The New York herald., 1862-12-11
spec stors sad MonoPoliss-The Paper
Maksr<' Com binat

Msksr<' Com bin alton.
A civil war always breeds spectators and
monopolsts, as corrupfA,n breeds all sorts OF
filthy worms and insects. The present war has
been no exception to this rliie. There is q set
OF men among us so lost to all feelings Of pa
triotism and religion as to endeavor to make
money out OF our national distresses, and coin
gold out Of the tears Of widows and orphans
Some of these mon are shoddy contractors,
shipbrokers at two and half per cent COM
mission, sellers of kerosene and camphsne
casks for water barrels, dealers in spoiled pro-
visions and rotten meats, or suffers who retail
liquid death at extravagant prices. Others,
however, do not oppress the soldiers 50 much
as the people generally. Some Of this latter
class raise the price Of coal just "a bitter,
cold winter is beginning to make the poor more
siOns and other necessaries of life, taking ad'
vantage of Secretary Chase's currency muddle
to cover up their criminality. Others still com.
bine to increase the price of paper, and thus
tax knowledge and deprive the people Of their
usual means of information. We are by no
means sure that these paper patriots are not the
worst of the whole gang.
The newspaper is no longer luxury among
the American people 1t is vital necessity
The air is scarcely more essential to the
physical life than the newspaper to the
mental life Of the nation. These paper
monopolists are therefore the apostles Of
ignorance, of vice and Of crime. By forming
company and buying up ell the rags in the
market, they have succeeded in raising the
price Of the paper upon which our journal is
printed over one hundred per cent The price
of writing paper has also been increased to
forty-fve and City cents pound. and these
spectators have purchased and stored away
large stocks Of it In order to keep up the prices
Those who hoard paper for such purpose
during times like these are almost as bad as those
who store away food during famine, in order
to grow rich by the starvation of others. AL
most every family has personal intrest in
this war, and relies upon the newspapers for
information in regard to its loved ones. BY
depriving the people of their newspapers, the
spectators deprive them of all peace, happi-
ness and comfort The newspaper proprietors
cannot publish their journals at q heavy loss,
and have already been obliged to raise their
prices from two to three cents. If the rise in
paper continues the price of newspapers must
advance with it, until the cost reaches
four, five or six cents o copy. The result
will be that very few persons eau afford
to purchase newspapers, and almost universal
ignorance of the affairs and condition of the
country will prevail At the head of the COM
bination Of paper dealers who are laboring to
effect this result are Norman White, H. w.
Butler, N. L. Seymour, E. P. Tileston, J. M.
Hollingsworth and others. The first of these
individuals is very we'll known. He is q
man who is very pious and is greatly in fa-
vor Of Sabbatarianism. He led the crusade
against newsboys. some time ago, and is now
the director of the crusade against newspapers
Having tried to obtain monopoly Of Heaven
he is now anxious for monopoly Of paper.
He imag1hes that he can control the actions oi
Providence, and now seeks to domineer over
the mighty press.
H. v. Butler is the president Of the associa-
tion of paper monopolists; but he is over
worth, and half dozen others. Some Of
these dealers have large stores, crammed
full Of writing paper, which they refuse
to sell, in order to force the price still
higher. Several Of these men are abolition
lists of the Garrison and Phillips school;
but they no longer regard the constitution a.
"a piece Of waste paper;'' for waste paper is
now much dearer to them than the constitution
ever was. Having failed TO raise the irrepres-
sible negro to the same status as the white
man, they are now determined to degrade the
white man to the ignorance OF the negro, by
making all newspapers, books and periodicals
extravagantly expensive. II these persons sup
pose that either the newspaper proprietors or
the public Will submit to their extortions they
are very greatly mistaken. There are means
to overcome the paper combination, and these
means will be used. In the first place the
newspaper proprietors will endeavor to make
contracts for four or five years supply with
manufacturers not belonging to this company
Of monopolists. In the second place, Con-
gress will soon reduce the tariff on foreign pa
per from thirty to about three per cent, 30 that
it may be on an equality with that manufacture
ed here. This reduction will be direct bene-
fit to the revenue of the country; for under the
present tariff no foreign paper is imported.
while, if the tariff he reduced to three per cent
to correspond with the tax upon domestic
paper-immense quantities will be Immediately
shipped to this country. In the third place, the
newspaper proprietors throughout the country
will combine and establish paper mills Of their
own, in order to supply the three, four or FIVE
hundred thousand pounds OF paper used weekly
in this city. and the proportionate amounts for
other cities. One or the other Of these measures
will soon be takes, and the paper monopoists
will then be- left out in the cold. The certain
defeat Of their plans however, does not make
those plans less atrocious; and as long as an