The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1880-02-05
A TAX ON knowledge.
Hoe C0nVress Imposes q Rcury Tribute
Upon the Dissemination of Literature.
lChicago Tribune.]

OF bleaching in the manufacture of paper
from straw and wood is a costly one because
OF the great quantity of chemicals needed
and because OF the oppressive tax imposed
upon these necessary commodities. The
annual importation Of soda-ash exceeds two
hundred millions of pounds; the duty on
this article is $5.65 per ton. The duty on
other chemicals used for the same purpose is
even higher. Paper is one of the great
manufactures of this country, and every tax
upon the materials needed in the business
becomes burden, without accomplishing
any corresponding benefit.
The great "boom'' which has so ctezed the
iron, steel and coGl Industries of the country
mas extended sympatheticalIy to other pro
ductions. It has reached that of paper
making. The prices of paper at the mills
have been advanced bstween 25 and SO per
cent since June last. And the trouble with
the newspaper consumers of sprint is, they
cannot increase their subscription prices to
correspond with the advance of white paper.
If they raise their price, they lose subscribers,
and SO they are thus far standing the loss as
choice of evils. When they protest to the
paper makers against the advance, the latter
point them to the high cost of soda and
The duty were taken off they could materially
reduce the price OF print paper. This is
the main excuse given for the great
advance in the price.
The fact, however, is that the American
manufacturers have combined to place the
price of print-paper at the exact point whio',
will exclude importation. The duty on paper
used for books and newspapers, magazines,
and other similar publications, is 20 per
cent. on the foreign cost, and 20 per cent.
Oh the storage, handling, commissions, and
other foreign charges, to which is to be
added the cost of ocean freights and inland
transp ,,rtation to the place of consumption
The advance is an arbitrary one: there has
been no such increase in the cost of rags,
straw or wood as to justify any such in
crease in the price of print-paper since last
summer. There may have been some in
crease in the cost Of labor and OF transporta-
tion, but nothing to warrant the increase of
ne-third made by tbs manufacturers.
The paperniskers represent, as they have
always done, that ttsy are heavily taxed up
Oh the chemicals and bleaching, powders
used i'll their production. This complaint is
also, and Us strongly, urged By the manu-
facturers Of cotton and linen goods aid
glassware. This complaint has been urged
on the ground that, if the manufacture of
paper was relieved Of the heavy tax upon
b!eachers, the American papermakers coula,
because of the better qualities and cheaper
cost of the etraw and Of the wood, make pa
per for export, and sell it abroad in su ;cess-
ful competitor with the paper Of European
mills. This, if true, shows that the present
tax on bleaching powders and other chem-
cal agents is an oppressive and restraining
weight upon the unlimited expansion Of
American paper Manufacture.
Any tax OH paper is a tax on public inte|li-
gence. The book, the magazine, the pa,nph-
let, and the newspap.s: are essentials to tho
American people. They are the dissemina-
tors of knowledge; they are the great Ameri-
can teachers: they enter every household:
they carry information where it could not
otherwise 60, and they cultivate aud main
tain the public sentiment upon which public
and private morality depend. The magni-
tude of this tax on paper can be estimated
partially by considering the many millions
of publications issued daily and weekly, ana
reaching every household, showing the
enormous consumption of paper in this
country.
Now, the duty of Congress IN this matter
is plain one. American manufacturers of
paper, and of glass, cotton, and linen goods,
should be relieved of every tax on each aud
every thing entering into their production.
All raw materials, all chemicals, all dyestutfs,
aud all bleaching powders Of every descrip-
ton and quality should be admitted free of
duty, aud these manufacturers placed on the
same footing in this respect with their for
eign competitors. The manufacture of
paper in this country should be relieved Of
this tax in an especial manner, because a
tax upon paper is repressive tax that
reaches every man, woman, and child in
the country that can read and write.
At the same time, the duty on
all paper, especially that used for books and
newspapers, should be reduced one half, that
is, to 10 per cent. If tho statements of the
manufacturers MS to the heavy addition made
to the cost of producing printing paper be-
cause of the tax on chemicals be true, then o
repeal of this oppressive tax will far more
than compensate them for the reduction of
the duty on imported printing paper. There
has been no print-paper imported for years
no foreign paper can be imported that can
compete with domestic paper protect
ed by q duty of 20 per cent, and other
charges, end the cost of ocean and internal
transportation.
The taxes on the bleaching aud other chem
icals used in making the paper, it has been
always claimed, SO increased tho cost of max
ing paper in this country that nothing less
than duty of 20 per cent. would protect it
from foreign competition. Congress-, there
fore, will see that by repeating this onerous
tax on bleachers the duty on paper may be
repealed or at least reduced 10 per cent. to
the great advantage of the American man.
ufacturers as we'll as CT every news
paper and every book and magazine pub
Usher in this country. Every body has
a direct interest in this matter. The
revenue from printing paper is not large,and
can be spared, and the tax on chemicals used
for bleaching serves only to swell the cost OF
manufacture. Every newspaper and every
publisher in the United States, therefore,
should unite in laying all these facts before
Congress, in order that that body, being
thus informed, can relieve the manufacturers
of this useless and oppressive burden, and
that tho duty on paper, if not abolished also,
be reduced to one-half. Tho case is too
plain for Congress to hesitate IN the matter.