp
riation to protect the city trees.
The work of guarding by wire is be
gun , and the club has every reason to
expect that every street tree will in time
be healed of its wounds , guarded by
wire , cleaned , trimmed and restored to
health and beauty , and this is a service
work the Roxburghe Olub of Boston
will have done for its native city.
Will not this example encourage clubs
to do practical work in tree preserva
tion ?
Let us club women then inform our
selves on forestry , invite lecturers to in
struct us in practical
AVork ! Work !
cal tree planting ,
study our local conditions , , induce our
street surveyors to spare wayside trees
and shrubbery , call attention through
the press to the destruction by wires ,
pipes , insects and horses , ask builders to
box trees during building , and if we can
plant but one tree , plant it on a hot dusty
highway or in a school yard. Let us
add a new chapter to Arbor Day history
on the lost Saturday of April , and let
our title be "PLANT TREES. " Cora
O. Jones , in the Club Woman , March ,
1900.
THE LEAD TRUST.
Much has been written and spoken of
late about trusts. For the life of me I
cannot ECO the difference between what
a trust can do and what a firm with a
large capital can do. Both may employ
a promoter and place worthless shares
of stock , bonds or some variety of
"securities" on sale , keeping an eye on
the guileless all of which is common
and , like the confidence game , goes on
forever.
I cannot , however , share in the abuse
of a fair and honest aggregation ol
capital and especially of that particular
aggregation known as a corporation
an absolutely necessary form or organ
ization for carrying on business but I
Ol
will and can agree with the utter con
demnation of what some of them do ,
what they are intended for doing , but
what is only made possible for them to
do by the government being in partner
ship with them and a most powerful
partner , too , without a share in the
profits , as a government.
The government booms the stock ,
seeps off any competitors , humps things
up occasionally for the stockholders by
utrodnciug a bill in congress for build
ings , ships and what not and lately a
coterie has the gall to propose that the
government pay for building other ships
; hau its own. Well may farmers say :
'Pay us for raising wheat. "
Extortion Duo to Protection.
The most of the combines of today ,
created for the purpose of extortion in
price , could not and would not exist , if
it was not for the part the United
States takes in them. Here is one
example , and the same is true of several
commodities managed by combines.
This quotation is from the New York
Commercial , March 6 , 1900 :
"Lead. Was steady and unchanged
at 4.70c per Ib. spot to March. In St.
Louis the market was firm , with scant
offerings at 4.57) ( a ) 4.62 , according
to brands. Soft Spanish was unchanged
at 16 11s 8d in London. Arrivals at
bins port were 1,000 tons bullion from
Tampico ; exports from this port , 650
tons to Hamburg. Imports of lead dur
ing the week ending March 2d were
2,806 tons ; exports for the week 1,794
tons. "
Few see these quotations. Very few
understand them. The great mass do
not know anything about them what
ever. Figure out the pounds , shillings
and pence the London quotation for a
long ton of 2,240 Ibs. , audit makes the
price of lead in London $3.60 per 100
Ibs. as against $4.70 in New York $1.10
more in New York than London , or a
difference of $22.00 per ton of 2,000 Ibs.
Yet , some is exported and must go at
the price in London. Please note , some
is imported , also ; this is brought here
and re-exported without payment of any
duty. The kernel of it all is that about
twenty men are managing the matter of
price of all the lead consumed in the
United States and have been doing so
for some time with the aid of the
government. Not a pound is sold with
out the concurrence of these men , and
it is held as firmly and nicely as could
be. It is managed with consummate
skill.
Free Trade the Remedy.
Most likely many will say , at firsl
thought : "It is nothing to me if there
is a duty on lead. " Such people do not
know how this material enters into the
cost of so many things. Thousands oi
men arc working with this material ,
which costs 80 per cent more than il
should 80 per cent artificial value. Wo
pay this artificial price but the govern
ment does not get it. ( It amounts to
about $5,000,000 a year extorted from
; ho American people. ) It enters into
; ho cost of every house built and of a
; housaud and one things which people
do not know that lead has anything to
do with.
This lead combine has arisen and is a
result of the tariff on lead. It could not
exist without this tariff. It is the very
perfection of a trust or combine brought
into existence by the government's
action. The same may bo said of luni-
30r , and of many other articles manu
factured by trusts. Truly it may be
said the commercial element is predomi
nating in affairs of government in an
unwonted degree. Evidently there is
some reward for the "fat frying"
process in the past and a keen eye on
; he future.
Under the tariff law one can import
.ead , make it into pipe , re-export it , and
get the duty remitted. But one who
makes it into forms not capable of being
identified , although for export , cannot
get the duty remitted. Thus one citizen
can have , while another cannot have ,
free trade in the same article. This
drawback clause was framed in recog
nition of the fact that foreign commerce
can only be carried on saccessfully with
freedom of trade. If the actual effects
of protective tariff legislation were
known , it would be swept out of exist
ence quickly , and our congress would
be confined to its true constitutional
functions. Its hands would then bo
kept off from all attempts at fixing values
of commodities.
GEOHGE A. MAOUETH.
Pittsburg , Pa.
PresidentSchur-
SCHURMAN ON
PORTO RICO.man > of Cornell
University and the
president of the former Philippine com
mission , wrote the following letter to a
friend giving his ideas on the Porto
Rican tariff :
ITHACA , March 12.
DEAR SIR : I agree with you that the
United States is under obligation to ex
tend its tariff laws to the island of Porto
Rico. But I cannot accept your conten
tion that this obligation is derived from
the Constitution , which , in my judg
ment , does not of its own force apply to
annexed territories. The obligation is
moral , not Constitutional. As the presi-
ident said , with equal truth and felicity ,
it is "our plain duty. "
We are bound to this course by solemn
promises. The supreme and irresistible
reason for remov-
Hound l > y ProiiiisoK , . . , ,
ing all customs
barriers between the United States and
Porto Rico is the promise made by Gen
eral Miles , when first lauding American
forces on the island , that the Porto R lo
ans should enjoy the same rights , privi-
eges , and immunities as the people of
the United States. On this understand-
