Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-04-03
SMALL PAPERS Of
STATE THREATENED
BY PAPER SHORTAGE
Some Publishers May Have.
to Suspend or Else Print
on Wallpaper = Editors
Discuss Remedies

|, OloOuoo ilOli iOulOo
The paper shortage among the
| smaller newspapers of Georgia IS
| so serious that some of them are
going to have to close down or else
Print on wall paper, as was done
in the Civil war, declared speakers
at the meeting of the Georgia Press
association Friday morning in the
pine room at the Hotel Ansley.
While othere topics came before
the meeting this was the first ard
most important considered when the
meeting was\ called to order at I.
o'clock by President J. Kelly Sim
mons, of the Telfair Enterprise, with
about thirty editors and owners pres
cnt, nearly all of them publishers O:
weekies.I
The discussion was precipitated
when Royal Daniel. editor of the
@ .itman Free Press, made the re-
port of the newsprint committee, of
which he is chairman. Mr.. Daniel
read answers totelegrams he had
sent to newsprint dealers all over
tail on the paper situation. The sub
stance of their replies, as summed
up by Mr.. Daniel, was that there is
to the small publisher in the open
market unless he pays a prohibitive
price for it.
Crisis Faces Owners
There is crisis in every small
newspaper shop in Georgia" said
Mr. Daniel. ."Some of them may be
able to borrow limited bundles of
paper from mbre fortunate and gen
erous competitors, but this is only
staving off the Inevitable. There are
$500 small paper plants already
closed down in the country because
Of the shortage and l know of pa
pers in Georgia that ar printing
now, from week to week, only by
borrowing. I, for one, am OPPOSED
to borrowing because It does not
really help the situation, and while
have four months supply of pa
per OH hand I am ready to close
down the Quitman Free-Press today
If it will relieve the situation any"
Mr.. Smith purposed to ask for the
support of the editors-"no money,
of great project for the state" he
intended to tell them. And it was
understood that the editors then were
framing strong Endorsement of the
pran>and the Ad. club and were in
tending to work and write for the
project when they got back home.
The dash toward the first goal Of
the ca:lpaign-a $4,000 fund-con-
tinued Frida,- with meetings of the
publicity committee at II o'clock in
the morning and of the executive
committee in the afternoon. Plans
also are made for the biggest lunch
con the AID. club ever has had, next
Thursday, when the 800 members of
the club and the 200 members Of the
advisory CO. mittee will meet with
Others and devote the whole session
to convention plans.
Various remedies were oiScusSei
by the editors. w. C. Sutlive, of the
Savannah Press, suggested that it
might be possible for smaller papers
to borrow from the big dailies waste
paper, but he did not know if this
was practicable and the statement
was made that the cost Of getting
this paper cut to the proper size
might be prohibitive.
President Simmons said that one
practical plan that would help some
would be for all papers to cut out
their complimentary list absolutely
and TO ce,.se printing papers for sub
scribers in arrears. @s
Aid Suggested
The possibility of getting the
larger papers to abolish their CONF.
sections and their magazine sections
was discussed, but it was agreed
that it was not fair to ask them to
do this unless there was concerted
| agreement and a concerted action on
! their part.
Jack D. Mccartney, editor of the
Rome Tribune-Herald, pointed out
| that the New York newspapers were
| doing this. He said the New York
| Times, by cutting out it's book sec
ton on one Sunday, saved paper
that would have printed the Tribune
Herald for a year. The statement
| was also made that the New York
Herald had cut out it's early edition
| and that other papers were doing
| likewise.
| Ct would not ask the larger dailie5
to turn down a single line of adver-
tising," said Royal Daniel, although
[ know some of them are doing this,
Or to make drastic cuts unless there
was a concerted agreement. But
think it is recognized fact that the
shortage Of newsprint is due largely
to the great amount of paper being
used by the larger newspapers and
that something should be done
about it,
Mr.. Daniel said he had been talk.
ing just before the meeting with Sem
ator William J. Harris, who is in the
city, and that Senator Harris had
offered to do anything in his power
to- help. Mr.. Daniel suggested that
the association might take up the
problem, through Senator Harris,
with the federal trade commission,
with view to getting government
control Of newsprint and a govern
ment investigation of prices, which
he declared, were prohibitive in many
| instances.