Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1880-02-25
A TAX ON KNOWLEDGE.
FORTS BILL


s. COLUMBUS, o., February 14.-The following
joint resolution was offered in the senate to-day
by MIR. Harper: I a = = iSf# "a FF sFs
WHEREAS, A combination has been entered into
and exists among the Observation-Disclosures of the
country whereby the price Of print-paper has re-
Gently been advanced some 40 per cent without any
just reason therefor; therefore, be it
Resolced, BY the General Assembly of the State of
Ohlo that our senators in congress be Instructed to
vote In favor OF the passage of the bill pending
in congress to remove the duty on paper imported
into this country to be used in printing books period
1cals, and newspapers. 'fI eIT' Y
The resolution was laid on the table and or
dereu printed. The great interest shown in the
matter has attracted the attention of the general
assembly, and the pressure being brought to
bear by the newspapers and publishing-houses
is SO great that it is probable the bill will be
brought up at an early day and passed.
A TYRANNICAL AND ARBITRARY MONOPOLY.
TFrom the Des Moines Register
There are three bills before congress relative
to the reduction of the tariff on printing paper
The Fort bill provides that soda-ash, an inn
portant chemical used in the manufacture of
paper, and now paying duty Of $500 per ton,
shall be admitted duty free, and certain other
articles employed in paper making. Another
bill proposes to put unsized white paper, such
as Is used In newspaper offices, on the free list;
the other would reduce the duty from 20 per
cent. to 5 per cent. The paper manufacturers
sures on the plea that the increase OBJ paper is
only part Of the general boom in prices. But
the fact is that the paper increase is largely dis
proportlonate to the general upward tendency
of other articles, and too manifestly the result
% tyrannical and arbitrary power of q monop-
oily to allow the people interested to be hood
winked by any such thin pretext. The paper
combination has declared that it would force
paper up to II cents pound before the 1st of
May, making an advance Of 100 per cent. in
eight months. Is this good times, or is it
monopoly?
HIGH PRICES AND PUBLISHERS.
[Frofn the Flint (N1ich.) Democrat 20
Fhe rise in prices has affected the printing
and publishing business not little. In fact the
peculiar nature of the newspaper business. and
to lesser extent, the job-printing industry,
makes the increased price of all kinds of stock
more dlsastrOusy felt among printers than 9TH
ers Take for instance the case of large city
daily. It's subscriptions are well known and can
not easily and Immediately be raised Nothing
causes q subscriber to gru1nble more than to
have the price of his paper raised. He will
stand any amount of advance on the articles of
daily use and necessaries of life without COM
planning more readily than he will submit to the
payment Of higher subscription; yet O. pub
Usher can as i'll afford to sell the paper for
which he pays 100 per cent. more, for the same
low price established in time of low prices, as
can grocer or clothier. But although they
cannot affordto do it, hardly one paper in q
hundred has raised its subscription and adyer-
Using rates since newspaper went up. News
paper has advanced in price over so per cent,
making paper worth one cent sheet four
months ago cost two cents now, All this comes
out of the pockets of the publishers as a rule.
PAPER EXToRTIoNIsTs.
[From the Chicago Tribune, Feb 1Gl
The Tribune published yesterday morning an
article showing the decided rise in the price of
rags, and advising housekeepers to save them.
since they could get good sum for them 1t
was lso stated however, that this 'boom" in
rags should have no effect worth mentioning on
the price Of print-paper which the newspapers
Use, insomuch as not more than 10 per cent Of
the paper stock consists Of rags, the great bulk
being straw or Eastwood fibre. Any pretense on
the part of the papermakers, therefore, that the
rise in rags has forced them to shove up the
price of print-paper is abstird. It may not be
uninteresting, therefore, to recall the proceed
ingS of the meeting of the Northwestern Paper
makers association, which was held here on the
4th of this month, at which it was decided to
put up the price half q cent per pound, with a
sort of general understanding that another IN
crease was to be made when they reassembled
in March.
Among those present at this interesting con-
vention were: l. w. French president and
treasurer, Of the I. w. T. Manufacturing COM,
pany, Of Three Rivers, Mich. c. Cornwall, of
Ypsilanti Paper company, of Ypsilanti, Mich;
B. L. Davenport; of Eikhart Paper company,
Elkhart, Ind; William Van Ort"fck, of Batavia
Paper company, Batavia, ILL.,; II. j. Rogers sec
Rotary of Appleton Paper company, Appleton,
Appleton, Wis.,; Mr.. Clark, of Kimberly, Clark
& Co., of Neenah, Wis; George Whiting, of
Winnebago Paper Mills, Neenah, Wis.
These gentlemen met as privately as possible
in q private room IN Chicago hotel, and took
every precaution III their power to prevent the
hot
doing. But from what was aseertained of their
deliberations it appears that they showed a
degree of joyfulness and happiness which they
had not manifested for months before. They
shook hands and asked after one another's
health with a cordiality which had not displayed
itself for long time Formerly they had met
as at funeral. Then they met rather as guests
at wedding. They recalled the situation six
months before. At that time they said the bo-
gus business boom had not struck the country.
It had, however, now done so to such an extent
that they felt justified in doing little price
lifting on their own account. They talked over
the prospects of the paper trade, and expressed
general satisfaction at it's confition,-that gem
eral satisfaction which arises from determine
ton to put on the screws, and from a belief that
the thing will hold. They expressed that salts
faction which man feels when he thinks he
has good thing in his hands and is about to
make the most of it.
So. after having exchanged congratulations,
and crowded with delight over the approach of
good times and a business millennium, they
proceeded to turn their hopes into cash by re-
solving to add on this half-cent, per pound to
common print paper. Then, after a general
warning all around to say nothing to the re-
porters, but to scatter for their respective
homes, enlarge their mills, and prepare to in
crease their bank accounts, the convention adj
iourned until next month. When they meet
then they will, notwithstanding the protests
which have been made by about every paper in
the country, proceed TO express more, general I,
satisfaction more delight at the boom" IN
prices more confidence in the prospect of the
paper trade, and wind up the proceedings by
adding cent pound more to the price of
rint paper. f4 E 3
- a. THE BILL OUGHT TO PASS. 4Hs
(From the Lafayette (Ind.) Journal Qsep.)1
The combination of the paper manufacture
ers, through which the cost of printing paper
has been advanced over 80 per cent. in the last
two months, has had the effect OF causing the
ttxy I1rroQ