NEWSPAPER SHORTAGE.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 May 1920, Page 10

NEWSPAPER SHORTAGE.

WHY NEWSPAPERS ARE "TIGHT." . A writer in an American publication Bays: A "tight" newspaper is one an which the news matter is concentrated jo aimount aif) iftuv oifei ijaiixa ut! opn advertising carried in order to save print paper.

PeVhaps yon h-We noticed v Wat tically all newspapers are gradually' reducing tlie number of pages, >thjj*. pofc. centage of reading matter and Working toward the elimination of tJjejgpod (?} old "free write-up." As a. business man you will remember the days when tho mere fact that Jvjur head ' buyer wont down to New Yirk was always good for a column or mo.-e. And if you happened to stand in pretty good with the editor you might also i squeeze in a picture of the aforesaid head buyer. Perhaps you will be interested to know the reason for this.

Just as in your , own business,-' know that the price of an article is regulated by the demand. If production decreases and demand increases you can imagine .what happens to the price. < Print paper is the basic material- in the production of a newspaper. Print paper, is made from wood pulp, and no power on earth can make a tree grow faster than nature intended that it should.

Curing the war the character of the -news caused an unprecedented demand for newspapers. Circulations went up and up and up. Immediately after the war newspapers were swamped with the greatest flood of advertising. The demand for print paper became terrific. And because of labor shortage the production of print paper wa3 curtailed. Prices went up like a fihot until to-day no newspaper can make a contract for print paper for any appreciable lengtli of time. Print paper on the open market today is selling at 10 to 12 cents a pound, and is mighty scarce at that. Compare that to the good old days when print paper sold at 1$ to 2* cents a pound.

As a result of this situation Congress has sent appeal after appeal to the larger newspapers asking them to cut down as -far as possible their consumption of print paper. If such reduction is not made thousands of smaller newspapers will be compelled to suspend publication-