In the New England Letter issued in January, 1913, by the First National Bank of Boston, the following interesting statement was made in regard to paper.
“The Paper trade is essentially a hand-to-mouth trade in all branches except the news print department. In general, purchases are made only as required, and fluctuations in price effect but slightly the demand. In short, an analysis of the production of the Paper Mills of the country, taking into consideration stocks on hand, is specially significant as an index of current trade conditions.
The situation is shown by the following table which gives an idea of the paper output, the stocks on hand, and the number of days’ supply available for November, 1912.
Output and Stocks for November, 1912, of American Paper
(in tons)
| Normal Output per month Nov., 1912 | Actual Output Nov., 1912 | Stk. on hand Nov. 30, 1912 | No. days supply on hand Output | ||
| Normal Basis | Actual Basis | ||||
| All Grades | 367,154 | 348,640 | 163,557 | 13 | 13 |
| Newsprint | 113,516 | 106,715 | 43,504 | 11½ | 12 |
| Board Paper | 83,174 | 78,243 | 11,249 | 4 | 4¼ |
| Book Paper | 63,474 | 62,134 | 31,200 | 15 | 15 |
| Wrapping Paper | 50,674 | 49,168 | 27,065 | 16 | 16½ |
| Writing Paper | 16,198 | 14,024 | 23,137 | 48 | 49 |
| Coated Book Paper | 10,868 | 9,922 | 10,750 | 30 | 32 |
| Tissue Paper | 5,642 | 5,455 | 2,187 | 11½ | 12 |
It is noticeable from this table what the merchants’ service means to the Printer, for in the lines that are sold very largely, direct on making orders from the mill to the consumer, the number of days’ supply on hand is small, whereas among the items most often used in the average print shop, anywhere from two to seven weeks’ supply is carried in stock.
The Jobber unquestionably occupies a permanent and important position as the distributor of paper, not only because he affords a centralization of information and stocks, which is more economical than if every manufacturer had to maintain separate channels of distribution, but also because he relieves the Printer of the necessity of tieing up a large amount of money in paper. In earlier times, when there were but few kinds and a small consumption of paper, the situation was very different, and there was no need for the middle man.
Today the elimination of the merchant would mean the elimination of the majority of Printers, for it is inconceivable that the printing industry, in which according to Government Statistics, 86% of the establishments do a yearly business of less than $20,000, and 52% less than $5000, could finance itself without the aid of well organized Jobbing Houses.
Certainly the Printers are in the total, large and important from the merchants’ viewpoint, but there exists a strong inter-dependence, which both should realize and recognize, as a most natural basis for coöperation, in the expansion and increase of the demand for printing.