Conservative * 11
quarterly dividend of 1 per cent on the
common stock was declared in Novem
ber , payable December 81 , 1898. This
common stock is now ( January , 1899 , )
selling on Wall Street at (50. ( A circular
I issued by Hatch and Footo on July 15 ,
'
1898 , and based upon information 'fur
nished by officers' of the International
Paper Company , showed that it was
making a profit of $10 per ton on its
output. The sauio authority states that
the trust handles 148COO horse power ;
that it owns ' 150,000 acres of spruce laud
iu Now York , Now Hampshire , Ver
mont , Maine and Michigan , and holds
government licenses for 1,182,000 acres
in Canada.
"Tho entire output of this corporation ,
representing 1,420 tons per day for
theoretical capacity , could bo reproduced
by a present investment of $15,000,000 ,
so that the American consumers of news
papers are forced to pay dividends upon
an inflated and wholly fictitious valu
ation of at least $40,000,000.
A Turin1 Trust.
i That this is a tariff trust is made clear
by the statement of the American News
paper Publishers' Association in the
"Brief in favor of free paper and free
j pulp" above mentioned. Here are some
I of them :
"The present tariff rate on printing
\ .paper , unsized , sized or glued , suitable
for books and newspapers , valued at not
above 2o per lb. , is 8-10 of a cent per lb. ,
or $0 per ton. The tariff rate on
, mechanically ground wood pulp is 1-12
of a cent per pound , or $1.67 per ton.
"Our spruce wood supply is limited.
Wo , therefore , urge that the commission
should take advantage of the present
opportunity and immediately secure a
sufficient supply of spruce freed from
i tariff complications.
' 'Tho trust , in furtherance of its policy
i of stifling competition and controlling
! prices , has increased its timber holdings
since this Hatch and Foote statement of
} July 15 , was issued , and that ownership
1 is more than sufficient to give it a wood
I supply for a long period of years on
i present production. There are no considerable -
' siderable water powers beyond the cou-
| trol of the trust which can bo utilized to
operate largo plants in competition with
the trust , so that all might be done in
the United States to ward the enlistment
of capital , the development of new
enterprises , or the conversion of mauila
mills to news , or the extension of pulp
or sulphite mills to news production ,
would bo inconsiderable in comparison
with the wiping out of the duty on
paper and the opening of Canada to our
relief.
"Tho enlightened policy of New York
and other states in protecting forests
should be encouraged by putting
Canadian pulp and paper on the free
list. If consideration be given by the
commissioners to the inflated securities
* ! issued upon the trust paper mills , then
consideration should also bo given to
the capital invested in newspapers ,
which represents at least twenty times
the capital actually invested in the
paper mills. If the commissioners feel
that the labor employed in the paper
mills ought to bo protected , then wo
submit that the labor employed in the
newspapers affected by this tariff , num
bering forty times the force employed
in the paper mills , should also bo con
sidered. * * *
Only Olio Kennedy for This TriiHt.
"While the enlistment of capital in
American enterprises may exercise a
slightly dotorrant influence on the paper
trust , the effect cannot be material ,
because the trust owns the largest and
best powers in localities where spruce
wood is cheap and from which trans
portation is prompt and cheap. A suc
cessful and energetic competition cannot
be maintained within the United States.
The outside mills that do or can make
paper are not equipped for the economi
cal manufacture of news paper. We
must look to Canada and the foreign
countries where ground wood pulp can
be produced at a cost of § 7.50 per ton
and where news paper can be produced
for one cent per pound. Free paper is ,
therefore , the only strong and permanent
assurance of protection from this combi
nation.
"The duty on paper stops cheap books
and cheap newspapers , it taxes intelli
gence , because the newspapers are the
people's school and library. All taxes
upon paper are taxes upon reading and
knowledge , upon the dissemination of
information. Under any government
such a tax would be oppressive and
prescriptive. In a government based as
ours is upon the intelligence and re
sultant virtue of the people , it is
anomalous and monstrous. * * *
When this is done or proposed simply
to add to the profits of a monopoly , the
injury to public interests becomes a
matter demanding the intervention of
the government. "
It would bo difficult to frame a
stronger argument against a tariff trust
than this of the newspapers.
There has been no pronounced change
iu conditions since the publication of
the brief of the newspaper men , except
that caused by the drouth , and this only
emphasizes the need for free pulp and
paper.
In January , 1898 , Col. A. G. Paine ,
president of the New York & Pennsyl
vania Co. , and at one time president of
the American Manufacturers' Associa
tion , said :
"American paper manufacturers can
compete with the manufacturers of any
other country exporting paper , and
could introduce their goods iu France
and Germany were it not for the tariff
of those countries. "
Like views were expressed by Banker
Squier , of the firm of Perkins , Good
man & Co. , who said : "The American
paper manufacturers can compete with
the paper manufacturers of any other
country. That is to say , in neutral
markets , whore the conditions are such
as to open the field to competition. "
Summary.
The duties on pulp and paper are in
defensible from any point of view.
In the first place the duties on pulp
and paper compel the 20,000 papers of
this country to use paper made from
our limited supply of wood instead of
from Canada's practically unlimited
supply. The effect is to devastate our
forests , injure and destroy many indus
tries dependent upon cheap wood and a
steady rainfall and water supply , and to
injure the health of millions living along
our streams which now overflow in
spring and dry up in summer and fall.
The duties produce no revenue worth
considering. They simply foster a
monopoly or trust , which is not an in
fant but is now exporting paper to
Great Britain , Australia and Japan at
the rate of 1,000 tons a week. To the
extent that these duties enable the trust
to charge American consumers higher
prices for paper they injure those con
sumers , who are forty times greater in
numbers than are the producers. Be
cause paper is used as a medium for
conveying news the taxes upon pulp and
paper ore taxes upon knowledge and in
jure the whole American people.
CALVIN TOMKINS.
New York , Nov. 8 , 1899.
After a thousand years of desultory
individual effort , the public-spirited men
of France have now determined to take
combined and systematic action in a
certain important matter , and have
organized , according to the September
Nonvello Revue , the National Alliance
for the Increase of the Population of
France. In union there is strength.
From South Africa Jonea "What's
the most popular song in Ladystnith
" " 'Yule Remember
today ? Brown "Why ,
member Me. ' " Philadelphia North
American.
"Marriage , " said the pro verb-qnoter ,
"is a lottery. " "Yes , " answered the
Sultan of Sulu as he sadly waved his
hand toward the harem , "and there's a
bunch of blanks. " Washington Star.
"Can I see the mistress of the house ? "
asked the tourist in reduced circum
stances who stood at the kitchen door.
"You can if you have good use of your
eyes , " coldly replied the woman con
fronting him. "You are looking at
her. " "I can use them well enough ,
madam , " he responded with much stiff
ness , "to see that you are a purist , and
not a philanthropist. We have nothing
in common. Good afternoon , madam. "
Chicago Tribune.