Daily Kennebec journal., 1902-09-22
PAPER FROM PULP.
CONTINUED from page So
appearing before the creeping advances

dozen years ago would not have been
taken into account at all by the ex-
plorers who scale the growing timber
Inch by inch the cutting size has
diminished until now twelve inches at
the butt is the rule for logs to be sawed
into lumber. With the growing scare
ity of large logs, the profits of lumber
manufacture began to shrink. When
twice the number of trees have to be
cut and hauled to the streams, and
hauled twice as far as formerly, when
twice the number of men are needed 10
drive the logs. and twice the number
of saw cuts have to be made to work
the logs into lumber. the cost of all
these processes grows large. The law
of diminishing returns was at work.
For time it was overcome in art, and
made imperative by the improved
methods of hauling supplies to the
lumber camps, better roads. longer
hauls by rail and more systematized
methods. Rivers We're cleared Of OBJ
structions and driving made easier
Dams once built were easily kept in re-
pair. Log driving and boom com
panies, in which many shared expenses
Of operations, lessened the cost, but
with all this, the cost of production
continued to increase steadily.
Then came the new industry. All
through the State there are countless
thousands of spruce trees, not large
enough to- cut for lumber manufacture
which will not attain a sufficient size
for fifty years or more. 1t was dis
covered that by grinding up the wood
of these trees, pulp could be pro-
duced which properly treated, could be
made into paper. So the first paper
mill was built. The experiment sue
ceeded. and now all over the State, on
tidewater and in the wilderness, are
rising dozens OF these mills, some large,
some small, to eat away the remnants
of the forest which the lumberman'
axe would have spared. But these
mills use logs which might be turned
into marketable lumber, as well as the
smaller ones which now are fit for
nothing but to be ground up. They can
afford to pay as much as the lumber
manufacturer. If paper plants CON
tinue to be built at their present rate
Of increase they win soon outnumber
the lumber mills two to one. Lumber
can be manufactured in the Northwest
Names ascendancy as lumber state
is done forever.
The principles of modern forestry are
being slowly introduced but modern for
estry cannot make young trees into old
ones by preservation if there are no more
young trees to preserve. Even fir and the
poplar are being cut to mix with spruce
for the making of pulp paper. The Maine
forests are going.
But the forests of other States have al
81 gone. ana those States have not be-
come IMPOVERISHED. Massachusetts. New
York. Pennsylvania were covered with
timber once, and even now that it is cut
down they are not poor. And neither Will
Maine he poor. The more paper mills there
are the more railroads there Will be. the
more railroads the more people. the more
people the more prosperity. When thn
forests are down the fruits of the land
will spring up in neVer-cnding succession,
until the end Of the world. Even now in
the great ArouStOuk country every spring
sees a new field, fun OF stumps and rocks,
lust as the wOOdmcn lett i'd. blCSS1ming
into life. and beating potatoes nav tht mil
TioI Bushels. THS cannCt mean poverty.
Barley. corn. wheat. vegetables, fruit. all
can be grown in Maine soil, and their pro-
duets can be Manufactured. Fifteen utl-
lions Of bushels Of potatoes grown on
land stripped Of it's timber does not indl-
cate unhappinCS%. and the millions or
pounds Of starch. which is the product
of the hundreds Ot factories, does not
mean ShrinkaCe Of wealth.
When the timber is gone, and the pulp
wood is gone the rivers will remain as
they have in other States, and tho water
power OF the rivers VIII remain. to ne
used for the multitude Of purposes de-
manded for the manufacture Of CummoCi-
ties. Watcr-power means electricity. and
electricity produced Chcaply means
wealth. Ii is Names era. Prosperity
forever is within her borders. undCvcloped
for the present. hut potential and dll-pow-
erful for the future.
So the paper mill. which has evidently
como to stay. is not destined To- he the
ruinous. devastating creature of selfish
capital. which the lumber manufacturer
at present calls H. 1t is to be the mcdi-
um ofan Intermediary step that Will ulti-
matoly raise the State Of Maine from the
level of "A community primitive in its en-
Payments and rough in its ways 10 the
plane which her sister States have already
reached through like means. All through
the worlds history the destructive ele-
ment has been prominent for the good
Wars have been necessary to promote the
advancement OF nations, even though
they seemed terrible and wicked offences
against nature ut the time MaChiuery =
was introduced only after the bitterest
struggle to the quick benefit Of mankind
Political systems have been developed
only after they have passed through the
ficrcest imaginable ordeals. ana history it
self is one long tale OF disasters and de
featS, provided wisely and well by the
ordination Of the universe for the ultimate
good of the world.
Though the paper mills destroy the for
cstS of Maine, they Will prepare the way
for more lasting and more mature indus
tries. which in their turn. as the need be
comes felt, will dissolve and give place
to others. But the source Of power To
turn the wheels will always remain,
ready 20 be put 10 the greatest use to the
human race. The numberlcss water
courses OF Maine will endure. 70 bc i'm
proved as they were intended to be-
improved; the great natural rcSer-
Vuirs Will hold stored within their
banks the potential energy to turn
the wheels Of industry: the land will sup
ply the material and feed its population; ;
and even though now as in the past the
cry goes up that the State Is to be ruined
by the coming great industry. the COM
munity will emerge prosperous. trum-
phant in its own resources and confident
in its people.
And its people. What az them? Are tha
young men to continue to go 10 the West
stay at home, to work at home. TO grow
rich with the land, 10 breed their strong.
robust New England sons and daughters.
to manage these paper mills since they
are to be and to lend their best Judgment
to the political business OF their communi-
ties? The land of richness and plenty *
the virgin land. unfurrowed and unsown
land which has been waiting under the
preparing hand of nature for centuries,
waiting for the young men TO claim II
and to make it their own.
Maine is called the playground ef the
nation. 1t is wen said for the present. bpt
1N- fNsr