The Jennings daily record. [volume] (Jennings, La.) 1900-1903, 1902-01-25
PAPER MAKING.

Henry Milford, of Canal Dover,
Ohio, one Of the large stockhold
ers of the American Strawboard
Co., trust of the country, is in
the city, having spent some time
looking around in Louisiana and
TeXast to see if there is chance
for paper mills, says the Picay-
une. He spent some time in the
rice and sugar districts.
81 have seen the greatest OPP
portunity Of the country going
| to waste in Louisiana and Texas"
SAID Mr.. Milford, "and it makes
me very tired to see the indiffer-
| ence that seems to permeate
| monied circles as to The oppor
tunities that are going to waste.
81 have been in the paper busl
ness all my life and don't claim
to know anything much outside
OF it, but [ do know that a man
in Ohio who has IL large crop Of
oats or wheat or anything with Il
| big waste is glad of an oppor-
tunity to utilize it or sell it to
somebody who will give a fair
price. Here it seems that con-
| ditions are different. / find that
there are something like half
million tons of bagasSe going to
waste or being burned every
year, and half as much rice straw
meeting the same fate. Millions
of tons of cotton stalks are left
in the fields until the winter rain
and frosts rot them sufficiently
to make them easy to destroy,
I then they are turned under or
| burned. You have the woods
| full of palmetto and other pro
ducts OF a fbrOuS nature, lnclud-
ing a splendid growth Of wire
grass, and even a small growth
If Mexican ramIe in some sec
lions OF the prairie part of the
State, and all these proudcts are
being neglected or wasted, while
the price OF paper is going up.
II was talking with d planter
in Lafourche and asked himWhat
the bagasSe was worth. He said
ne did not consider it worth a
cent ton except to burn, and
| WILL ullC liz" LUIGI UilSl = "olllo NC
40 chance to Utilize it as it had
been. He said that hundreds OF
| thousands of tons Of ba2aSse
is thrown away every year in his
neighborhood, and when [ asked
| him why he did not erect a paper
mill, he said he thought his
neighbors would not sell uheir
oagasse at reasonable figure if
] they thought it had any value.
: l talked with cotton planter and
: ae talked along the same line.
. GA large land owner has thous
' lnds of acres of pine land heavily
I overgrown with saw palmettos
and other varieties, said he die
not think they could be gathered
and bailed at a sufficiently low
), igure to make it profitable, anc
q N every case when | came to in
= quire what they thought was {
d profitable figure they named {
5 price that would Indicate tina
they thought they had goldmine
in the products that they have
never TO the present time gotter
+. cent out Of. They do not wan
= to sell their bagasse, Their cottor
). stalks, their palmettos and theil
= wire grass, and had rather burr
[. them than put reasonable fig
II are on them and make a new
y product for the South.
II have been seriously conten
e | planting putting in a large paper
/: mill or two in the Sou th, ano
;; nave been looking about for the
- purpose of seeking a location, bu
[ have given up the idea for the
;. present, for the reason that
nave not been able to find a place
| where planters thought theil
products could be parted with a
less than three times what they
are worth, although if they d.
not sell them they will burn them
1t is curious people should pu
50 high a price on thin IS tina
never have had any value at all
as soon as a man offers to blu,
=, them at q reasonable figure.
<. "Rice straw would improv
The color and fibre of paper an
add much to the bulk and bod
without INCREASING the cost pc
D ton of paper. Cotton stalks wi
furnish atibre equal to coars
iute waste and somewhat strong
, az. while the same can be said {
, palmetto and wire grass fibre
= There are thousands of tons {
waste shipped from the South t
the New England mills ever
| year, some Of the largest mill
getting their supplies eatirel
I from this section, and all Of thi
should be better utilized here d