revenue and protect industries. Madison admitted that the powers which the States had had of protecting their industries had been thrown, by the adoption of the Constitution, into other hands, with the expectation that those interests would not be neglected by Congress. While they retained that power they succeeded in developing some establishments which, he said ought not to perish from the alteration which has taken place; it would be cruel to neglect them and divert their industry to other channels. Andrew Jackson contended that the right which the States had possessed of fostering industries had not become extinguished when he said: The right to adjust duties with a view to the encouragement of domestic branches of industry, if not possessed by the General Government, must become extinct, and our political system would present the anomaly of a people stripped of their right to foster their own industry and to counteract the selfish and destructive policy which might be adopted by other nations. It was under the exercise of this right to protect manufactures, which the States had possessed and which they transferred to the Federal Government, that the following duties have been levied on imports of paper: Act of July 4, 1789: 7 per cent. Act of August 10, 1790: 7 per cent. Act of May 2, 1792: Paper hangings, 15 per cent. Act of June 7, 1794: Sheathing and cartridge paper, 5 per cent. Act of April 27, 1816: Paper of every description, 30 per cent. Act of May 22, 1824: Paper hangings, 40 per cent; sheathing paper, 3 cents per pound; printing paper, 10 cents per pound; other paper 15 cents to 20 cents per pound. Act of August 30, 1842: Bank paper, 17 cents per pound; writing paper, 15 cents per pound; sheathing paper, 3 cents per pound; paper envelopes, 30 per cent. Act of July 30, 1846: Manufactures of paper, 30 per cent. Act of March 3, 1857: Manufactures of paper, 24 per cent. Act of March 2, 1861: Manufactures of paper, 30 per cent. Act of July 14, 1862: Manufactures of paper, 35 per cent. Act of June 6, 1872: Paper manufactures excepting unsized printing paper, 31 cents. Act of March 3, 1883: Paper sized or glued, 20 per cent; printing paper, 15 per cent; sheathing paper, 10 per cent; paper envelopes, 25 per cent; paper hangings, 25 per cent; pulp, 10 per cent. Act of October 1, 1890: Wood pulp, mechanically ground, $2.50 per ton; chemical, unbleached, $6 per ton; bleached, $7 per ton; sheathing paper, 10 per cent; printing paper, 15 per cent; sensitized paper, 35 per cent; surface-coated, 35 per cent; paper envelopes, 25 cents per 1,000. Act of August 27, 1894: Wood pulp, 10 per cent; sheathing paper, 10 per cent; printing paper, 15 per cent; surface-coated paper, 30 per cent; paper envelopes, 20 per cent. Act of July 24, 1897: Paper envelopes, 20 per cent; if embossed, 35 per cent; writing paper, 2 cents per pound and 10 per cent ad valorem, 2 to 3 cents per pound and 15 per cent ad valorem; paper hangings, 25 per cent. Act of August 5, 1909: Wood pulp, mechanically ground, one-twelfth of 1 cent per pound; chemical, unbleached, one-sixth of 1 cent per pound; bleached, one-fourth of cent per pound; sheathing paper, 10 per cent; printing paper, three-sixteenths of 1 cent per pound to eight-tenths of 1 cent per pound; valued above 5 cents per pound, 15 per cent ad valorem; coated surface paper, 5 cents per pound; writing paper, 3 cents per pound and 15 per cent ad valorem. Reciprocity act, approved July 26, 1911: Pulp of wood; news print paper and other paper valued at not more than 4 cents per pound, the product of Canada, free from export prohibition or restriction, admitted free of duty. Until the act of 1911 there was no marked change in the policy of the Government to encourage and protect the paper industry. The Walker Act of 1846 gave to this industry a duty of 30 per cent, and the Gorman-Wilson Act of 1894 levied a duty of 15 per cent on print ing paper, 20 per cent on writing paper, and 30 per cent on surfacecoated paper. The attitude of the Government evidenced a belief, to quote the words of Madison, that this industry "ought not to perish. There was no attempt to "neglect" it or divert the industry of the men engaged in it "to other channels." Under such a policy the manufacturing of paper in the United States increased and prospered and instead of four mills as at the time of the Revolution, the Tariff Board reported in 1911 that there were 824 plants making paper of some kind, with a total productive capacity of 5,196,398 tons. Instead of three or four States, 30 States, including the District of Columbia, now produce paper in some of its forms. The census report for 1909 shows how under favorable auspices the industry has developed: Manufactures of paper in the United States (census of 1909). Paper and wood pulp establishments.. 777 75,978 $409, 348, 000 $40, 805, 000 $267,657,000 The paper and wood pulp industry of New England-Census of 1909 and 1899. In behalf of this industry, which fully meets the test of national utility, in which the capital of American citizens is invested, which provides employment for over 75,000 wage earners, which utilizes the products of our soil and conserves but not destroys our forests, and particularly for the New England paper and pulp industry and the 28,000 employees in the New England paper mills, I respectfully petition the Congress to repeal section 2 of the Canadian reciprocity act and to levy reasonable duties upon imports of wood pulp and paper. Current importations of paper and manufactures of paper do not measure the menace of the present conditions in regard to the paper industry. Under the policy in vogue for over a century, paper manufacturing steadily developed in this country. To-day, instead of increase it is threatened with decrease. Since the act of 1911 there has been a remarkable increase of Canadian development at the expense of an important American industry. Legislation which favors a foreign industry and cripples an American industry will not appeal to the American sense of justice and does not accord with a wise