The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-05
SOUTHERN WOODS FOR PAPER
STOCK

STOCK.
The paper trust as Is pretty generally
known has practically secured control OF
the spruce forests of the North and North
west, and by means Of the tariff impost
on spruce wood from Canada, is enabled
| to charge its own prices for white paper.
And users of white paper have been made
to feel the power of the trusts grasp,
through a considerable increase Of prices.
Recently the New Orleans Times-Demo-
crat offered a prize for the discovery Of a
substitute for spruce timber in making
paper pulp. which has had the effect Of
stimulating the search. Among the cor
respondents on the subject Of the paper
named is Mr.. G. W. Soule, a chemist of
Mississippi. who writes that he has de
voted several years to the study of the
question with the result that he finds the
Southern sweetgum and cottonwood TO be
superior paper stock better in reality
than anything known" He does not ex-
cept spruce. which the manufacturers in
the trust have heretofore insisted was the
only wood that could be used with salts
factory results
Sweetgum and cottonwood Mr. Soule
says may be found almost anywhere in
the south; the supply is practically I'M
limited. and new crops can be grown in
ten years These woods are to be had in
abundance In the South at $50 per cord
whereas spruce costs the paper makers
of the North not less than IS per cord.
Besides the wood, the chief items of cost
in the manufacture Of paper are sulphur
and bleaching powders, which, being i'm
ported. cen be laid down at a Southern
port quite as cheaply as al a Northern
port.
If what Mr.. soule says with respect to
the value of these woods for paper-maklng
can be substantiated. it would seem that
paper-making in the South ought to be
found more profitable than It Is in the
North. But it is probable that further
investigation into the availability of the
woods named would have to be made
Meanwhile it is to be remarked that the
forests of the South are far from bare of
spruce. In the mountains of North Geor-
gia, and indeed all along the Appalachian
range. there are literally tens of millions
of feet of spruce timber It would prob
ably not be wide of the mark to say that
there are tens of millions of feet of spruce
in the counties of Habersham, Rabun and
White, in this state, alone; and the high-
lands Of Tennessee, South Carolina and
North Carolina are probably as we'll tim
bered with the same species of wood.
These spruces grow to splendid proper
I,, ~
so far because of the difficulty of getting
the logs out of the mountains. If there
were a demand for the wood in cord-wood
shape, delivered at the railroad at "a per
cord. or half the price of spruce quoted
by Mr. Soule, the hardy mountaineers
would find the means of keeping train
loads of it on the way to market all of the
time.
There Is, also. another wood which the
chemists should be careful. not to over
look in their experiments; namely. the
short-leaf or "old-feld" pine, which is to
be found in greatest abundance through
out the pine belt This tree is valueless
as turpentine producer and is not high
ly esteemed for its lumber There is too
much sap wood I'm it for the purpose
of either turpentine producer or lumber
man. The grain is fine and white. and
the root is as fibrous as a jute stalk. The
spruce, it is to be remembered, is q mem
Der of the pine family. 1t yields both
resin and pitch. The "old-field" pine is
something in the nature of first cousin
to the spruce; and it is possible that the
latter may lend itself to paper making
about as well as the former. 1t is to be
hoped that Mr. Soule and other Southern
chemists will give the "old-field' pine
trial in their experiments. Should it be
found available, the South would be able
TO manufacture paper at price that
would command the markets of the world.