Birmingham state herald., 1895-10-15
THE PAPnR rRusr.

THE EAf9h IhOSTs
 The New York World Is rendering the
 country good service in exposing and
 denouncing the scheme of certain specu-
 lators to form paper trust-that is, to
 bring all the paper mills of the country
 into conspiracy to increase the price
 of paper. Such a conspiracy would be
 heavy tax upon newspapers, book
 makers and every form of literature.
 The World says:
 There are many paper mills in z the
 country that are utterly out of date.
 Some of them have machinery of anti
 quated kinds. It costs more to mako
 paper in them than the paper is worth.
 Others are rendered unprofitable by req
 son of the fact that their timber supply is
 exhausted and their water power no
 longer trustworthy
 The plan of the paper trust is to make
 the people of the country pay the loss
 incident to the abandonment of these
 mills or else pay to keep them in opera
 tion.
 It is proposed to turn them all into the
 trust at a capitalization of $95,O0o,Ooo, although $10000000 would more than duplicate their productive capacity with new and properly placed machinery If the lambs of Wall street, unmindful of Cordage, can be induced to take the $35 900 900 of stock and bonds, or, in other WOr0S, 10 DuY all L0eSe WOIUOut Ol olilSA7 wise improbable mills at three and half times their value, the manipulators of the scheme will pocket such pront. as nobody ever makes in legitimate ways; If that is accomplished 1t is proposed | to make the public pay interest and dlV- idends on this new capitalization. The purpose of the combination is to advance | to 21s cents pound paper that can be sold at 1 6-10 cents with a proht or lS per cent.
 There are just two questions to De an swered with respect to this matter. one | is. will buyers be found for the hctltlous | securities The other is will the puolc | consent to pay more than twice S1 much l for paper as it is worth?
 Of course if the trust is formed the public will have to pay the trust any profit they may ask up tol the point where | imports from abroad will compete with | them. There are laws. national and State, against such trusts, but they are not en- | forced We have not yet got to that stage | of civilization when a law can be en- | forced against an accused person who represents thirty-five millions of money. | If the tr,sst is formed there is but one remedy against it. and that is to let in | free of duty all paper, pulp and all chemicals needed in the manufacture of paper It has been a wonder to us why
 school books have not been admitted free
 of duty The English people are supposed | to understand English and no doubt | they have school books over there con- petent for all purposes of instruction. | If these books were admitted free we would be emancipated from the school | book combinations, which tax the public | schools in a. sum amounting to more than all the State appropriations for educa- ton.
 The World is mistaken in supposing | that the danger from such trust will be obviated by placing wood pulp on | the free list It is not a fact that wood pulp can be manufactured abroad cheap | CT than in this country. Here in the South we have forests specially adapted to pulp for paper mills Nothing could be | better or cheaper than the fbrous Tulip gum which abcunds along the rivers and swamps of this section. Indeed with the | aid of chemicals it matters very little | now what kind of wood is used. Pulp | mills as adjuncts to paper mills here at | the South would very soon assert their | power to keep the price of paper down to
 a fair living rate.
 l Apropos of this subject we know of no | better location for pulp and paper 1 mill than right here al Birmingham. The l adjacent forests abound in the best of | wood. There is ample water for the | flowing processes, and the cheapest pow CT for the heavy machinery. And then | within reach of Birmingham we have | enough newspapers to consume the pro- | duct of half dozen mills. There are | over 300 weeklies in Alabama and Geor- gia consuming on an average more than | four tons of paper for each day Then | the dailies at Birmingham, Mobile | Mont tgomery, Selma and New Orleans | consume over twenty tons a day. It | will be seen al glance that the field | here is wide open. It offers fortune to | some enterprising man.