The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-09-27
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER ~, 1905.
THE PAPER INDUSTRY.

Few human industries have SHOWN
ereater expansion than the business of
paper making. Especially Is Ehis true
Of the United States, Eor a competent
authority says that about one-thiro
If ALI the paper manufactured In the
world is made in this country. Ihs
changes and improvements are not on
lv In the methods OF manufacture BUT
in the materials from which 1t Is
made. Up to comparatively recent'
period all the paper in use was made
of cotton and linen rags. and 1t was
not known that any substitute could
he effectually used, although a num-
her had been tried. The cotton and
linen not only made the best article
hut they were more easily manipulated
and required less machinery than any
thing else that was tried.
The use OF wood for this purpose
oates back half a century, in fact
/. .ough little progress was made until
a rev years ago. The experiments
ara improvements went forward rap
saiv of late years, and now wood pulp
,S one of the principal materials used
and the problem has been to make
etood article at the lowest possible
cost. Al first only a few KINDS OF
wood were used but now there Is hard-
ly a tree of the forest that cannot De
turned into paper. ana of both coars"
and fine grades without reflection II
might have been thought that the
question of a cheap and plentiful sup
plv was solved when 1t was found that
q could be easily and cheaply made OF
any kind of wood, but here again the
matter of raw material comes up TOT
the available wood supply is fast be-
ing appropriated.
There are two causes which go to
make the problem a perplexing one
The first is the fact that the consump-
ton of paper is continually increasing
It not only requires more and more
each year to supply the ordinary de-
mands but new uses for it are con-
tinually being found AS a natural re-
suit the supply of wood Is fast dimin-
ishlng. In various portions of the
North and West, especially. the de-
struction of timber has been so indts-
-criminate and rapid that owners OF
large tracts OF woodland are now only
allowing trees of certain size and up-
wards to be cut. and are having com
petent men on the ground to prevent
destruction of othe- timber. All this
means that some othe- source of sup
ply must be found, and The Manches-
ter IN. HI Union tells of new dis
covery as follows:
One of the latest substitutes is that
offered by an Austrian inventor, VINO
making paper from common marsh
reeds. The paper made in this manner
made from wood pulp or esparto grass,
and is almost the equal Of that made
from rags. A bill has been introduced
IN the Roumanian parliament. author
izing foreign firms TO participate In
the WORKING OF an immense marsnN
tract IN the Danube delta and the Do
where the reeds grow in rank profu-
sion Heretofore. the peasantry have
utilized a few of these reeds in thatch-
ing. while the rest have been burned
Austrian inventor seems confident.
these reeds can be converted into pa
per OF superior quality at a reasonable
cost, the discovery may help the sit
uation somewhat, though many
marshes would be required in furnish
ing more than the proverhial drop IN
the bucket.
This, as The Union remarks will not
be a great help; or it would not II only
the natural growth could be used, but
II reeds, grasses. weeds and other an
nuals can be used successfully 1t will
INST be dificult to grow the raw mate
rial in sufficient quantities to obviate,
at least for a time. the danger Of a
paper famine And yet If consump-
ton continues to increase as it has
been doing It is hard to tell where
the future supply is to come from.