The Topeka state journal., 1911-09-25

served. The makeup OF the Doard IN
sures nonpartisan action. The truth
4 is. that with the exception of Mr.. How
ard and of Mr.. Reynolds, the board
may be said to have no political affilia-
tions at all.
Board Is Wen Qualified.
The board is a board of the highest
! Intelligence and ability, and well quail
fed by their previous experience to act
as investigators. analyzers of evidence,
and judges of issues of fact They are
under instructions to draw their con-
clusions without respect to their effect,
and I venture to say that there is no
board in the country less likely to be
influenced by political or other i'm
proper considerations than the tarif
board as it IS now constituted. Even
the attacks made upon it, prompted by
the heat of political controversy ana
impatience at my vetoes, can not turn
it from a judicial attitude toward all
questions that it is now considering
They were called upon to make
report upon the comparative cost OF
the manufacture of print paper in Can
ada and in this country. They first
made a preliminary report, and then
they made a final report, and L ven
ture to say that never before has a re-
port so complete, SO comprehensive,
and so satisfactory as to the compare
tive cost of any product in two coun-
tries been made as this upon the pulp
and news print paper The data on
DulO ana paper 1HCluQGQ III TIE ICPOAb
were secured from SO ground-wood
mills, 25 sulphite mills, and 38 news
print mills making a total of 116 mills,
and representing $40, ATS tons of news
print paper, or 80 per cent of the
news-print paper production of the
United States. The data for Canada
were taken from 13 ground-wood
mills sulphite mills, and news
print paper plants. Reports We're Sc
cured covering 1872 per cent of the
! n nj
ground-wood, and 55.7 per cent of the
sulphite-pulp capacity in Canada. All
of these figures, including those from
Canada were secured directly by rep
resentatives Of the board from the
books of the different companies.
They prepared exact schedules, includ-
ing all essential items of equipment,
cost, and wages, and for each of the
companies included in the tables they
have the original schedules covering
all items in detail. They first show
the production of pulp and paper in
the United States; then the cost of pro-
dUction in the United States, with an
explanatory statement and tables and
comment; then the result of the Can
adian investigation of the cost of pro-
duction of pulp and paper there. In
the fifth chapter is a comparison of
costs in the United States and Canada
The sixth chapter treats of the inter
mediate profits and cost of wood; the
seventh chapter of the pounds of ma
terial per ton of news print paper; the
eighth chapter of the efficiency of
equipment in the mills in the United
States and Canada; the ninth chapter,
of the price of news-prlnt paper; IN
the tenth chapter is a discussion of in
Vestment and depreciation; in the eleV-
enth chapter are shown variations in
cost of productions over period OF
years; in the twelfth chapter are set
forth the amount, value, and sources
Of wood-pulp imports into the United
States. and in the thirteenth chapter
there is a full discussion of the wages
and hours of employment. It is a vol
ume of 1874 printed pages, With tables
showing exactly the elements that go
into the cost of making paper in Can
ada and making paper in this country,
and disclosing both what the rates OF
wages are in the two countries and also
what the labor cost is in the making
of ton of news print paper in the
United states and in Canada. and
showing, in other words, the efficiency
of the labor in the two countries, as
we'll as the actual amount paid per
hour or per day
Report Is Complete.
A study of this report will satisfy
any candid, impartial observer of the
completeness with which it is possible
to secure information without the in
uuisitoria1 examination under oath,
and the greater accuracy that may be
the books than by a necessarily an
tdgonistic cross of the
proprietor of the business when on the
stand. The report vindicates the judg-
ment of the European authorities,
whom Prof. Emery consulted, that the
use of formal cross examinations to
secure facts in regard to the cost OF
the manufactured articles is not the
best course for getting at the facts.
1t is said with respect to the tariff
board that its Investigations are not to
be relied upon, because it must secure
its information from interested par
ties and that no information is avail
able to it that is not available directly
to the ways and means committee, and
that the committee can secure testi-
monv of such people more effectively
than the tariff board. Such state
ment fails entirely to recognize the
real character of the Investigations OF
the tariff board. Material secured by
that board is rot in the nature of testi-
mony of different parties examined as
to what they think on any of these
facts. 1t is in the result of an exam
nation of the books and records OF
producers and manufacturers and
fabuIation from these by the expert
agents of the board, resulting in per-
fectly definite and precise information |
as to the actual results given by the
best Industrial or mmercial opera |
tions for a given time. In short, it IS
the substitution OF TeCOFuS cOLhpAlSO
from the books of the concerns for the |
testimony of individuals.
Then again it said that other
bureaus or agencies of the government /
longer established and of better or
eanization have made, or are making, I
all the investigations of this kind nee
essary. The maker of such an objec- |
ton fails to appreciate the marked /
difference between the work of the
board and most other agencies of the |
governments The work of the tariff |
hnnrd is Trin arilv statistical. |