Evening star., 1950-06-19

!
Conference.
: ascertain the facts and not to tr!
to prove a case"
800 Comes From Canada.
! Noting that almost 80 per cent
of the newsprint used in the
United States is imported from
Canada and other countries and
| that there is a world shortage OF
newsprint, Mr.. Celler said:
Where there is a domestic short.
age the free press in this coun-
try may be seriously hampered
The right to publish a newspaper
under such circumstances will de-
pend on the ability of the pub
Usher to get a newspaper con-
tract for newsprint. The news
print contract then becomes a
franchise to do business in an in
dustry where government mono
poly and franchises would be for
hidden as violative of the Federal
Constitution"
The subcommittee, Mr.. Celler
explained, wants to determine
first whether there is a domestic
shortage of newsprint in the
United States and, if so, what
causes it.
Monopolies are a frequent cause
of shortages in many fields, he
said. Any such monopoly in the
newSprint industry would raise
unique and difficult problems un-
der our present antitrust statute
because so much of the production
of newsprint takes place outside
of the United States"
Earlier Investigation Cited
Mr.. Perry testified that several
years ago he gave the Justice
Department evidence indicating
that there had been price fixing
and other monopolistic practices
by Canadian newsprint manufac-
turing companies, many of them
flanced to a great extent by Ameri-
cans.
Nothing came of that, he said
Chairman Celler interrupted to
read a letter in which former
Attorney General Clark related
how the Justice Department had
made an investigation and how
the matter was taken up to some
extent in Federal Court in New
York City. The Justice Depart
ment withdrew Subpoenas it had
issued in an effort to obtain news
print manufacturing records from
Canada, the letter said.
Mr.. Perry charged that many of
those records originally were in
the United States, but were pur-
posely removed to Canada years
ago. He took issue with recent
statement in which r. M. Fowler,
president of the Newsprint Asso-
citation of Canada, claimed that
newsprint industry could not
lower prices and increase its out
put.
That is bunk" Mr.. Perry ex-
claimed. 1T is an attempt to
camouflage the fact that they
didn't live up to what they should
have been doing all these years.
mean they should have increased
their supply in response to the
publishers demand for news
print"
Contracts for 10 to IL Years.
In answer to a question by
Chairman Celler, the witness said
he cant draw any other con-
clusion" than that the association
sought to limit production and in
crease prices. He explained that
he based this opinion principally
on these two conditions:
First, there is an absolute
unanimity of prices charged by
every mill; second. they have
made and required 12-year con-
tracts. Those contracts have no
price limit. They set fixed prices
but the prices may be raised" \.
Mr.. Perry testified that Cana
dian newsprint manufacturers re-
fused to give American publishers
the benefit of Canada's monetary
devaluation. He estimated that
this refusal deprived American
publishers of a 10 to IL per cent
saving.
The witness said he appreciated
the Importance of the newsprint
industry to Canada, especially
since it gets $500 million a year
from United States publishers at
the rate of about $100 a ton for
newSprint.
May Spur Southern Mills.
He declared, however, that "ex-
cessive" prices charged for news
print will eventually lead to build
ing of more mills in the South
and might cause Canadian mills
to price themselves out of exist
ence at some future time.
Committee questions indicated
particular interest in determining
why United States business men
do not finance more newsprint
mills in this country.
This brought up an exchange
of views between several commit
tee members concerning tariff
issues and Federal tax policies.
Mr.. Perry said he did not want
to be drawn into a congressional
| debate. but he observed that the