HON. CHARLES L. KNAPP, M. C., URGES THAT THERE BE NO MATERIAL REDUCTION ON PULP AND PAPER. Hon. S. E. PAYNE, WASHINGTON, D. C., February 13, 1909. Chairman Ways and Means Committee, House of Representatives. MY DEAR MR. PAYNE: Permit me the liberty of addressing you relative to one of the most important industries in my district, and which may be vitally affected by the revision of the tariff now being considered by your committee, namely, the pulp and paper industry, including white paper. In doing this I know I need not in detail call your attention to the hearing before your committee or the arguments and briefs already submitted in favor of retaining the present protective duties on these articles. With all of these both you and the Committee on Ways and Means are familiar. However, as a Representative of a district which is vitally interested in these industries, I desire to emphasize the necessity of retaining the protective duties on the same and, I may add, of similar industries in northern New York and other portions of the State. There are located in the counties of Jefferson, Oswego, and Lewis pulp and paper mills numbering about 25, involving a capital of from $18,000,000 to $20,000,000 in manufacture in addition to about $11,000,000 in timber lands, with over 4,000 employees and paying in annual wages over $2,000,000. This will give you an idea of the magnitude and importance of these industries in that section of the State, and I believe it can be substantiated by reliable proof, and, in fact, generally conceded (certainly in that locality), that these industries have during the past few years not shared the general prosperity which has come to many other industries of the country. They have been doing business on a close margin and with small profits; in fact, have been very little, if any, more than self-sustaining. This they have been able to do largely by reason of the present protective duties, which are about one-third of the average duties of the Dingley bill, and substantially the same that they have been for many years in the past. To remove or materially reduce this protection from these industries would be most disastrous and eventually, as I believe, result in crippling, if not ruining, them. In this connection I desire to call attention to the fact that while some of these industries have quite extensive timber limits many of them are without such limits. Further than this, nearly all of such industries are dependent upon importations of pulp wood from the Dominion of Canada. I believe that reliable statistics show that there was imported from Canada the past year of spruce about 1,000,000 cords, and of this amount about 100,000 cords were imported into the district I represent. Nearly all of these industries, including those which have timber limits, import large amounts of spruce, thus saving their own timber limits and so conserving the natural resources of the forests. If the present protective duties should be taken off or materially reduced, or Canada should, as is confidently predicted, put an export duty on logs, it would necessitate these industries providing them selves with a supply of spruce from the timber limits owned in this country. If forced to do this and the amount of timber used averaged that used for the past three years, the supply owned by these industries would be exhausted in about eight years. This will clearly indicate the dependence of a majority of these industries upon importation of spruce; so if the argument for the preservation of the forests is made it is clear that to take off or reduce the present duties would result in forest destruction rather than forest preservation. It would also result, in the near future, in closing these mills, throwing these men out of employment, and, in short, transferring these industries across the Canadian line. This it is feared and believed would be the result. This being one of, and by far the most important, manufacturing industries in my district, and thus naturally affecting other industries and the entire people of the district, they are vitally interested in maintaining this industry and in such a revision of the tariff as will give to it that reasonable protection which is given to other industries which have demonstrated, as does this, the need for and the continuance of its protection. The fact that it so vitally affects the people I represent prompts this communication and my urgent request for its favorable consideration. With great respect, I am, Very sincerely, yours, CHAS. L. KNAPP. THE AMERICAN PAPER AND PULP ASSOCIATION, NEW YORK CITY, IS FILLED WITH ALARM BY REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE ON PULP AND PAPER. Hon. SERENO E. PAYNE, 309 BROADWAY, New York, February 27, 1909. Chairman Ways and Means Committee, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: In presenting the report of the Select Committee on Pulp and Paper Investigation to the House of Representatives February 19, the chairman of the committee said: "In our opinion, it will meet with the approval of both the Republican and Democratic members of the Committee on Ways and Means, with the approval of the publishers of the country interested in the subject on the one hand and of the mill owners and paper manufacturers on the other hand; that it will meet with the approval generally of the people of the United States on one side of the line and of the people of the Dominion of Canada on the other side of the line." On the same occasion, Mr. Sims (Democrat), a minority member of the committee, said: "I think this is a report that any Democrat tould indorse, and which I hope no Republican or protectionist will repudiate." When it is recalled that the Democratic party stands for either free trade or tariff for revenue only, and that its last platform promised the removal of the duty from pulp and print paper, it is evident that the select committee's report, thus to secure the approval of the Democratic minority members who dissented from the preliminary report made in 1908, must approach very nearly in its recommendations to the principles and wishes of the Democratic 75941-H. Doc. 1505, 60-2-vol 8- -34 |