Royal Commission on Manufacture, Sale Price and Supply of News Print Paper within Canada : The Commission to Inquire into and Report Upon the Manufacture Sale, Price and Supply of News Print Paper Within Canada was established under Order in Council 1060, 16 April 1917, under Part I of the Inquiries Act (R.S.C., 1906, c.104) and on the recommendation of the Minister of Finance. The terms of reference were extended by Order in Council P.C. 1109, 21 April 1917. The Commission was mandated to inquire into and report on the manufacture, sale, price and supply of newsprint paper within the Dominion of Canada and to investigate the cost of production of pulp and paper. The commissioner was Robert Abercrombie Pringle.
On 24 January 1917, the chairman of the Newspaper Committee of the Canadian Press Association made representation to the Government of Canada that it was the intention of paper manufacturers to increase prices. The manufacturers proposed a minimum price for daily newspapers of .00 per 100 lb. f.o.b. mill for newsprint paper in rolls. This price represented an increase of .25 per 100 lb. In the case of rural weekly newspapers, the manufacturers proposed a minimum price of .80 per 100 lb. f.o.b. mill for newsprint paper in sheets. This price represented an increase of .45 per 100 lb. The prices proposed were high, and many believed that some Canadian newspapers might be unable to carry on their business. In that event, the power of the press to exert influence on public opinion while the country was at war might be considerably reduced.
The Newspaper Committee also believed that since Canadian newsprint paper manufacturers were assured of large profits on 80 per cent of their production sold in other countries, they should be willing to treat the newspapers of their own country fairly. If not, the Canadian government should take steps to assure that Canadian newspapers had a supply of paper at reasonable prices. The Government of Canada tried to resolve the issue and several interviews took place among representatives of the manufacturers, the newspaper publishers and the Government.
In the early part of April 1917 a tentative agreement was drawn up by the manufacturers. They agreed to supply Canadian publishers with newsprint for .50 per 100 lb. in rolls in carload lots; at .25 per 100 lb. in sheets in carload lots; and .50 per 100 lb. in sheets in less than carload lots of two tons and over f.o.b. the mills of the various manufacturers, for three months dating from 1 March 1917. The proposed agreement stated that:
"the supply of newsprint paper to Canadian publishers by the manufacturers is not proportionately distributed between them, and by reason of the fact that the prices so fixed are considerably below those the manufacturer are receiving from export business, it is necessary in consequence in order that each manufacturer should bear his due proportion of the loss so entailed in complying with the wishes of the Government, that arrangements should be made for a pooling of the said loss and for adjustment between the said manufacturers in proportion to the percentage of their output supplied to Canadian publishers."
Provisions were set out in the proposed agreement in regard to the method of taking care of the differential. But, difficulty arose, and the manufacturers of newsprint and the publishers never executed this agreement. About this time, the secretary of the Newsprint Manufacturers Association pointed out that during the previous year 611,320 tons of newsprint had been manufactured in Canada. The Canadian tonnage amounted to 65,705 tons and the balance, amounting to 545,615 tons, was for export trade.
It was evident from a letter of the Federal Trade Commission of the United States, dated 3 March 1917, that in the opinion of the Trade Commission the increase in the selling price of newsprint for the year 1917 was greater than could be justified by the increase in cost. The Trade Commission charged that free competition had been seriously restricted in the newsprint industry. It was alleged that important manufacturers in the United States and Canada had banded together to secure unreasonable profits. In addition, the war changed conditions in the paper trade. To ensure an adequate supply of newsprint at a reasonable price to the publishers of Canadian newspapers, the Government of Canada decided to take responsibility for fixing prices.
The government had before it the prices that the Federal Trade Commission considered to be fair and reasonable. On 16 April 1917 the government passed an order in council empowering the Minister of Customs to fix the quantity and price of newsprint paper in sheets or rolls furnished or to be furnished to the publishers in Canada. This measure was to be in effect from 1 March 1917 to 1 June 1917. On the same day the Government of Canada appointed a royal commission in order to ascertain whether the prices fixed on newsprint paper were fair and reasonable. (See Inquiry into the Manufacture, Sale, Price and Supply of Newsprint in Canada, Interim Report, Sessional Paper No. 64, 1910.)
Hearings of the commission were held in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto from 9 November 1917 to 17 March 1920. RG33-53 General Inventory
