Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1903-01-08
PAPER PRODUCTION.
Tho Enormous Quantity Turned
Out Daily by American Mills.
In This Industry the United States Dis.
tances All Other Couutries-Remark-
able Development During tho
Last Decade.

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1t is a curious and rather startling
fact that next to the articles enter
ing into food and clothing paper is the
most universally used commodity in
the world. 1t would be an almost i'm
possible task to find in any civilized
community o person or business con-
Germ that does not to a greater or less
degree make use of paper in some of
its various forms. Some philosopher
has said that the civilization and
prosperity of country may be
measured by its consumption of
paper. If this is as fair an index
as seems upon reflection to be reason
able, says the Philadelphia Times,
statistics prove the United States to
have distanced all the other nations of
the world in the race of true develop
ment. Perhaps no line of business has
had more remarkable growth in the
United States the past ten years than
the paper-malSing industry. This is
true in all branches, but especially SO
in the line of book and news print pa
pers. The American people are ma
ton of readers, and the rapidly de-
,reasing prices of books and newspa-
pers have greatly increased the con-
sumption of paper in these two lines.
One or cents will purchase mass of
reading matter in the form of our great
dailies, consisting of from eight to six
teen pages, while IL to 20 cents will
purchase handsomely bound and at
tractive books Of standard and popular
authors. The daily output of news
print paper in the United States is
about 1900 to 1,5oO tons. Just think
of 125 or $50 carloads of newspapers
mentally devoured each day in this
country! The production of news print
is larger than any other grade. That
of book paper is probably as much as
1000 tons and of writing 45O tons each
daily.
1t will be interesting here to quote
some of the figures of the paper in
dustry in the United States as COM
piled by the Paper Trade Journal. The
gross daily capacity of the paper mills
of the United States in operation dur
ing 1923 for all kinds and grades of
paper was estimated at about 10000
tons. OF this amount nearly $500 tons
represented news print and book pa
per. 1,s0O tons wrapping paper, $50 tons
strawboard, $50 tons writing paper and
almost 2,400 tons of the various other
kinds and grades. The states which
rank first in the production of paper
are New York, Maine, Massachusetts,
Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio & Illi-
nois. From these seven states come
nearly three-fourths of the entire pa
per supply of the country. BY far the
greater part of the vast output is con-
sumed in the United States, the
greatest paper using country in the
world. In foreign markets, however,
American paper is gaining a firm foot
ing. The greatest consumption of
printing paper is in the Sunday editions
OF the metropolitan dailies, which often
require from GO to 100 tons for a SINGLE
issue. With the rapidly increasing
output prices have as rapidly declined,
until to-day a grade of news print pa
per worth twenty-five years ago 10
cents or IA cents per pound is now sold
at 219 cents to cents-a decline in
price uncqualed in the history of any
other industry. This enormous de-
crease in the cost of paper is due es-
peCldlly 10 inc lHtrouuctlon OF Woou dS
paper stock. To-day it is the principal
material used in the manufacture of
paper for all but the highest grades of
book and writing. News print and not
only ordinary but even very attractive
qualities Of book paper are made en-
tirely of wood. Another means con-
ducive to this phenomenal reduction of
cost has been the improvement in
methods of making wood pulp. The
perfection and greater efficiency at
tanned in paper-making machinery,
rendering much larger production
easily possible in "a given time, have
added materially in this downward
frnnI Of f,nion