Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1908-06-25
DUTY ON PRINT PAPER
Reasonable Demands of Pub
fishers Ignored.
TRICKS OF STAND PATTERS.

How Speaker Cannon Got In Hole
and Was Extricated by Committee
of His Own Selection-High Handed
Methods Of Protectionsts.
Investigation" gains much valuable
time for the close pressed politician.
When notorious abuses demand a rem
edy he Institutes an inquiry" and if
this can be prolonged until latter 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 and
wood pulp and nearly all the publish
ers in the country Were bombarding
the capitol. At first he essayed the ex-
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 the
plan Of prosecution was dropped and
legislative inquiry" was substituted.
While less warlike than prosecution,
this was more easily kept within proper
bounds. A committee named by the
speaker and duly notified Of it's duty
to pull the speaker out Of his "hole'
began its investigation several weeks
ago. 1t has just rendered a preliminary
report, with findings satisfactory to the
speaker and other stand patters, and
notice that 1t will continue its search
for facts and report fully next winter
The stand patsers IN congress, lately
converted to tariff revision next year,.
were thus saved from the opening of
tariff legislation at this awkward time.
At the annual meeting Of the Associ-
ated Press in New York April 81 the
representatives of TIA daily newspa-
pers, using about so per cent Of the
news print paper consumed in the
United States, adopted a resolution
petitiontng congress to grant lmme-
| diate relief by repeating the duties on
pulp and paper. The resolution states
that persistent efforts to obtain a
hearing have been refused" by the
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 inquiry to
learn the facts The committees in
vestigation, as was generally expected,
| soon proved a farce as well as a time
killer. The New York Journal of Com
merce voiced intelligent opinion as
follows:
1.-THE committee has seemed to be
animated by the persistent desire to
hamper the newspaper people in testi-
flying concerning the paper combina-
| ton and the effects of the tariff I'm
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 for those who were appearing
before the committee to state their
point of view consecutively and fully
without interruption and without the
Interpolation of remarks calculated to
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 not
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:
1--WE find that the existing duties
have raised the price of wood pulp
and print paper not only in itself, but
by giving to the paper manufacturers
a shelter behind which they c%uld 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 a foregone conclusion that
the stand pat leaders would not admit
that a comparatively low duty like
that on paper could be the cause Of
trust Attention would at once be d.
rected 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 barefaced
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 1t easier to
combine manufacturers into an effec-
tive trust is so simple and self evident
as to require no proof to the intelli
gence Of childhood. That trusts may
be and are formed without the help
of tariff duty does not weaken the
proof In the least. Trusts might be
made to include the dealers Of all coun-
tries and thus be Independent of tar
ifs, but this would plainly be much
more difficult than to maintain a trust
b one country ardficially 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 a huge international
trust Large mergers" can be more
easily merged" than a host OF indie
nondont mamma cfr.rers