During the Reconstruction Period all acts which had imposed
a tax upon newspaper advertisements during the war were
repealed. On July 1, 1862, an act was passed which provided that
after August 1, 1862, all newspapers and other periodicals should
pay a tax of three per cent on the gross receipts for all advertise-
ments and for all other items for which pay was received. On
June 30, 1864, another act provided that in cases where the rate
on the price of advertising was fixed by law of the United States,
of the State or Territory, it was lawful for the newspapers pub-
lishing such advertisements to add the tax to the price of the
advertisements, "any law to the contrary notwithstanding," be-
cause of the burden that the tax imposed upon the smaller news-
papers. The act of 1864 provided for the exemption of taxes on
newspaper advertisements to the amount of six hundred dol-
lars annually : it also provided that all newspapers whose average
circulation did not exceed two thousand copies should be ex-
empted from all taxes for advertisements. Because of continued
opposition on the part of newspapers, these various acts relating
to a tax on advertisements were repealed on March 2, 1867.
PAPER MADE FROM WOOD PULP
While paper made from the fiber of soft wood began to be fed to the printing-press as early as 1867, it did not come into exten- sive use until later, for at the start it cost too much money to manufacture in proportion to the cost of raw material. For the years covered in the period of Reconstruction the contract price of news print paper delivered in New York were as follows:
Year Cents Year Cents
1865 12.6 1873 11.2
1866 17.2 1874 8.6
1867 15. 1875 8.5
1868 14.6 1876 8.2
1869 12.5 1877 8.2
1870 12.3 1878 6.46
1871 12.1 1879 6.
1872 12. 1880 6.9
Whitelaw Reid, of The New York Tribune, in addressing the New York Editorial Association on June 17, 1879, said:
