THE PAPER PLANTATION: Ralph Nader's Study Group Report on the Pulp and Paper Industry in Maine

The seven major companies which control Maine's pulp and paper production and much of its forests and work force are, as you can imagine, guilty of befouling air and water, oppressing the loggers, and orchestrating the politicians. Osborn gives a thorough, useful, well-written rundown on pollution, though his proposals about recycling waste do not sufficiently criticize the outdated industrial techniques (why bark burning in the 20th century?). The industry's PR men are duly scathed -- one says ""They're proud of this air"" like a Rabelaisian cabbage-eater. Two tricky points come later. Osborn promotes the expansion of an association of small pulpwood contractors and jobbers, on the model of the independent truckers who this year were manipulated into causing economic chaos. Secondly, while Osborn stresses the low prices forced on logging producers, he blandly foresees a paper shortage due to ""demand and prices,"" without inquiring how those prices and shortages may also be ""set,"" and indeed have been, since the book was written. Since a severe paper pinch means thrombosis of the mind, the next Nader investigation ought to consider probing these contrived crises.