Evening star., 1920-02-05
BETTER CANADIAN
PULPWOOD SOURCE
FOR j. S. SOUGHT
Senator Underwood Favors
Commission to Propose
Removal of Ban.

4 PoPNi o. oii' iiicuSh ShC PooiiN'
will before long be at the mercy of
manufacturers in Canada and the Ca
madam government unless some steps
are taken to remedy the situation,
Senator Underwood of Alabama has
| introduced a joint resolution request
ing the President to appoint COM
mission to present the case to the
Canadian government.
| This commission. which would con-
| sist of five members, is to take up
| On the part of the administration and
| Congress. with the Dominion govern
ment or the provincial governments of
Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick,
the claims of the American interests
now holding leases of crown lands,
upon which pulp wood needed in the
manufa cture of print paper'iS found
| in large Quantities. The American in
terests hold timber leases on some
I 10000 square miles of these crown
| lands, which. however, is only about
per cent of the spruce crown lands in
the province of Quebec.
] Because of an order-in- council of
1.-THE lieutenant governor. issued in
| April. 1910. no timber cut on the
crown lands may be exported from
! Quebec unless manufactured into
! lumber or pulp. The effect of this
order on the American lessees was
disastrous. They had expended large
sums of money on Improvement of
waterways and the construction of
taking out and preparing plants for
| the timber they required, ready to
manufacture in the American mills.
Needs Of Country.
In view of the print paper shortage
! in this country now. it is the opinion
of Senator Underwood that something
should be done to release this reserve
supply. of pulpwood really owned by
Am erican interests, for manufacture
into paper in this country. There is
a shortage of raw material in the
eastern part of this country. and many
| manufacturers have been forced to go
to Canada. and the Canadian print
paper industry has developed enor-
m ously in the last decade. These man
ufacturerS are outside of the United
States. in foreign country. and SEN
ator Underwood does not believe that
Americans should be dependent upon
these concerns, and upon the decisions
of the Canadian government, for their
supply of paper for their newspapers.
| There is nothing drastic about my
resolution" said Senator Underwood
today. 1T merely provides means
of entering into negotiations with the
Canadian government to relieve the
situation. If the commission is unable
to negotiate successfully with Can
ada then it is instructed. under the
resolution, to report back to Congress
what steps it believes should be taken.
The resolution has been referred to
the rules committee of the Senate.
which has promised me early consid-
Grafton of the measure"
Canadian Prices Higher.
News print paper is on the free list,
paying no duty, and the Canadians
have a large market for their paper
here. The costs of production in this
largely because of a lessening
l.
ed. The prices charged by the Cana.
dians keep pace with the increasing
costs here.
The crown land leases held by Amer
leans are equal to 100000 acres. Es-
timating five cords of spruce timber
owned by Americans amount TO total
of 1000. 900 cords of wood. Figured
at per cent year, the annual forest
growth on these leased lands would,
aggregate 1,aso,0o0 cords. OF. sufficient
to insure an adequate supply, it is
ssid for the news print mills in the
eastern part of the United States in
definitely.
The statutes of Quebec provide for
the leasing of crown lands to lumber
men and other users of forest prod
ucts. These leases are made for one
year in consideration of a. cash bonus
per square mile, either at private sale
or public auction. and the lessee must
pay pEeSCTlDeu dHnudi TenCdll. per
square mile for the lands leased and a
stumpage fee for the timber cut.
These leases by law convey all
property rights to all timber on the
lands and are renewable. presumably
in perpetuity, as long as the rentals
and fees are paid and regulations OBJ
served. No lease. it is said, has ever
been revoked. The American interests
owning these leases therefore con-
slider they were given a raw deal by
the order-in-council of 1910,
Result Of Order-in-COuneil.
The effect of the order-in-council
and free trade in news print paper be-
tween Canada and the United States
has been to stimulate enormously the
paper industry in Canada, and to
ada sells nine-tenths of her product
in the markets of the United States,
and her sales increa sed $500 per cent
from 1910 to 1918. In 1918 the pro-
duction of news print paper in the
United States was less than in 1910.
but the. normal annual increase of
about S per cent in the consumption
of news print paper has kept up.
The request of the United States,
resolution. is that. in return for a
free American market and free coal
and sulphur for Canadian paper
manufacturers, Canada restores to
American manufacturers their rights
| to the annual growth of timber on
the lands they leased before the pro-
| hibitive order-in- council was issued
| In the year 1918 about 5,500.000
Lcords of pulp wood were consumed in
the manufacture of all kinds of paper
and wood pulp products in the United
n I 0l0