The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-11
PAPER AND FORESTRY.

Taking one view of it. the discovery or knowledge that good paper can be manu- factured from wood is an unfortunate one. True, it has served to make paper much cheaper and more plentiful than it would have been otherwise. for the world de- mand for paper for various uses could hardly have been supplied if mafufactur- CTS had been forced to depend altogether on linen and cotton for their stock. There has been such an enormous increase in printing and writing that the old sources of supply would have been inadequate and the price of paper would have gone be- yond the means of any but the rich.
 While this is true. and while practi- cally unlimited supply of paper is a bless ing, it Is equally true that the use of wood-pulp Is hastening the total destruc- ton of the worlds timber supply with alarming rapidity. For instance, an item in an exchange tells us that it is estimat- cd that four thousand trees were con- stunned in making the paper on which nine recent popular novels were printed. Though this statement is to some extent indefinite, as it fails to give the size of the trees. it is sufficiently accurate to be startling. "Of making many books there is no end" said Solomon. many centuries ago, but what would he say now? There Is not only no end but no keeping up with them. In every civilized land, but especially in Europe and America, the printing presses run without ceasing, turning out new books. many of which pass away almost as quickly as they are made. When we add to the book indus try the millions of copies of newspapers and magazines, the other millions of sheets of paper used for writing and for various other purposes we can begin to have faint conception of the quantity of material used.
 And when we reflect that very much of this incalculable output is manufactured from wood we need not wonder that forest denudation is going on at rate which brings almost in sight the time when there will be no wood for any purpose. For it must be remembered that there Is a broad difference between the work of the lumbermen and the paper makers. The former must have well-grown, or fairly well-grown, trees from which to make merchantable lumber. That ob- tained, the young timber. the saplings and the bushes are left to g.ow up, 'and. if left alone, to again cover the land with valuable forests.
 With the wood pulp men the case is en- tirely different. Almost everything is grist that comes to their mill. True. cer- tain kinds of trees are most in demand but the experiments which are constantly being made indicate that almost any kind of wood will eventually be used. Of the kind of wood preferred hardly anything is rejected. The young trees and sap lings, as we'll as the grown and matured monarchs of tho forest are alike fed to the unsuitable jaws of tho pulp machines. and hardly a bush is left of the varieties of wood most in demand. If all other va rieties of wood shall come to be utilized in this industry 1t is easy to see that our forests must disappear as if fires and cyclones had swept over them, and there will be nothing left for the future.
 Is there any remedy for this destruc- ton of the forests? Evidently one must some day be found, or the book and news paper makers. the writers and the stu dents must find some substitute for paper
 for the wood will all De gone in a gener-
 ation or two. Already efforts and exper- iments are being made to find something to take the place of wood, as wood took the place of cotton and linen. but pFoba- bly, these efforts will not be successful until there is no more wood to be used. Then there will be something found. as the inventive genius of man always finds what must be had. In the meantime, be- tween the mill men and the paper men the forests disappear and with their dis appearance comes other disadvantages in- cident to a treeless region. A great pity ha 1a.