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Show THE PAPER-PULP TARIFF. "We think that Speaker Cannon was unnecessarily vehement in his discussion discus-sion of the wood pulp proposition at a dinner on Thursday evening in "Washington. "Wash-ington. He claimed thai the publishers of the 13,000 newspapers in the United States cannot be made lo tell the truth about the effect of ihe tariff on paper pulp, and, as reported, he pointed out that 9000 tons of pulp were produced in the United States as agaiuBt 9000 im ported, and, referring to the duty of lo per cent, inquired how far its removal would help the newspapers.'' So far as telling- the truth is con cerned, we do not suppose that any one of the 18,000 publishers will have the least fear about thai, or would in any way refuse to publish the truth. I3ut it must be confessed that the tariff on wood ptdp probably has very little effect ef-fect upon the price of paper, anil that the removal of that tariff would by no means afford tho relief that some of tho publishers think il would. In fact, there is no particular reason to suppose sup-pose that il would afford any relief at all; for this is a matter of trade monopoly mono-poly and combination and control of markets a good deal more than it is a matter of tariff. No oue in buj'ing tea noticed any increase in the price of it by reason of the tariff imposed in I SOS lo help cover the expenses of tho Spanish war. When that tariff was abolished no one got tea any cheaper than he d'd when the tariff was on. These matters are regulated bv the control con-trol of markets, and usually the wholesaler whole-saler gets the cream of the profit. Again, in spite of the terrific uproar that was made against the McKinlcy tariff on tin, whore it was said that tinware would nevermore be within the reach of the poor man, no one ever noticed the least difference in the price of tinware, tin-ware, and all articles made in whole or in part of tin arc just as cheap now iu this country as they wero before be-fore the M.c Iiiu ley tariff on tin was iiu- poseu. v Tho DOijO tons of paper-pulp imported are mostly from Canada. In case we abolish the tariff on paper-pulp, either of two things would probably happen: First, the Canadian Government ' would I impose .an .export duly upon wood-pulp I to the same extent as the import duty that-we-ha-d-repealed; then the revenuo which arose from this pulp trade would go to 'the Canadian Government in place of to our own. Or, as another alternative, there would be, in case the Canadian .Government did not do this, a combination between ihe Canadian manufacturers of wood-pulp and the paper pa-per manufacturers of this country, which would combine both interests and ! allow the two to put in their pockots the amount of the tariff that was abrogated, ab-rogated, with no reduction in the price of paper. That is. the combination now boosting the price of paper iu the United States would extend over into Canada, and would control the paper trade of Canada as well as of the United Stntcs, wood pulp and all. For it is a maxim of commerce and produc tion in these days ofBwif,t transportation transporta-tion and easy communication among the civilized'-nations, that .national. I boundaries cut very Hftlc figure nay t more in matters of this kind. The Standard Oil monopoly is a fair instance of this. There was u time when the Standard Oil had to compolo with the Russian oil of Batoum in Asia Minor, but that time i? past. "Kach saw its in terest rather in dividing the world's markets than in competing in them. And so today in the nations of ihe world allotted to the Standard Oil for its occupation no Russian oil is found, and in like manner in those markets apportioned to the Rusian oil producers no American oil is cvor seen. And this is the increasing tendency in nil huge commercial enterprises in theso times. It is found more profitable to divide the world 'g markets, allotting to each compj2titor a distinct province or series of markets whore it will bo unmolested I in the disposnl of its products and can make prices and monopolies to suit it-pelf, it-pelf, than to compete. That is prociso-Jy prociso-Jy what is going on in all parts of tho world and in all huge commercial en tcrpriFes today. And tariff or no tnriff has precious little to do with the mat for. The over-mastering- grasp of the combiners of interests rule far more effectually thau any government could do. and takes little heed for government govern-ment efforts, either for or against. It is a trade matter, and Speaker Cannon Can-non is right in judging that nowspaper publishers would get no rolief in the abolition of tho. tariff on wood pulp. And besides, how can the publisher of a Republican newspaper Consistently ask il? |