Dayton daily empire. [volume] (Dayton [Ohio]) 1850-1865, 1862-12-10
The high Price OF paper.

The New York Times of yesterday says il
is undoubtedly true that the high price of pa
per Of all kinds is due primarily to scar
city of the material out of which it is made,
and adds:
1t onght to be known, however, that the
present rise was very greatly aided by com
bination of the leading paper makers of the
country, who have seized upon the opportuni-
tunity to crush out small dealers and to en-
rich themselves at the expense Of the public.
These men are now actively engaged in per-
lecting this combination, for the purpose Of
forcing prices to still higher point than they
have yet reached They met in this city in
September, and organized "The Paper-Ma-
kers Association of the United States, which
Ii sp1efned by a number of officers, nine of
whom constitute a quorum for the transaction
of business, Five of these persons, being
maj jority, therefore, have the right to dictate
rules for the government of all the paper
makers of the United States who shall be-
come members of the Association and they
hope to make their machinery strong enough
| to crush out all who refuse to Join them.
They claim the right to fix the prices of all
kinds Of paper, to regulate the time of work
ing of the various paper-mills, and generally
to control the business of making and selling
paper without regard TO the laws of supply
and demand by which business of all kinds is
usually governed And they have special
Standing Committee of seven, whose duty it
is to carry into effect all orders, votes and
resolves Of the Association and Government
1t is easy to see what powerful engine fer
the oppression Of the community such an as
sociation, in the hands of unprincipled men,
may easily come. While the price of paper,
from the scarcity Of rags, would undoubtedly
have largely increased, it could never have
been raised so rapidly and enormously as it
has been within the past two months
but for the immediate interference of this
combination. They have, by their action, di-
rect and indirect, more than doubled the price
of printing paper, and trebled that of all 9TH
er kinds. The natural effect of such meas
ures will be to diminish the consumption, and
tlus reduce the price. But the Paper Ma
Srs' Association expect to defeat the opera
ton OF this natural law by diminishing the
production in the same ratio. They claim
the right to put all the paDer mills of the
Z country subject to their control at work on
half time, whenever they find the prices of pa.
per again falling of
We understand that 'the Government of
this Association is to hold a meeting in this
city tomorrow, for the purpose of perfectng
their machinery and increasing the prce Of
paper still further, Some persons who have
the most faith in the working of the schemes,
do not hesitate to predict that printing paper
will sell at forty cents pound before the win.
ter is over In the long run. as matter Of
course, such arbitrary and selfish combna-
tiOns ruin all but few of the strongest and
wealthiest members. But they have the pow
er, meantime, to inaiet very serious injury
upon the community at large, and do irrepa
rable damage to the business which they as
sumo to protect