The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1862-11-28
NO. 49.


PApeS-1eo CO~s. 0Oa new g AQocAD
fsgtaeaoG. 81
There is no subject which ooaeeg1s nsWs-
paper and book publishers more than shs
cost Of paper. The great inessass u the
cost--over thirty per csnt-has SEA al The
printers and pubiisbers to discussiaa the
question of ohsaPns supply or corre-
spending advance IA the price Of books snd
printed matter. Many Of the nswsPaPers
have advanced their psioe. Some have en-
deavcred 10 meet ,he difficulty By Increasing
the price es advertising. others reduced the
size If their j"uruSls, but s,ill the price OF
paper is upward, and where it wilk stop
~hile the war continues cauuot be easily
foreseen. Ooe journal discussing the sub.
,ject says:
We have fifty million dollars worth OF
paper manufactured in the Uuited States
annually. Printing paper 10 made from
cotton anu flax. Cation in it's raw or man.
ufsctured s;ate-cot;on waste or rags-is
the chief srticis. We import two million
dollars worth of rags yearly. and thousands
Of men collect rags about the country. while
cotton waste from the factories comes IN as
large a supply OF material. Now whatever
diminishss cotton. or raises lts value d.
miuishes paper or raises its value. At
present there 10 little cotton waste and
fewer cotton rags than formerly: and the
price of rags in those countries whence we
import them must 60 up. since there - .
scarcity of material Tor paper manufacturing
10 Europe ~ we'll as here. 1t the prioe
advances. sufficiently there will b les
printing, since books will not pay: the sise
Of newspapers will be diminished and The
price raised. OF they will stop. Very maay
Of the papers that were printed at small
profits, and depended on single sales. do nos
at the present cost OF paper meet their q.
penses, and tho larger their circulation the
worse it is for the publishers. The cost Of
printing paper has not been SO high before
for many years. and this. with the prosPscs
of its going much higher, the increased
cost OF ink and printing material. end The
pa,ionsl tax. has for the present "doue up's
newspaper publishing. Thousands OF pa
pers that have managed to live are now los.
ing concerns
Paper for newspapers has averaged two
or thre. cents . pound less il price than
cotton. Paper has been selling from ten 70
eleven cents, when cotton was worth twelve
or fourteen. Now cotton Is worth sixty
cents. Bat paper will not follow lar aieer
cotton, TOR vhen it reaches certain Poins
there 10 less consumption. and other mate.
rails are used 1t can be made OF many
fiores ~ substitutes. Straw gives gooo
paper for common use; SO does the inner
/, bark of forest trees, and even the wood
I itself. and corn usks will do the same. Mr..
Morril in his "Chronolosy of Paper Max
ling" enumerates iO3 substances which
have been experimental upon in various
countries by paper makers. In the Smith.
soniao Instltution there is . work on the
man ufactu.e of paper from oher materials
than rags. which is printed on more than
sixty varieties OF paper made from ~ many
different materials. The works OF the Mar
quis de Yillet,e, published in London in
! 1886. in pam are printed on paper made
| from marsh.msilow: sud at the end are
single leaves of paper manufactured ae
Bruges from twenty different species OF
plants. including the ne,tle. hops. moss.
reed, aud several kinds Of trees and herbs.
II the cotton supply is short. We shall
have to 60 back and take lessons from the
older nations, bxrbsrous and civilized. who
used many vegetable products and knew
nothing Of rags in paper making. Tho
Chinese have been making paper from
reeds, bamboo. rushes, and the s.sls Of wild
and tame grasses. for more than fourteen
centuries. In fact. 90 msny substances are
employed in that empire that each province
has variety of paper peculiar = iieslf.-
The soft. velvety rice-paper on which the
Chinese paintings of flowers. birds, insects.
aud club 100 led female beauties are made.
is produced from the stems OF > hardy
leguminous plant which grows sbsnd.otsy
on the msrshy plains Of Bengal and aooas
the lakes OF Calcutta. The Japsnsee use
the inner bark of four or Eve spscies OF
trees. and make paper Of oil qualities. nom
the .hinnest and finest TO the heavier sorts
which are used for clothing. and eaa hardly
be told from silks or woollen stu6e.