The Hattiesburg news., 1916-08-02
PAPER USERS CLAIM
PRODUCT MONOPOLY
POINT TO THE PROFESSIONALLY
HIGH PRICE AS THE
PROOF.

that the price OF new print paper has
been forced up by combination of
manufacturers, was made by publish
ers and denied by representatives of
the manufacturers at hearing yes
terday which concluded an exhaustive
inquiry into the subject by the Fed
eral Trade Commission.
Frank r. Glass, OF Birmingham, vice
president of the American Newspaper
Publishers Association, told the COM
mission he was morally convinced"
there was collusion among the manu-
facturers and expected to be able by
October /, to present legal proof of it.
+. H. Dodge, president of the lnterna-
tional Paper Company, declared high
pirces were due to an enormous in
crease in demand and insisted that
the manufacturers were not making a
fair return on their capital.
The commission undertook the in
vestigation under direction of con-
gressional resolution and will begin
work Immediately drafting a report.
Members said tonight one would be
submitted at the earliest possible mo-
ment
Other witnesses at today's hearing
included ]. III. zerbey, chairman of
1.-The White Paper Committee of the
National Editorial Association, and
! representatives of the Pennsylvania
Associated Dailies; E. r. Stoll, man
ager OF the Pittsburg Publishers As
sociation; G.. N, Andrews, of the Eas-
ton (Pa) Free Press; w. l.. flushing
ton, of the Camden IN. J.) Courier;
] Charles B. Spatz, of the Boyertown
,(Pa) Weekly; and George Ansberry,
counsel for the Newsprint Manufac-
turers' Association.
Mr.. Glass said his association
viewed the situation with extreme
I alarm and had recommended retrench-
ment in consumption by smaller edi-
tors, abolishing returns and circula-
| ton activity. Increases of 25 to 35
per cent on contracts and sometimes
| 100 per cent on emergency orders, he
declared, had destroyed the profits of
most newspapers and already had
driven some to the wall One Western
paper, he said, reported an increased
paper cost of $250,O00 annually. He
claims it was almost impossible for
a publisher to get quotations except
from the mill he usually dealt with.
Mr.. Zerbey charged fayoritism in
the sale of paper and declared pres
ent prices vary widely according to
the whim of the manufacturer, the
discrepancy running from two to six
cents a pound He added that while
some publishers can hardly buy paper
for cash even at exorbitant rates,
others have made two and three-year
contracts at favored terms. He thought
ii apparent that manufacturers had
united to force publishers to deal only
with the mill they were accustomed
to patronize, and that any further in
crease beyond per cent would force
many of the smaller papers under
10000 circulation into bankruptcy,
| In defense of the manufacturers, Mr..
Dodge explained that $1,000,000 worth
of paper was held in stock by his COM
pany as a necessary safeguard for
contracts on hand, but said the re-
serve had been depleted from $4,000
tons to 1,7OO tons in order to afford
relief, and that all new orders, includ-
ing contracts for nearly 100000 tons
from abroad, had been refused. The
great difficulty, he said, was that a
very sudden and unexpected demand
increasing the country's paper CON
sumption over 20 per cent in the past
year had entirely outrun the total
available supply. Moreover, nearly
every item of expense in manufacture
had been increased and the import Of
timber in Canada for manufacture had
been forbidden by Canadian authori-
ties shortly after American duty on
Canadian paper was removed. No new
mills had been built in the past year,
he said, as it was impossible to make
a fair return on capital.
Mr. flushing exhibited much Of the
increase to the iobber. Mr.. Andrews
said he feared to contemplate the fu-
ture, as increases from so to rs per
cent were in sight. The Pittsburg
papers. Mr. Stoll said. had not planned
cooperative buying. He doubted II II
would succeed. /.
PRIMARY is TAME.