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Power and the Press. An acrimonious argument arose when Publisher Col. Robert Ewing of the New Orleans States and Shreveport Times offered a resolution concerning the action of International Paper and Power Co. in buying newspaper shares. A case in point was the recent purchase by International Paper (subsidiary of I. P. & P.) of the Boston Herald and Traveler (TIME, April 22). Even more in point was the purchase by International Paper of one-third of the common stock, $600,000 of the preferred stock and one million dollars' worth of the bonds of the Chicago Daily Journal—more in point because Publisher Samuel Emory Thomason of the Journal is chairman of the Publishers Association's committee on paper.
Colonel Ewing declared that this was but another example of how the Power Trust was trying to buy control of the press—declared that the Trust had already bought not only the two Boston papers, but a number of small papers in the South. He said it had tried to buy the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Mr. Thomason replied that he had sold stock to International Paper Co. on advantageous terms in return for granting them a ten-year contract to furnish newsprint to his paper. He said further that the stock held by the paper company was not a controlling interest and would in no wise affect his paper's policies.
In the end the publishers gave a vote of confidence to Mr. Thomason and tabled Colonel Ewing's resolution as none of their business. The Colonel sniffed. Said he:
"I have sounded the alarm, and if the newspapers and public do not care to heed it, it is not my fault.
"I never knew of any business that could be both buyer and seller. The international Paper Co. is also the International Power Co. It is about two-thirds power and one-third paper."