NOTES 



Some SideIvIGhts on a Great Canadian Industry 



The Canadian Pulp and Paper Association has published a neat, 

 small pamphlet entitled "Some Sidelights on a Great Canadian Indus- 

 try." It contains speeches made by various contributors to the fifth 

 annual meeting of the association, and may be considered campaign 

 literature in the struggle between the newsprint manufacturers and the 

 newspaper associations in trying to come to a reasonable price for the 

 paper. As one speaker states: "The price of wheat, the necessity of 

 life, has been fixed at more than lOO per cent over the pre-war figure. 

 . . . Consequently, in fixing a price for news, we might reasonably 

 expect to show an advance of lOO per cent. . . .* All we asked was 

 the very moderate prevailing advance of 50 per cent. . . . but were 

 forced to sell our product at a wholly inadequate figure, at a figure less 

 than its actual cost — the figure actually below the cost of pro4uction." 

 As far as we could find out, no specific direct arguments are brought 

 to justify increase in price. The interesting part of the publication is 

 to be found in eight graphic illustrations showing the remarkable de- 

 velopment of the pulp and paper industry in Canada. The first graph 

 shows that, with a capital invested in pulp and paper, including manu- 

 factures, of 145.8 million dollars, this industry is the largest in the coun- 

 try, almost equalled only by log products, including pulpwood. The 

 paper industry alone represents over 85 million dollars, and the wood- 

 pulp industry by itself over 47 million dollars. Another graph shows 

 the remarkable development in exports of pulp in the last nine years 

 from less than 4 million dollars to over 20 million dollars, and this in- 

 crease is mainly in chemical pulp, from 1.5 to over 14 million dollars. 

 In the same period of nine years the export of paper increased from 3 

 to 26 million dollars, mainly newsprint, which represents between 23 

 and 24 million dollars. Comparing the census figures for 1905 and 

 19 1 5, the marvelous growth is still further accentuated as showing that 

 the capital employed in the paper industry quadrupled in that time, 

 although the number of mills increased only by 50 per cent, number of 

 employees doubled, to near 16,000, while wages trebled, to 7.5 million 

 dollars, and value of product trebled, from 9.5 to 29.4 million dollars. 

 622 



