The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1920-05-11
GRIM SPECTER AT THE
PRESS MEET.

The eGltOrS and publishers Ol
Oklahoma held one of the most
successful meetings in the history
Of the State Press association at
McAlcster last week The people
Of the Pittsburg county capital
silnply overwhelmed their guests
with hospitality, To use the trite
phrase the meeting was cone
continuous round Of pleasure,
and from start TO Finish, "all
went merry as marriage bell.
Truly il was a jolly crowd and
the gathering will long be a hap
py memory TO the newspaper
men Of the state
But and il is u but OF huge
pro PORTIONS behind all the JOY
ous scenes stalking in ihe back
ground Of the feast, was a grim
spccter unseen by outsiders per-
haps but, always like a grlnning
kcIcton. staring every publisher
in the face. The name OF the un-
welcome visitor, who has been
haunting every publishing house
for mapy months and who, like
he ghost of the famous Banquo,
"wil not down, is Mr.. Print
Paper Shortage If the thing
were merely The ordinary disem
bodied spirit or the figment OF
disordered imagination, it
wouIdn't 4 be 50 bad but it hap
pens to be stern reality and it
ASSUMES more and more omlnous
proportions every day. Already
it has driven a host Of small
newspapers to the wall and today
if is threatening the very exist
ence of papers, large and small,
throughout the country.
The two factors of the slt9a-
tion, which send shivers down
the spinal column of every pub I
Usher are, first, the scarcity OF
paper and, second, the price |
which has reached a point which |
is almost prohibitive of profits
The supplies of paper available
are wholly inadequate and III
many cases it has been practical
ly impossible for publishers tol
obtain it. In some sections OF the
country, it is rcpogted, some |
small newspapers are beng
printed on brown Wrapping pa
per The small dailies and week
lies are the chief sufferers, large
publishers having been i'll post
ton TO place contracts for paper
before the situation became 50
acute. 1t is freely predicted by |
many good authorities that scores |
of small publishers will be put |
out of business before the end OF
the year.
The prc-war price of print pa !
per in car lots ranged from |
$l75 to ~ 90 per hundred.
During the past year the prize !
rose to 5000. In the majority Of |
eases publishers were able TO adj !
yarcc their advertising rates to |
meet the increased cost of pro-
duction. and surely, with the
price of print trebled, they were
Justified IN inducing the belief
HAT the limit had been reached
but this fond hope was shattered.
Last week the publisher of the !
Express paid $1l per hundred
for small shipment andl today
il IS Impossible 10. get a price on
ear lot. the best figures sug-
gested varying from 1880 to
SIG. At $3.50 the cost of the
paper used in printing one copy
Of an eight-page issue Of the Ex-
press would be more than cents.
I'm the ease of small papers il is
extremely doubtful whether ad-
vcriising rates can be Increased
sufficiently to cover this addi-
tional expense. and the only al
Tentative of the publisher is to
take loss.
What's the cause of all the
trouble2 Primarily, the answer
is the tremendous expansion Of
business activity in all lines
which set nvith the close of
the war During the war there
was no expansion in the facilities
for manufacturing news print
and when the wheels Of
business and industry begun to
spin around at unwonted speed,