The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1908-09-03
On
Pulp Issue
Courtesy Raleigh News and
Observer.)
A CLEAR AND CORRECT STATE
MENT.

The Republicans in Western North
Carolina are fertile in raising false is
sues. When the Constitutional Amend
ment, relating to suffrage was before
the people, thu had the effrontery
to declare that if it became a law it
would at once deny the right to vote
to every white main who had been
denied the advantages of an educa-
ton. hi result was that they deceived
some illiterate man who voted against
the purified suffrage. Later these men
found out that the Republicans had
fooled them and hat they had been
used by corrupt politicians to try to
keep all the ignorant negroes enjoying
the ballot.
This year the Republicans of the
mountains have discovered another
in Haywood county making pulp for
high grade paper and wrapping pa
per. These Republican ignoramuses
are telling the people of the noun
tains that the Democrats favored a
measure that would destroy that i'm
dustry in Western North Carolina.
I There isn't a word of truth in the
statement Hon. W. T. Crawford, the
able and patriotic Congressman from
the Tenth district makes a clear and
correct statement of the matter that
does not leave the Republican manu-
~facturer of campaign canards a
place to. stand upon. In a letter to
the Asheville Citizen, Mr.. Crawford
says:
To the Editor:
Ny name has been mentioned in the
discussion of the proposition to put
wood pulp and print paper on the
free list. I am sure hat there are
many who desire to know the WHOLE
| truth while there are others who do
not care to know the truth and will
not be governed by it when they do
know it, for the reason that they
have already planned to make poll
teal capital out of supposed ignor-
ance of people by Misrepresentation
as to the purpose and effect of legisla-
ton along this line.
The agitation of this question began
more than a year ago when the In
ternational Paper Company n the
Great Northern Paper Company and
others combined and formed a trust
and deliberately planned to add to
the burdens of the 1880 newspa-
pers of the United States, the enor-
nous sum of 100000, 900 per annum
in the cost of their paper, as was
alleged by the Newspaper Publishers
ASSOCldIlOU, representing, DIS oOSS,
so per cent. of the newspapers OF the
country. The association resisted the
demands of the trust on the ground
that there had been no material in
crease in the cost of producing the
paper, yet the price was raised, on
a general average, from $3S to $50
per ton, and the smaller papers are
paying at the rate of $65 per ton.
Since the trust was formed, there has
not been a pound of paper bought
except at the trust-fiXed price, if the
evidence taken by the committee is
10 be believed. The newspaper asso-
citation, composed alike of democrats
and republicans, appealed to the de-
partment of justice for relief, insist
ing that a trust had been formed in
violation of the antitrust law; n the
attorney general instituted suits in the
federal court against a number OF
these companies. In the meantime
Congress convened and President
Roosevelt in his annual message of
December 8, 1907, says There should
be no tariff on any forest product
grown in this country; and, in espe-
cial, there should be no tariff on wood
pulp" Following the suggestion of
the president, Mr.. Stevens, a republ1-
can from Minnesota, a bill
to put wood pulp and print paper on
the free list. The committee on ways
and means refused to report the bill
to the house, w~hereupOn the demo-
Gratis joined in a petition to the speak
er, asking that the committee be dis
charged from further consideration OF
the bill, and that it be put upon its
passage. This the speaker declined to
do, but in compliance with a reSOiu-
ton of the house, he appointed a
special committee to investigate the
wood pulp and newspape business
as to prices, trusts, etc. This COM
| poiffoo uyoc nnr0nnSn6 of f011r TnnUh-
licans and two democrats, and after
taking more han 1000 pages of tes-
timony, two reports were made. The
republicans agreeing with the demo-
Gratis that the price of print paper
had been increased as alleged, but
commended that it was due, largely, to
the increased cost of production, and
that there was not sufficient evidence
to warrant a conclusion that a trust
had been formed, while the democrats
contended that it was not due to in
creased cost of production, and that
the evidenc showed conc1usively that
the price had been arbitrarily raised
by agreement. And since the reports
were filed, the companies, which had
been indicted, came into the court and
pleaded guilty to the charge of vio-
lating the antitrust law. SO by their
own confession their guilt was estab-
lished. The court imposed a fine to
be discharged in money, and permit
ted them to go on with their extor-
tons. They now can recoup their loss
by adding a fraction of cent to the
price of their paper. If the guilty
parties a been sent to Jail i or
binary criminals the trust might have
been controlled. The democrats, real
izing hat there is little hope for re-
lief by Indictment in the courts, de-
clared in the national platform that
wood pulp and print paper should be
put IN the free list. Then the news
papers would be free to buy their pa
per in the open markets and paw
the price fixed by the law of supply
and demand.
Shall trusts be granted special pri-
Vileges when they are living in open
and wilful violation of law? If there