The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-10-01
ADVANCE ON PAPER.
Newspapers Considering the Menace of
the High Prices

OCI- line dCt1Ou
of the members of the Newspaper
Publishers association in deciding to
act in concert against the extortfons of
the paper trust an dto advocate the
abolition of the duty on paper will ap-
peal to all persons when they realize
the magnitude of the interests in
vo!ved- Few persons can conceive tn :
enormous growth of the newspaper In
dustry. or form an accurate idea OF
the actual amount of paper used by the
newspa pers each year.
According to the report made by the
census bureau on the printing and
publis hing industry. the aggregate cir
culation of the newspa pers of this
country per issue was, in 1905, 13y.-
amount of paper consumed in the
year 1905 to print the newspapers OF
the country was S21,639,S30 pounds
a quantity of paper which the human
mind can not conceive In 1850 the
whole issue of newspapers would cover
a surface of 100 square miles The
total issues of the newspa pers in 1908.
II laid side by side, would cover an
area of 5000 square miles, a territory
larger than the state of Connecticut.
To make this paper nearly Is. 900
men were required. representing ap-
proxirnateIy 100000 in wages
These mills used as raw material, ex-
elusive of the logs imported from
Canada, 100000 cords of spruce,
poplar and hemlock logs, representing
the timber product of approximately
100000 acres. Thus every working
day in the year the forests of New
England and the middle states. with
scattered areas elsewhere in the north
and northeast, yielded approximately
1,765 900 feet B. NJ to be transformed
into the newspapers required to sup
ply the people of the United States.
The action of the newspaper pub
fishers in protesting against the pres
ent high prices for white paper is no
surprise to the experts of the census
bureau who gathered the data for
the official report on the printing and
publishing business In the report
they point out the fallacy of the wide
spread belief that huge profits accrue
from the constant increase of the cir
culation of an enterprising newspa-
per.
After abiding to the steady growth
of the size of the daily newspap ers,
until today a newspaper in IA pages
and frequently 90, and noting. also.
the constant increase in the price of
paper it is pointed out that there is
today not only no profit, but in the
case of great papers an absolute loss
on the circulation of the papers,
which is only compensated by the
steady growth of advertising The
twelfth census pointed out That any
material increase in sales beyond that
reported in 1900 without a CORE
spouding increase in the rate charged
per line would eliminate all profit
upon advertising and inevitably tend
toward definite loss upon the cheap
err grades of advertising"
1t is stated that by 1905 in some in
stances actual loss had been avoided
only by a minor increase of rates. In
general. however. there has been no
advance in the charge for advertising,
and If circulation continues to in
crease the publishers of newspapers
having very large circulation must
confront the elimination of these
problems during the period which
elapses before the census of 1910.
In general, 1t appears to be fact
that the period under discussion in this
report mas been one Of unexcelled pros
perfty for newspapers having advertis-
ing rates commensurate with circu1a-
ton. many publications which were
reputed to be most prosperous, in re-
atty found the period one Of decreasing
profit in the face of q steadily increas-
ing business
Not only the newspaper publisher,
hut through him the newspaper reader
and the advertiser are affected by the
rieh prices extorte1 by the paper trust
for white paper. The printing indus
try reaches out into every channel of
industry Large publishing houses are
contem plating the increase Of prices of
books so that the reading public out
side the newspapers will also be COM
PEELED to pay tribute to the trust