Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1908-08-06
DUTY ON PRINT PAPER
Reasonable Demands of Pub.
fishers Ignored.
TRICKS OF STAND PATTERS
How Speaker Cannon Got In a Hole
and Was Extricated by a Committee
of His Own SeIection-Hiah Handed
Methods Of Protectionists.


time for the close pressed politician
When notorious abuses demand a rem
edy he institutes an enquiry" and If
this can be prolonged until after cleo
ton" he considers that he is safe
Speaker Cannon was too hard pressed
for comfort when the president urged
the removal of the tariff on paper anG
wood pulp and nearly all the publish
ers In the country We're bombardn"
the capitol. At first he essayed the OK
pedient of prosecuting the wicked pa
per trust to placate his newspaper
friends, while leaving the paper du
ties, which the trust needed in its bust
ness. But through lack of sympathetic
cooperation by the administration thu
plan of prosecution was dropped and
a legislative inquiry" was substituted
While less warlike than prosecutions
this was more easily kept within propeI
bounds. \ committee named by the
speaker and duly notified Of its duty
to pull the speaker out OF his hole"
began its investigation several weeks
ago. 1t has just rendered Il preliminary
report, with findings satisfactory to the
speaker and other stand pattcrS, ana
notice that it will continue its search
for facts and report fully next winter.
The stand pattcrs in congress, lately
converted to tariff revision next year,.
Were thus saved from the opening OF
tariff legislation at this aWk ward time.
At the annual meeting of the Associ-
ated Press in New York April 81 the
representatives of ia daily neWspa-
perS, using about so per cent of the
news print paper consumed in the
United States. adopted a resolution
petitiOning congress to grant immc-
datc relief by repeating the duties on
pulp and paper. The resolution states
that ''persistent efforts to obtain q
hearing have been refused" by tho
ways and means committee, to which
the numerous repeating bills have been
referred, and "dilatory tactics have
been employed to prolong present con.
ditions and carry over to another SEES.
sion OF congress every proposition de
signed for relief"
The speakers ways and means com
mittee had been since last December
refusing to receive the publishers
facts, but in April the speaker cannot
give relief without an Enquiry" to
learn the facts. The committees i'll
veStigation. as was generally expected,
soon proved Il farce as we'll rs a time
killer. The Now York journal of Com
merce voiced intelligent opinion as
follows:
'The committee has seemed to be
animated by the persistent desire to
hamper the newspaper people in testi-
flying concerning the paper Combina
tion and the effects Of the tariff Tn
fair questions have been constantly
put and discriminating methods have
been continuously applied until at
times it has seemed to be out of the
question fer those who were appearing
before the committee to state their
point of view cOnsccutiyely and fully
without Interruption and without the
Interpolation of remarks calculated &
give an erroneous aspect to the rec
ord"
The "preliminary report of the ma
jority of the committee admits that
there was considerable evidence (which
might excite suspicion" of the exist.
ence of an Illegal combination by pa
per manufacturers in restraint OF
trade but claims that this WAS nos
proved. Repeal of the duties is OPP
posed for the present on the plea that
further inquiry is needed. The minor
ity Of the committee reports as fol
lows
I'VE find that the existing duties
and print paper not only in Itself, bur
by giving to the paper manufacturers
a shelter behind which they could or
ganize combinations which if not tech
nically susceptible of proof as unlaW-
full trusts are in our opinion in reality
such 1t is true that the tariff of itself
perhaps might not account for the full
advance in the price, but the tariff
plus the tariff engendered combinations
do account for all of it."
1t was forCgOnc conclusion thar
the stand pat leaders would not admit
that n comparatively low duty like
that on paper could be the cause of Il
trust. Attention would at once be di-
recteu to the giant combinations enjoy
ing from 100 to 200 per cent of pro
lection This claim that there is no
connection between the tariff and
trusts is perhaps the most barefaccd
of the many attempts Of protectionists
to prove that two and two do not make
four That the exclusion of competi-
ton from abroad makes it easier to
combine manufacturers into an cllec-
tive trust Is 50 simple and self evident
as to require no proof to the inteIli-
Eence childhood. That trusts may
he and are formed without the help
of a tariff duty does not weaken the
proof in the least. Trusts might be
made to include the dealers Of all coun-
tries and thus lie Independent OF tar
ifs, but this would plainly he much
moro difficult than to maintain a trust
in one country artificially freed from
foreign competition. Indeed, the form
ing Of separate national trusts, by the
aid of tariffs. is the first step toward
the forming Of huge international
trust Large mergers can be more