Fact

Behind the Newsprint Export of Canada there existed a theory and a fact. The theory was that the price of newsprint to U. S. publishers was $65 a ton. The fact was that association members were making deals with such major users as Publisher William Randolph Hearst for less than $60 a ton. When the fact became known to the theory, the Newsprint Export went up in smoke. The Hearst contracts went into court.

Down, down, down slid the price of newsprint. Mill production was curtailed; papermakers' profits were sliced. (TIME, Aug. 27). Last week, the "biggest" International Paper Co., with mills in Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland (see Foreign News), contracted with Publisher Hearst on the basis of $50 a ton. Friendly, possibly merging Abitibi Power & Paper Co. made a similar deal with the Chicago Daily News. On the Manhattan stock exchange, International Paper common fell 4 1/4 points; Abitibi hit a new low for the year.