Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-08-13

Garrett Schenck of Millinocket and
Boston, president of the Great North
ern Paper Company. in recent inter
view with representatives of the press,
made clear the pulp and paper situa-
ton which has grown up under the
Underwood Simmons free trade law
and, incidentally, let some of the wind
out of United States Senator John
sons free trade speech before the
Democratic convention at Portland
this spring.
Let me quote the report of Sena-
tor Jonnson's speech said Mr..
Schenck in opening. THE part I take
exceptions to is right here: We made
a slight reduction in the duties upon
print paper costing about IL cents
per pound, reduction from Is to II
per cent upon the products of your
great mills in the neighboring city of
Westbrook. We reduced the duty from
So to % per cent upon wrapping pa
per. but nobody who knows the condi
lions surrounding the mills that make
this paper. like the splendid mills of
the Hollingsworth G. Whitney Com
pany in this city, believes that we have
left them inadequate protection. But
that no injurious results have follow
ed let the whirring wheels of the
great mills at Millinocket, where
stands one of the largest mills for the
manufacture of paper of this class of
paper. attest
Senator johnson has made a state
ment about wrapping paper and cited
the apparent prosperity of the Milli-
nocket mills as in proof of his asser-
ton. He knows that the Millinocket
mills, owned and operated by the Great
Northern Paper Company, make moth
ing but the paper on which newspa-
pers are printed. That mill is not run
ming because it is making money.
paper mill must run, once it is started,
until it goes into the hands of the
sher.ff, or the depreciation and other
charges will soon eat it up.
The facts are that Section 2 of the
reciprocity act admitted free paper
from Canada and as result of
that, competition was had with paper
made from pulp wood cut on fee lands,
i. e.. lands the title of which was vest
ed IN private owners or corporations.
Now under free trade the news print
paper manufacturers must meet COM
petition not only from the Canadian
fee lands but also from the Crown
lands and paper from Sweden, Norway
and Denmark. The Crown lands fea-
ture Is a vital one. The Canadian pa
per companies pay $4,000 per year as
a sort of lease for a million acres of
this land and 40 cents a cord for each
cord of pulp wood taken off. To under
stand what competition means in
Maine one should consider that it costs
but little il any more to freight Cana
dian paper to New York than it does
from Maine. A tax of four Mills, the
State tax, on million acres Of pulp
land on the valuation of S. per acre
would be $4,000. Add to that the ex-
ira expense of driving to the mill In
this State and handling three hour
tours per day at American wages and
you have the reason why competition
with Canada and also with Northern
European countries is making the
Maine paper manufacturers exceed
ingly anxious. One of the men who
has been most INSTRUMENTATION devel-
oping Northern Maine for the paper
making industry, moving spirit in
the development of Rumford Falls and
Millinocket, has made the statement
that 1T Is impossible to interest capital
in the further development of Northern
Maine natural resources, so far as
paper making is concerned until the
tariff has been restored on print pa
per. He is also authority for the state
ment that while Maine mills at present