The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1907-11-15
PAPER TARIFF NOT TO BLAME

PAPER TARIFF NOT TO BLAME.
Newspaper publishers seeking to get
at the cause Of the constantly in
creasing cost of white paper and to
effect a reduction In that cost, will
make better Roadway by going to the
office of the attorney general of the
United States than by undertaking the
tariff revision Of which so much has
last week promised to ask congress
to chop off the duty.
For in the first place tariff revision
will not solve the problem. The tariff
on wood pulp from Canada is sc per
ton, or thirty cents per 100 pounds.
This of itself is an insignificant item
as compared with the gigantic in
crease in the cost of paper, so that
even if tariff revision did lop off the
Sc per ton, publishers would feel slight
reflection of the movement in the
prices they would be called upon to
pay. But the most disheartening fea-
ture of this movement is the fact that,
were the pruning knife taken to the
paper tariff here, the Canadian gov
eminent would very probably i'm
mediately enact an export duty for
the express purpose of preserving
Canadian forests for the use of that
country and thus no relief whatsoever
would come to the American publish
ers. More than that, it is said on good
authority that there is not enough
wood pulp in Canada to supply one
of the big American newspapers with
paper, let alone trying to solve the
whole paper problem of this country
by seeking Canadian pulp. kilograms
have lately been received by promin-
ent American publishers from Canada
official sources affirming the stated
probability that that government will
legislate an export duty the moment
this country takes down the import
bars.
The fact of the matter is that either
a combination has been formed by
paper mills in restraint of trade, and
by which the price of paper has been
unreasonably inflated, or else the
wood pulp actually is giving out and
the demand, greater than the supply,
has forced up the cost
If it is a combination that has been
formed, the price will be maintained
whether or not, until the legal depart
ment of the federal government gets
effective action, and the reduction of
the tariff would merely put Sc per ton
more of velvet into the pockets of the
combine. In this event, therefore, the
tariff might as well be maintained and
the price Of labor in paper mills up
held, since the reduction of the tariff
would serve as an incontestable
ground for reducing wages by the
manufacturers.
And If, on the other hand, the causes
for papers cost increasing Is, as the
manufacturers contend, due to per
fectly natural conditions in the spruce
forest depletion, then remedy must
be sought at home instead of in the
insufficient Canadian forests. 1t is
folly to suppose that the Canadian
government would for one moment
allow the United States, by taking the
AK to the import duty on wood pulp,
clean up the visible supply In that
country without some sort of a strug-
gle on their part to prevent it. For,
with the example of the United States
fresh in mind, the Canadian govern
that, If a foreign attack upon their
forests were allowed, Canada would
soon find herself in the same plight
that Is now puzzling the United States.
1t is, therefore, eminently illogical to
hope for relief from Canada
If it is a combination that has in
lateu prices mere, the remedy lies, IL
ought to be apparent in dissolving the
combine and restoring natural prices.
If the manufacturers have been de.
iberately allowing the forests to be
cut away without renewal, for the
criminal purpose of starving the mar
ket and fixing false and artificial price
tags on the paper output, then the
attorney generals Office at Washing
ton ought to be able to get busy and
secure the desired relief
But If there really is lack of wood
pulp, and until the supply can be re-
plenished by the planting and rearing
of new forests, then apparently the