The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-29

of pulp wood and as to the ability of the mills to furnish news print paper to meet the demands of consumption has subsided. and when new contracts are made during the present year for pulp wood to be delivered in 1859. The price Is likely to be lower than the prices now being paid for pulp wood on contracts made last yeara8The de- creased consumption of paper conse- quent upon the general business tcon- ditions of the country means a less ened demand for pulp wood and we believe a consequent returni to normal prices" . The minority. report endorses the Stevens bill in it's entirety and recom- mends its passase. ~
 Discussing the issues between the publishers and paper manufacturers. the report states that an acute situa- tion which must be termed trade hys- teria" was precfpitated in 1907 n news print paper manufacturers when a. group of sixteen Wisconsin mills. known as the wisconsin Wood Pulp As sCciation bought 50.o0o cords of pulp wood in the province of Quebec. Can- ada, which purchase entailed trans portation of that material distance of 1.5oo miles. ~
 Tt introduced new and unlocked for factor into what was more or less d report. Tt demoralized the wood pulp market of the United States as well as of Canada, where nearly 100000 cords, of pulp wood are bought for export to the United States.
 It started paper quotations upward, dntil one paper trade journal reported that the current prices for news print paper on July i, 1907. ranged from s52 10 ss2 per ton. This advance had been foretold by paper salesmen and others nearly year prior to a so-calied paper famine.
 Canadian Pulp.
 The report points out the fact that more than one. .half of the wood used in American mills for marketing news print paper comes from sCanada. and states that at the time the Wisconsin purchase of Quebec wood caused the trade furry, the officials of the h. ternational Paper Company Ga corpor- ation producing about one-thfrd of the entire supply of news print paper man ufactured in the United States) com puted that the increased cost of their labor by reason of shorter hours had added $500, 900 per annum, or so cents per ton to their expenses, and that their wood would cost s200,o00 addi- tional. or $40 upon each ton of pa per produced, total of $S per ton upon their entire output.
 They decided later upon $50 per ton delivered as their minimum upon all future sales which substantially fixed that prices for the entire market. This | figures carried with it an average ad- vance of about $10, per ton in a pe- riod of two years. The action was too abrupt. It provoked trouble and resentment at time when newspaper revenues were shrinking because of depressed business conditions. It brought to the attention of the coun- try situation that demands rectif- | cation"
 Immediately following the panic of october, 1907. 1t Is stated, newspaper publishers sought to offset their losses caused by diminished advertising rev. enues and by increased cost of paper, by reducing the number of pages of their papers. resulting In a diminution of consumption. In consequence, the paper mills which had been taxed to astAnDiy the market soon afterwards Ifoiff1d their stocks accommodating with a decreasing demand. 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 high prices.
 "They kept their prices so far above the normal level" says the report that Canadian mills were able to pay tho duty of a $6 a ton to undersell Amer icars mills in the American markets '" The maintenance of the high prices under such conditions. 1t is stated brought about the unlocked for re- suit of giving to Canadian labor some of that work of production which oth- erwise would have gone to American labor.
 A False Claim.
 '"The testimony showed that the re- auction in the hours of labor was not general throughout the entire country. though all mills raised their prices up- on the allegation that their cost had thereby been increased The claim that pulp. wood had increased in price has more merit than the claim of in- creased labor cost, but the increase in wood cost did not justify the advances which the paper makers ultimately adopted.
 eve find that the existing duties have raised the price of wood pulp and 1 print paper. not only in itself, but by l giving to the paper manufacturers a l shelter behind which they could or- ganize a commission. which if not tech 1 nically susceptible, of proof as unlaw- 1 full trusts, are. in our opinion in re- | ality such. It Is true that the tarin of itself perhaps must not account for the full advance i'm prices, but the tar | ifI plus the Larln SuB6AueTeQ COLHIiiiS- | sion, do account for all of it.
 We find that the revenues, derived 1 from import duties on pulp and print ing paper are so small and the benefits to be obtained from the abolition of
 those duties ara so considerable, that
 we urge the placing of pulp and print ing paper on the free list. We believe that relief from existing conditions can be fully and promptly secured only by the immediate consideration and pass age of H. R No. 1S,6os, introduced by Mir Stevens"
 The minority report is signed by Messrs. Simms (Pa.) ) and Ryan IN. T.. )
 When Mir. Mann called up the re-
 ports in the House and sought to have
 them read. MT. Sims desired to know
 if it was intended to follow that ac-
 tion by a motion to adopt the major l fty report Mfr Mann replied that the
 question could be answered later. MT
 Sims then moved the adoption of the
 minority report. but the proceeding
 was cut short by Mir. Hitchcock, oi
 Neb., objecting to the reading of either
 report. It is believed that Mir. Hitch
 cocks action will have the effect of
 preventing the question from coming
 up again this session.