Los Angeles herald., 1908-05-29
REPORTON WOOD
PULP SITUATION
HOUSE COMMITTEE UNABLE
TO AGREE
MAJORITY ADVISES THAT ACTION
BE DEFERRED
Minority, Composed Of Only Two
representatives, 10 In Favor Of
20 immediate Passage Of
Stevens Bill
BY Associated Press.

By Associated Press
WASHINGTON May 2s.-The special
committee of six members of the house
appointed upon complaint of the Ameri-
can Newspaper Publishers association
to investigate the wood pulp and print
paper situation in relation to the tariff
and with regard to an alleged consplr-
acy In restraint of trade, today sub
mitted a majority and minority report.
The majority report, which Is signed
by Representatives Mann of Illinois,
Miller of Kansas, Stafford of Wiscon-
sin and Bannon OF Ohio, Is a prelim-
mary one and recommends that no
legislation affecting wood pulp and
print paper be enacted until the COM
mittee has further investigated and re-
ported.
The minority report, which is signed
by Representatives Sims of Tennessee
and Ryan of New York, recommends
the passage of the Stevens bill to place
wood pulp and print paper on the free
list.
The majority report Is summed up In
the following words: AS the present
price of paper would not, to any consid-
cradle degree, be Immediately affected
by the repeal of the tariff and as the
passage of the Stevens bill in its pres
ent form might spell ruin" to the
paper industry and ruinously high
prices for paper in the near future,
the committee believes 1t the part of
wisdom, before making recommends
lions for positive legislation, to wait
until its investigation has been COM
pleted and thoroughly digested.
1.-THE committee listened with In
terest, attention and care from
April % to May H." says the report
ito the witnesses appearing In behalf
of the contentious of the American
Newspaper Publishers association and
followed with painstaking care the
statements taken and evidence pre-
sented by John Norris"
The report says that the tabuiation
OF returned schedules of newspapers
by the census office covers but few of
the metropolitan dailies which are the
heaviest consumers.
"From these returns the average
price at present, including in many
cases freight charges to 919 newspapers.
Is $2.s6 per 100 pounds; that of these
36l using paper In rolls have an aver
age price of 1854 and 55S have an aver
age of $307 for paper in Sheets"
AS to- the charge of the existence of
a combination in restraint of trade the
report says: 1.-THE evidence before the
committee so far fails to prove any
combination of print paper manufactur-
eTS 10 ADVANCE OFFICES OF OIneTWlSe
restraint of trade, but considerable evil
dence was presented which excites sus-
picion that such a combination was in
existence"
Danger from Canada
Under the subhead Removal of the
Tariff" the report in part says:
1.-THE question as to the removal of
the tariff on print paper and wood pulp
Is Intimately connected with the con-
servation of the forest resources in the
United States as well as it's effect upon
the paper making industry and news
paper publishing industry. The COM
mittee Is not yet prepared to make rec
concentrations as to the permanent pol
icy of the United States In regard to
the duty on paper and pulp. except that
the committee is firmly of the opinion
that the tariff on news print paper and
on wood pulp should not be removed as
to paper or pulp coming from any coun-
try or place which prohibits the expor-
tation of pulp wood or which levies any
export duty on paper pulp or pulp wood
or makes any higher charge in any
way upon wood and pulp or pulp wood
intended for expectation to the United
States.
ut would seem that for American
publishers to be assured of low prices
for paper 1t is essential to maintain pa
policy that would give the Canadian
mills a preferential advantage over
American mills in obtaining the raw
material at a low price must inevitably
result in the disn1antling of American
paper machines and the ultimate de-
pendence of American publishers on
Canadian mills. Under these condi-
tions Canada could levy export duties
on print paper that would result in en-
HANGING prices without the presence of
competition from American paper man
ufacturers."
AS Viewed by Minority
The minority report indorses the
Stevens bill in its entirety and recon-
mends its passage Discussing the is
sues between the publishers and the
paper manufacturers, the report states
that an acute situation which might
be termed trade hysteria" was precip-
itated in 1907 In newspaper print paper
manufacture, when a group Of sixteen
Wisconsin mills, known as the Wiscon-
sin Wood Pulp association, bought $4,000
cords of pulp wood In the province of
Quebec, Canada, which purchase en-
tailed a transportation of that material
a distance of 1900 miles,
ut introduced a new and unlocked
for factor into what was more or less
of speculative operation" says the
report.
- 1t QeInOrailZeQ the WOOD pulp mar
kets of the United States as well as of
Canada. where nearly a million cords
of pulp wood are bought for export to
the United States.
at started paper quotations upward
untf one paper trade journal reported
that the country prices for news print
paper, July l, 1907, ranged from $52 to
S62 per ton. This advance had been
foretold by paper statesmen and others
nearly year prior to so-called paper
famine"
The report points out the fact that
more than half of the spruce wood used
in American mills for making news
print paper comes from Canada.
Immediately following the panic of
October, 1907, it Is stated, newspaper
publishers sought of offset their losses
caused by diminished advertising reve-
nues and by increased cost of paper by
reducing the number of pages Of their
papers. resulting in the diminution of
consumption. In consequence the pa
per mills, which had been taxed to
supply the market, soon found their
stocks accommodating, with decreasing
demand for their product The market
was soon glutted. Confronted with the
alternative of reducing their prices or
closing their mills and discharging their
labor, the paper manufacturers, It is
stated, chose to maintain the high
prices.
'They kept their prices so far above
the normal level" saws the report: that
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