The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-03-14
WEDNESDAY, MARCH IA, 1906.
PRoMIsE oF CHrAPrR pApEn.

Newspaper and book publishers do not need any argument to convince them of the desirability of an unlim- ited supply of cheaper white paper. The price of this class of material has been advancing for several years, and is now at least twenty-five per cent higher than 1t was ten years ago. The discouraging feature about it is that it will keep advancing unless some new source of supply of crude material is found.
 Time was, as older people we'll re- member. when nearly or quite all the white paper in use was made from cot ton and linen rags. That time is past, except for the finer grades, and now the principal material used is wood. |. One of the best woods for stock is spruce, but various other kinds of trees are used for different grades of paper. But there is a limit to the timber supply, as all must see. So many uses are found for 1t and so vast the consumption that the supply is failing rapidly. Already some of our large paper making concerns have in- vaded Canada and bought up vast tracts of timber lands there to offset the diminished supply at home. But Cana da and the United States cannot sup- ply the demand many years, and manu- lecturers must look further. There is talk of getting at the vast forests of Vancouver, and of Brazil and other South American countries.
 But though such measures may for q time avert a paper famine. it can- not be for a long while, and the great misfortune is that as our own forests are absorbed and manufacturers have to go far afieId to get stock, the price of paper must keep advancing. It is this fact that is discouraging, and it is this that will cause consumers oi white paper to watch with interest the experiments now under way by which it Is promised that white paper of the best quality will be made from straw. as we learn from a recent arti- cle in The New York Commercial.
 Of course those who are even mod erateIy posted on the subject know that making paper out of straw is not a new industry. It has been done for years. and much of the coarser grades of paper is made from that material, but heretofore 1t has not been found practicable to make fine white paper of this stock. According to The Com- merciaI all the difficulties which have heretofore stood in the way of making fine white paper from straw are in a fair way to be eliminated, and this will soon form an ideal paper stock. The raw material can be supplied cheaply and the cost of manipulation is said to be very low, as compared with the cost of using wood pulp.
 It is easy to see the immense value of this invention if all that Is prom ised for it shall be realized. To stop the rapid destruction of the forests will be an almost incalculable gain, but that is only part of its value. The great good will be in cheaper paper and in finding an almost inexhaustible supply of paper material. It takes generation or more to raise trees large enough to be used as paper stock, but straw of various kinds can be raised each year and the supply will be i'm mense. We all know that millions of tons or WneatI OdtSt rye paFley ana other varieties of straw annually go to waste. but if the new process is fully successful, the straw will form a valuable asset for the farmer.
 What will be the result of thus using all the straw made on the farm and returning no part of 1t to the soil is a matter to be considered, of course. That such course may be detrimental is possible, and if So this will be the only real drawback attending the gen. eral use of straw paper. But even if this Is true, there will doubtless be a way found to offset any disadvantages of this kind. so that in future we may be assured of plentiful supply of white paper at reasonable prices. We imagine that it will be pleasant for the farmer who is eating bread made from his own grain to read a news paper made from his own straw.