Newspaper Page Text
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THE NEWSPAPER BUSINESS ,
By,N. D. Cochran t
All of the evening newspapers of
Pittsburgh, the Chronicle - Tele
graph, Leader, Press and Sun, have
followed the lead of the Buffalo
dailies and announced that they will
go to 2 cents on Friday, Dec. 1. As
the morning papers had already gone
to 2 cents that puts all the Pitts
burgh papers on the.2-cent basis.
The movement will very likely be
'come general. The newspapers will
simply have to raise their selling
price, or many of them will go under.
As most of them have already elimi
nated waste by cutting off returns,
exchanges and free copies.-the two
big things left to doare to raise the
selling price and advertising rate.
Another way po save is by cutting
down the number of editions and ex
tras in the mad scramble for circula
tion. ' ''
I hold that the public is as much
interested in 2-cent papers as the
publishers themselves, for newspa
pers can't be free until they make a
profit off their readers and can't be
, put out of business by their adver
tisers. I have demonstrated with the
adless Day Book the value to the
public of a newspaper that is not de
pendent upon advertisers, and henceJ
is free to publish the truth without
regard "to whom it helps or harms.
I notice some other Chicago paJ
pers are-beginning, to give their read
ers at least some of the news about
the white paper famine.
Frederic J. Haskin, writing on the
Canadian paper industry in the Daily
News, says that it takes 150 cords of
wood to make 100 tons of news paper
and that the average cut in Canada
is abput 8 cords- of' wood to the acre.
One mill he visited makes 100 tbns a
day for one New York newspaper,
which uses that much for one week
day edition, while it uses enough for
one Sunday edition to" clear 160 acres
of timber.
There are 200 woodsmen at work
in the Omberlands and 50 workinen
at the mill making paper, while the
investment is about $2,000,006.
To further illustrate he says Jhat
one full page ad in that New .York
paper represents half an acre of for-
6St.
That mill would just about supply
the demands of the Chicago 'Daily
News for white paper, which, means
that the News c&nsumes abput- 600
tons of paper a week, or 900 cords of
ood. At 3 cords to the acre, the
News alone would clear up about 112
acres of timber a week. At $62 per
ton f. o. b. mill the cost of that 100
tons, less freight and cartage would
be $6,200 a .day or $37,200 a week.
' I understand the newspapers of
Chicago consume' about 175,000 tons
of paper a year. If it takes 150 cords
of wood to make 100 tons -pf paper,
the Chicago papers would 'use '262,
500 cords of Wood a year and clear
up 32,811 acres of timber a year.
In the. Paper Trade Journal of
Nov. 23, Vice Pres. Lyman of ttie-Jn-ternational
Paper Co. made the fol
lowing statement as .to the com
pany's price for 1917 :
"All paper will, be sold f. o. b. mill
at a price which will make it. cost
the publisher at destination ZV
cents. This price will b,e effective in
a zone covering most of the territory
supplied' by the International. -Our
new price is equivalent 'to a price Of
3.10 net, at mill. We have been
forced to scale down our tonnage ex
tensively in order to bring the-re-quirements
of our customers within
the company's capacity."1
That means that next year's price
to the publisher in Chicago will be
$65 a ton, less cartage; and the cost
of the 175,000 on consumption In
Chicago would be, for th,e year, $11,
375,000. , .
o o
Pittsburgh. Costliest banquet
ever given in this city pf millionaires
given at Hotel Schenley by Louis Fo
liet, pres. Standard Tinplate Co., to
60 friends; Cost $100 a plate.
