The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-04-29
Mr. Norris Continues His Tes- HnOny As to the Alleged
 Combination
MERGING OF COMPANIES
 VERY PLAINLY SHOWN
Discussion of Hearst's Paper Shows Enormous Amount Of Paper Used In All the Hearst Offices-Mr.
 Mann Is Very Sarcastic.

Mann Is Very Sarcastic.
 Washington, April 2S.-Before the select committee of the House which is inves- tigating the subject of tariff on wood pulp as affecting the price of news print paper and also whether or not there is a combination of papermakers in restraint of trade MT. John Norris, representing the paper committee of the American Newspaper Publishers association, today submitted further evidence in support of the associations charge that such a com bination exists, and that the price of paper has been arbitrarily raised. He re- futed the contention of the manufacturers that this increase of prise has been partly due to higher freight rates. and submitted a communication from the interstate com merce commission, showing the freight rates from the principal mills to the larger consuming points, from which it appeared that with one or two exceptions there had been no increase for several years, and in two instances the statement showed reduction in rates.
 The committee will meet again tomor- row at 10 o'clock at which time MT. Norris will enter upon the fourth day of his examination.
 MT. Norris began his recital for the day by submitting further evidence regard ing the shutting down of mills. Partic- ular attention was called by him to the statement of the Hamilton (Ohio) Daily Republican News, that it was claimed the Niagara Falls mills were closed down because of mo water" MT. Norris rid iculed the idea of the claim of no water at Niagara Falls.
 Leaving this phase of the question, Mr. Norris quoted a number of publishers as having knowledge that the product of ln- dependent mills either had been acquired by large selling agencies or the sale Of their output merged.
 Merging of Companies. He submitted answers to number of questions propounded to newspapers showing that agents stated that the Wis | consin mills had been sold to the Inter- national company; that the output of the Booth mill, in Canada, is controlled by Alten McEnnery & Co.,, Chicago; that the
 
 controlled by the Central Ohio Paper com pany and that the J. W. Butler Paper company has a special mill in New York; that the excess of the St. Croix company is taken by the International company; that the International company is buying from the St. Regis; that the treasurer or some other officer of the International company had bought a block of Finch, Pruyn company stock; that the Oswego Falls Pulp and Paper company, supposed to be independent, attended meetings of the manufacturers in New York, and that the Finch interest in the Finch-Pruyn company had been acquired by the Inter- national company
 Turning his attention to the sub ject of dates of meeting of paper manufac- turers to consider prices, MT. Norris placed in evidence statements by many newspapers on the subject, showing that such meeting had been held Among the papers quoted was the Ot- tawa (Canada) Citizen, which stated that the Canada mills came to some agreement last June and the Wilkes barre (Pa.) Leader, which had learned that September last was fixed on as a date for raising the price. Various Prices Made. Statements relating experiences of publishers with Canadian mills also were put in evidence. Some publishers certified that they were receiving paper at the salGe prices as from mills in the United States; others spoke of the dis inclination of Canadian mills to take orders or enter into contracts, prefer ring to sell in the open marke.. An other publisher had heard of a Can adjan agent in Chicago offering a bet ter price than American mills, but said l,of xyba 1,a he had raised his price and left town. In one case, in 1904-O5, publisher bought satisfactory paper in Canada for less than he could get it in the United States.
 MT. Norris told of several Canadian mills that had closed down as a result of high financing."
 MT. Norris declared that his associa- tion receives on an average three prop ositions week containing locations of print paper mills in Canada, with large timber tracts and numerous power sites He said that one consular report showed that in the province of Quebec there were 175,000,000 cords of wood pulp timber, enough to keep the United States in spruce wood for all of it's pa per manufacture for over POD years if there was not Q particle of reproduction in any other Canadian forests"
 Paper Used By Hearst.
 After MT. Norris had submitted testi- mony showing that supplies of paper had been shifted from one mill to an- other or from one agency to another, he was subjected to a cross-fire of questions by the committee bearing more particularly on the quantity of payer consumed by the Hearst plblica- tiCns.
 MT. Norris asserted that those publi- cations took one-fourth of the entire output of the International Paper com pary, O.; 300 tons a day.
 Do you know at what rate MT. Hearst gets his paper?" Chairman Mann inquired
 MT. Norris said he knew only from street gossip.
 MT. Stafford asked if there had been any talk about MT. Hearsts contract. MT. Norris said there had been consd- erable. He mentioned prices of $1.92, s1 .94 and $1.97, and said that he under stood that some comparatively recent set tlernent had been made. but whether it was an entirely new deal or the result