and prudent national policy. If it is persisted in, we shall repeat in this country the unfortunate experience of the English paper industry. In 1860 the imports of paper into England amounted to only $511,900. With no duty to prevent, imports have greatly increased. In 1875 they amounted to $4,767,540; by 1890 they had reached $9,201,640; in 1907 they were $27,612,000 (the exports of paper that year were $11,408,000), and England which had hoped under a free-trade policy to become the workshop of the world found that the imports of paper were exceeding the exports and that instead of the workshop of the world, she was becoming the dumping ground of the world. The manufacturers of Germany and Austria, protected in their home markets from British competition, have free access to the English market for their surplus product. A manufacturer of Hertfordshire, testifying before the royal commission, said that he found that some German manufacturers keep one or two of their machines going entirely for the English market and that one German manufacturer boasted that he was making English postal cards for the British Government. A skilled workman in Germany, he reported, was getting 3s. 6d., against 6s. in England. England, with its mighty prestige as a manufacturing nation, could not stand such competition, and with our wage scale a good deal higher than that of England we shall find, without protection, that we can not stand the competition of Germany, Austria, Sweden, England, and Canada. This significant remark was made at the hearing referred to before the royal commission: I had a paper placed in my hands a few days ago and I was informed that the paper was manufactured in America; that the type was manufactured in America; that the ink with which it was printed was made in America; that the machine with which it was printed was also made in America; and that it was really spoken of very gratefully. Unduly the policy of protection we have developed sufficient ability and efficiency to make the multitudinous products of our common need. Our paper is manufactured in America; our type is made here and so is the ink and the machine with which our paper is printed. When you break one link in our industrial system you threaten the whole chain of these national utilities, and you strike at a system which has made us the most prosperous Nation of the world, and which has developed a manufacturing supremacy that surpasses the dreams of our fathers and challenges the admiration of the world. Bismarck, the founder of Germany's political and industrial empire, urged Germany to imitate the tariff system of the United States, "because," he said, "it is my deliberate judgment that the prosperity of America is mainly due to its system of protective laws." It is not the part of wisdom to abandon this system now, and in the name of the New England paper manufacturers and the 28,000 wage earners in the New England paper mills, and in the interest of the great Nation whose sons and servants we are, I respectfully petition for the repeal of section 2 of the reciprocity act and urge the extension of the protective system to the various branches of the paper industry and the maintenance of this system as an advantageous national policy. I would like to offer, also, the following resolutions adopted by the Home Market Club: Recognizing that the business of the country has been built up by a protectivetariff policy, the Home Market Club, at its annual meeting, urges the President elect and the Congress of the United States to thoroughly investigate the industrial and economic conditions of the country, so that an unregulated foreign competition may not force our manufacturing establishments to close or to adopt the bitter alternative of reducing wages to the low level which prevails abroad. We ask the attention of Congress to the fact that a material reduction of the duties on boots and shoes, silk, metal, cotton and woolen goods, and machinery will be a serious blow to New England industries and the welfare of a million workingmen. We also urge Congress to grant to the pulp and paper industry the same just and fair treatment which is given to other industries in order that growth and expansion instead of stagnation and decay may once more become the proud record of a great American industry. Ample protection is essential to the maintenance of our industries and of the higher standard of American wages. Whereas wood pulp and print paper have been placed on the free list so far as Canada is concerned, notwithstanding that the expected concessions on the part of Canada have been denied to us; and Whereas demands are now being made, under the favored-nation clause, by all paperexporting countries for the same tariff privileges which have been extended to Canada: Therefore be it Resolved, That we protest against this unjust treatment of American paper manufacturers and respectfully petition Congress to repeal this legislation. With your permission, I should like to offer as part of my testimony the following petition of employees of pulp and paper mills: The undersigned, employees of pulp and paper mills, recognizing that it was not the intention of Congress to place wood pulp and paper under 4 cents a pound on the free list regardless of Canada's action on the reciprocity measure, and believing that if the paper industry is subjected to unrestricted foreign competition many mills will close and wages will be reduced, and that our labor is equally entitled to protection with the labor on the farms and in shops and factories, respectfully petition Congress to repeal the law which is so unjust to us and to our employers. (Signatures of 14,005 wage earners in pulp and paper mills were signed to this petition, as follows:) Geo. C. Gill Paper Co. (American W. P. Co.). Geo. R. Dickinson Paper Co. (American W. P. Co.). Wauregan Paper Co. (American W. P. Co.)..... Lee.. Adams. 11 47 Lawrence. 413 Fitchburg.. 83 North Leominster. 146 Wheelwright.. 108 Fitchburg... 26 Mount Tom.. 172 .do.. 141 Russell. 45 South Hadley Falls. 123 |