The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1880-04-14

ABOUT THE PAPER PULP MoNoPoLY.

| ABOUT THE PAPER PULP MOHoFOAA.
wAsHreroz, D. c., April 5, 1880
To the Editor Of the Morristown Gazette:
The NEST interesting question befor'
Congress at the present time is that o
the tariff on the raw material from
which the education of this great people
is derived, and on the medium through
which large proportion of the busl'
ness of the country il conducted. Dear
paper makes dear newspapers, dear
books, dear writing material, dear en-
velOpes. It hGndicaps the intellectual,
commercial, and social life of the most
active and progressive people IN the
world. That Legislators should favor this
monopoly or hesitate for a moment to
strike it down is tso monstrous to be-
lieve. 1t is crime against the child
at school, against the age, and against
pOsterity, that the intelligence of the
future, upon which our political and
social welfare so largely depends, shall
be restricted and diminished that few
coarse men may grow rich. 1t is i'm
portant that bread shall be cheap, for
without it the bedy will die. 1t is SUI
premely important that intelligence
shall be cheap, fer it is the food Of the
mind. Where one man is employed in
making paper or wood pulp, hundred
are employed in the art of printing. 1t
may be said that just as many will find
employment on newspapers, for ex-
ample, when paper is dear as when it is
cheap. This is not true. The newspa-
per cannot safely reduce its size. But
the necessity for Tetrenchment must be
met and Will fall at once on the labor
the publisher employs, since it can fall
nowhere else. By employing larger
type and reducing the composition bills
in the ways publishers so easily under
stand, they can lop off the wages of
compositors to make up for the increas-
ed cost of white paper. They will also
reduce the pay of numbers of reporters
and correspondents, and thus diminish
the pay roll, while the quality of the
news and comment furnished will be
deterioated. The business of printing
is of such vastly greater Importance
than that of making paper, that it is
dustry to enrich few wealthy manu- |
facturers. The intelligence of the |
American people comes One-hundred- !
fold more from the general reading of (
hU 10
their common schools. The marvellous
~ cheap form in which the best of the |
standard English literature is now fur
nished is another powerful educator,
md one, the effects of which will be
.elt by future generations. The cost of
paper is a most important element in
his machinery for the spread of knowl-
,dge-a machinery that has far cut
tripped the dreams of the Girards and
'mithsons, who have sought to benefit
heir fellow-men by endowing institu-
ions to serve the same end.
AS for the wood-pulp millionarcs,
Who prostitute their seats in Congress
0 maintain their monopoly, their course
} just as corrupt as if they sold their
otes. AS long as public opinion will
ermit this sort of thing we may ex-
ect carnival of rascality in public
fe. To make OratIons about a defci-
iency in the Star Service, and be silent
bout the fragrant immortality of mem
ers voting money directly into their
wn banks or mills will not justify any
Xix in the House of Representatives
bout Reform.