The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1902-04-05
A Tariff Example


print paper, which vas fully pu
before the recent industrial commits
sion by Mr.. John Norris and others
and everybody onght to know tn.
facts. Under a nominal tariff Their
had been a steady decline in the pricl
Of paper, due chiefly to improvement.
in the system Of manufacture anC
the substitution of wood pulp fOI
rags. In the year 1897 news print
paper which had sold eighteen year.
previous for 0 cents per pound, Oh
$3.50 per ton, was sold, delivered in
the presS-rooms in New York City, at
1.6 cents per pound or $50 per ton,
payment to be made on the basis that
all weight in excess of a given stand
ard-say ia pounds per LOCO eight
page sheets-should be at the expense
of the manufacturer, and that the
newspaper should also have the benefit
of the deficiency in case the weight
Of the paper should fail below stand
ard. All white waste wa to be taken
away by the manufacturer without
charge Of any kind to the publisher,
says the indianapolis Sentinel.
But the papermakers were not sat
isfed with the profits they we're
making. A delegation of them ap.
peared before the ways and means
committee and demanded "protec-
They insisted that if it was
given there would Se no increase Of
price. They said that if the tariff
we're increased they could gain con-
troll Of the foreign markets. They
that if any combination were
made it would only reduce expenses
and not increase prices. Congress
accepted these statements and the
on mechanically ground wood
was increased from ten per cent or
an average Of s1.2O per ton, to s1.67
per ton, and the duty on news print
paper costing less than ? cents per
pound was raised by the so-called
Dingley bill from Is per cent, or SO
per ton, to 30 cents per hundred
pounds, or So per ton. Prior to that
enactment no news print paper had
been imported into the United States,
and the government derived absolutely
no revenue therefrom, because the
American mills could make paper
more cheaply than any other mills.
The first thing the paper makers
did was to organize a trust. The
International Paper company filed
lrticles Of incorporation in New York
state on Monday, January 81, 1898,
a tax Of $50, $50 to the state,
md purporting to be located at
Jorinth, Saratoga county, New York.
Its authorized capital stock vas
s45, 600, 900, and power was given to
ssue $40, 1000, 900 in bonds, a total of
600, 900. The stock was divided
nto common and preferred, $40, OOO,-
700 of common stock and 5000, 900
preferred stock at 6 per cent. All
he big and profitable paper mills,
With a few unimportant exceptions,
we're merged into the company
,w~enty-fOur mills in all-producing
bout so per cent. of the American
at that time. Subsequently
his number OF mills was increased by
purchase to thirty, and the percentage
II output was slightly increased, but
he new mills Of the Great Northern
company, which we're finished
n 1000, have since disturbed and
educed this percentage. The organ
had all the features Of over
'ayment for property, watered stock
nd other features common to trust
ormatiOn.
The next thing was to increase the
rice Of paper. 1t was raised SO per
ON within the three years following
he organization OF the trust, partly
y ingenious changes in the form of
he selling contracts and partly by
irect increase of rates. On the
nnual consumption Of 500, 900 tons
'er annum this makes ar increased
ost, and profit, Of 81, 500, 900 per
ear, OF which ~two-thirds goes to the
rust. There are single papers in
his country to which this means an
died burden Of over $3.50, 600 a year.
n addition to this the tariff has
provoked retallatory legislation from
)anadai it is destroying our forests
leedlesSly; it is polluting our streams.