St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-11-06
RAGS AND PAPER.
The Embargo the Former Increasing
the Price of the Latter

The Embargo on the Former Increasing
the Price of the Latter.
paper makers view of the situation IS
colored very much just now by the amount
of rags he has on hand. / have heard, here
in New York, that two of your leading man
ufacturers have a supply which win last
them year, and that they are the only con-
Germs which are well stocked up. II this be
so they are the two lucky men who are going
to make the money that is made in the paper
business during the next twelve months.
But even men situated as fortunately as they
are reported 20 be in fear of the foreign
manufacturers. The embargo has
turned a stream of European paper
toward our shores, and the Belgium
mills are laying down their product here in
New York, duty paid. at nine cents pound,
ruled, and eight unruled. And Holyoke
experts admit that it is pretty good paper.
This is 10 them a fresh and not TO be dis
puted argument for a stiff tariff, and the
meeting has bristled, as do all their gather
ings, with incidental talk about the para
mount necessity of protecting American in
dnstries. They viii tell you that in Norway,
where a cheap wool pulp is imported for use
as the basis for the raw material, the work
cents a day. They also tell you that II the
duty should be taken from foreign paper
half the American concerns would be bank
rupt in six months
In all their public discussion in regard 10
the nop-liability TO the propagation Of disease
through the importation Of rags the paper
men are careful to state that If they had any
evidence that these rags which are now rest
/ ing under government en-
barge contained disease they would
not say a word against the prohibit
ton, be the financial consequences what they
might. But they pile up expert testimony
with the ingenuity of some noted lawyer 10
prove that disease never did aud never can
Turk il the rags which they bring over, which
rags, they explain, do not come from whole
garments at once, but are scraps that are
torn from clothing by piecemeal. But their
confidence is not shared by everybody. A
representative of the American Bank Note
company said 10 me this morning that he
felt that the government has been justified
in every step Il had taken in the way Of en-
barge, although he admitted that he hadn I
the slightest idea where the country is 10
look for the raw materials for paper making
in the future. But, admitting the necessity
of supervision aud discrimination, the main
| body of the paper men feel that the treasury
regulations have been arbitrary and sense
less; arbitrary because the decree went forth
that all rags which reached the wharves be-
fore a certain hour, no matter where they
came from or how long they had been on
the way, might come in, while those that
arrived half an hour later could not be
received. And the cutting OF Of the Cana
dian supply was an especial hardship. Ow-
ing to the efforts of the officers Of the associ-
alton, the first order of the treasury depart
ment was modified so that rags which were at
that time on the ocean could be let in, and II
was because of this modification that some Of
the paper mills have been able TO secure any
rags during the last two months. In the let
ter from Cairo, read at the meeting, il ap-
peared that the government would not allow
rags TO be exported, and that no English ship
would take them, provided no prohibition ex-
listed. The manufacturers are not hopeful
that the govern mcnt viii listen to their
prayer so effectnaily as TO make any change
December 1, bat viii be too afraid to antago-
nize the public sentiment which forced them
TO the embargo. II so, the only remedy
would seem to be for every American house
hold to save every rag, and 10 make paper of
something clse.--COTTsspondalee Springfield
RspsS6lioaR.