The Irish standard., 1908-10-24
eETrINes FACTS ON SPRUCE.

Mann. was in this city last week ex-
amining lumbermen about the supply
of spruce in the Northwest for the
manufacture of paper. The most i'm
portant information on the subject was
ELECTED from F. B. Lynch, of st. Paul,
and Edward W. Backus. of Minneapo-
lis. both of whom are operating mills
in Canada, where spruce is very abun-
dant.
Mr.. Lynch testified that the spruce
supply in the provinces of Manitoba
and Saskatchewan is inexhaustible;
that the wages paid in the Canadian
lumber camps is higher than in the
United States. and that during the
coming winter the wages there will be
20 per cent higher than on this side of
the international line.
Mr.. Backus, who has mill on the
Canadian side. testified that he ground
the pulp on the Canadian side to avoid
the payment of $1.ee per ton duty. He
has 10,000,o0G acres Of timber land In
the Rainy River region. and has con-
tract with The Canadian government to
cut timber on crown lands at 40 cents
a cord for stumpage. The investigat-
ing committee of six left for other
points in Northern Minnesota and a
dispatch from Duluth says that it ia
vors the revision Of the tariff on wood
pulp and print paper imported from
Canada.
It will be remembered that prior to
the adjournment Of Congress President
Roosevelt, at the solicitation Of the
American Newspaper Publishers AS
ISOLATION. asked that the tariff on Ca
madam wood pulp be removed for the
cheapening OF print paper controlled
by the trust. the duty on the paper be-
ing Sc a ton, and on the pulp is per
cent ad valorem. The pulp wood is
admitted free. the average price per
cord in Canada being about $S. Cam
ada has the largest supply Of pulp
wood in the world, while the wood in
the United States will not last for
many years. American manufacturers
of paper, therefore, must mainly de-
pend on Canada for the raw material,
and as they have entered into a COM
bination TO fix the price Of paper. they
are not entitled to any protective tariff
at all against pulp and paper from
Canada. That is the view taken Of it
by President Roosevelt and by the
Democratic party. which declares in
the Denver platform that tariff on pa
per is "a tax on knowledge"
Speaker Cannon, however. who
wields greater influence than the oc-
cupant of til. White House. appointed
= committee of investigation, and that
committee has come to the conclusion
that "if we cannot arrange matters so
that pulp can be brought cheaply here,
the price Of print paper will go sky
high
The Irish Standard has no antipathy
against the wood pulp industry and
thinks it is entitled to fair play at the
hands of this government. What it is
opposed to is the paper trust, which
has destroyed competition and acbi-
trarily fixed its prices to the consum.
ers. There are about 500 paper and
wood pulp establishments in the United
States. upwards Of 40 being in Wiscon-
sin alone. the largest at Rhinelander.
The capital invested is about $500. .0o0,-
600 and *he number of men employed
is about 10000. The International Pa.
per Co.. according to the Wall Street
Journal. controls over 80 mills. and has
millions Of acres of land in the United
States and Canada. There are in the
United States 20 mills ngaged in the
manufacture Of white paper. the daily
output of which is about 5000 tons,
and most of the raw material is iIn.
ported from Canada.
No wonder the Canadians are grum-
bling about the tariff on spruce pulp
and that they are threatening retalia-
tory measures. such as placing an 4x-
port duty on the wood which they are
now selling to Americans at Sc per
cord. This country shuts out their
pulp and paner and takes their cord
wood free Of duty. But the trainers of
the Dingley tariff anticipated kick
from the Canadians. for the tariff bill.
which places duty on Canadian pulp.
contains This provision: IF any coun-
try shall impose an export duty on
pulp wood to the United States, the
amount Of such export duty shall be
added as an additional duty to the
duties herein imposed upon wood pulp
imported from such country" That
does not sound much like reciprocity.