Civilian & telegraph. [volume] (Cumberland, Md.) 1859-1875, 1864-12-22
THE DUTY ON PAPER.


! Inc price VI paper ID d suOJcet "hich aheo'o
all classes of the community. The daily news
paper has become household necessity-as
much so, almost, as the supply of the larder.
Before the war the white paper on which the
An,srican is printed, cost a fraction under one
cent per sheet, II price being nine and one
half cents per pound. 1t has since steadily
advanced until it reached twenty-five cents
per pound here, and at one time the price at
the North was twenty-eight and thirty cents.
This has caused doubling of the price Of
newspapers all over the country, and, as stated
by a circular issued by the Western newspaper
publishers, "if the advance in subscription
=" rates were to correspond with the advance
Gin printing paper. the price would be five
" dollars per year for wcekles and twenty
" dollars for dailies." Some publishers have
sought little allevistion by reducing the size
of their sheets, whilst others have been forced
to suspend publication.
During the past year paper has bounded up
to twcntyfour and twcnty-sevcn cents per
pound. and has now come down, temporarily.
as the manufacturers allege, to twenty three
cents Rags, tow. old rope and bleaching
powders are cheaper now than last year, when
paper was down to sixteen cents, and straw
and sorghum blades, which now largely enter
into the m anufartare of paper, are not very
scarce or dear articles The present cxorbi-
tant prices are therefore believed to be the re-
suit of combination of Eastern mills to
charge, not what they can afford to sell for,
but what it would cost publishers to import
paper from abroad. and pay the twenty per
cent. gold duty which the law exacts Paper
of better quality than the domestic article
can be laid down in New York from Europe
for seventeen to eighteen cents per pound, in
currency but when tho twenty per cent.
tariff in gold is added the difference between
the cost and the combination prices is not
sufficient to induce merchants to import, es-
pecially as it is in the power of the monop-
olists, by abating portion of their enormous
profits, to undcrseli them SO long as the
combination lasts the Spectators in rags and
other stock hold up their prices, and there will
he no prospects of PERMANENT fall in paper
until the duty is removed.
A committee of publishers from all parts of
the country will visit Washington next week
to cndcavor to induce repeal of the duty
forthwith. At the last session the paper
makers combination defeated the application
OF the publishers for a repeal and celebrated
their victory by advancing their price. about
ten cents per pound
The Government has no interest in pre.
serving the twenty per cent. gold duty, as it
derives no revenue thcrefrom, because no
print paper is imported. The manufacturers
fix their prices just at that figure which leaves
no margin of certain profit to the importer
but yet "gobbles" the twenty per cent. of
duty. The Government is an immense con.
sumner of paper, and as it does not purchase
abroad. OF course it must pay the monopoly
prices. Thus, instead of obtuinng revenue
from the duty, it gets nothing. and liz actually
obliged to pay twenty per cent. higher for its
own paper than it would if there were no i'm
port on print"
1t may be "lleged by paper makers that
rags have advanced so much that they cannot
afford to manufacture at cheaper prices. But
VIC reply, that cotton and linen are as dear in
Europe us in America and rs much affected
by our war, and rags should be worth no
more here than there; yet, it is a notorious
fact. that print never was cheaper or more
abundant in Europe than this year. 1t is
sold to publishers in Great Britain, France,
Italy, Germany, and Holland at eight cents
per pound in coin. How unreasonable and
wrongful then, that print" should cost
twcnty-six cents iu currency in America.
If rags are high in this country, the COM
binatiou have made them so, but they will
speedily fall when the twenty per cent impost
is taken off. Let a few cargoes of foreign
paper be imported duty free, relieving the
American market of the alleged over demand,
and forthwith there Will be decline in rags,
and good print" will then become abundant
in the East at eighteen to nineteen. and at the
West at sixteen to seventeen cents per pound,
and the manufacturers, in consequence of the
fall in the price of rags will still realize profits
large enough to satisfy reasonable capitalists,
the Government will save large sums by get
ting cheaper paper, and publishers will be
able to continue their business without ruin
staring them in the face.
The present " tax on knowledge" is more
m'schicveus and oppressive than any impost
or excise laid on any other branch of business
Sound policy forbids onerous taxes on knowl-
edge. The Government Of Great Britain has
: wisely removed almost all taxes on newspapers
and periodicals, and made the dissemination
of public information as cheap and free as pos
sible. Shall our model Republican Govern
ment be behind any of the kingdoms Of the
Old World in this regard?
A GENTLEMAN, walking with two ladies',
, stepped on hogshead hoop. that few up and
struck him in the face. Meroy" said be,
which of you dropped that p