| OCR Text |
Show a$KCE IN PIES f PAPERJS GREAT Cost of Materials and Increased In-creased Wages Are Given as Reasons. CHEMICALS EXPENSIVE Dearer Coal and Shorter Working Hours Contribute Contrib-ute to Condition. T:,f (.ost oi' all kinds of paper, from or'I'nyiy wrapping papr to the lines t ii'Hliiy'of linen. has taken a skyward fa wmce the beplnninsr of the war. Stationery has increased in price from h :'S to T." per cent. Boses of .stationery "'.'Lt ':pre j-ollini; at L'ti cents throe months jfrW'e now selling at from :-:5 to -10 cents. fiuon bo:-hoards have increased from J''j to 20') jier cent. ")T "nr 'he unusual elevation in the prices ' f paper many causes are assigned. Rein-Vive Rein-Vive to the riho in prices, August P. Spit-o. Spit-o. secretary and general manager of the Carpenter Paper company, said: -Summing tip the whole situation, I hell eve, the abnormal rise in the cost of paper material is ascribable to the tremendous increase in exportation since the beginning of the war. Pa- ' ler mills in the foreign countries are practically demoralized, and the foreigners for-eigners are bidding at any and all prices for the products of American mills. Remarkable Increases. Wra pping paper -shows the most re-ma re-ma r liable increase in exported paper for ist yenr. For the nine months ended September .10, l'..'H, the exports amounted to ?2.risS,SrtS, whereas the amount of the exports during the same period in 1914 were ?:.iS2,nt34. Another cause contributing to the high cost of paper is the rise in the price of raw materials used in manufacture. The Increase in the cost of wood pulp is largely large-ly owing to the fact that the salaries of t lie men engaged in the timber camps have been raised nearly 100 per cent. Cotton used in the manufacture of the liner grades of paper was formerly bought at S cents a pound and is now selling at "2 cents. Cotton rags, formerly selling ut 1 cent a pound, now sell at 5 cents. Chemicals Advance. Virtually all the chemicals used In the re linen lent of paper, auch as Tjleacnlng powders, caustic sodas, soda ash, starch, sulphate of aluminum and brimstone, have increased iu cost because of their requisition in the manufacture of combustibles. com-bustibles. Chlorine, the chemical used In making dyed papers, Is employed to produce pro-duce gas in the trenches. Among other factors contributing to the increase in the cost of paper is the rise in tiie price of coal and the shorter working work-ing shifts now observed in the paper in iU. The ordinary twelve-hour shift UT, been reduced In most paper mills to 'ght hours. "Wages have increased from , lo to liO prr cent. The Crescent Paper 1 company, Indianapolis, Ind., distributed k a bunus last month of $13,000. Many her paper manufactories a.re following e;a mple of profit-sharing with em- Mane Better Quality. ' The Cnlted States war and treasury departments de-partments arc confronted with the necessity neces-sity of calling upon congress for a deficiency defi-ciency appropriation in the sum of $32,000 to meet t ho added cost of paper used. That congress has taken cognizance of the extremity of the paper situat ion is shown by the fact that Representative T P. Campbell of Kansas has introduced a bill "to conserve the supply of print paper in the United States, and to protect pro-tect publishers of newspapers from ox-bii'tionalo ox-bii'tionalo prices by temporarily prohibiting prohibit-ing the export of rint paper." Kccause of t lie large demand for - the hotter quality of paper, most of the paper pa-per mills u re manufacturing this grado instead of the lower-grade paper. The rosull is a scarcity of low-grade paper. Mr. Spitko of the Carpenter Paper company com-pany said: "We shipped two cars of low-grade low-grade paper last month. Under normal conditions there would have been posi tively no demand for this paper." "The abnormal condition of the paper market is a source of great alarm to paper pa-per manufacturers." continued Mr. Spitko. Spit-ko. "After the war thero is . a great danger of a strong reaction, owing to tin l:rrgc working forces now employed in t ho paper mills, which will have to be gust a In ed when t lie demands for the products will bo decreased.'' |
