The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-22
MATCH MAKERS ARE
 GROWING UNEASY Decreasing Supply of Material Worries Manufacturers HISTORY OF THE INDUSTRY Americans Use 100000, ,ooo, ,ooo Matches Year, Which Is About Half
 That Are Manufactured
 In the World.
HISTORY OF THE INDUSTRY

From the Boston Transcript
 It is perhaps more characteristic of Americans than of any other people to hold small things in contempt, forgetting that little drops of water, little grain of sand' constitute the planet we inhabit. match is small and insignificant af- fair, yet multiplied as it has been in this county and the rest of the civilized world 1t has been one of the most potential agents of modern material development. It has come into use at a late day in the worlds history. There are many living among us still who can remember when the flint and finder were the regu- lar means of starting a fresh fire, and the old one was carefully preserved by burying the embers night after night to he revived in the morning. It is so years ago the present year that the iucifer match, the first genuine friction match, was invented, and even that re- quired an attachment of bent sandpaper to produce the desired results
 It is hard for the present generation to to realize the inconvenience from which the friction match emancipated their ances- tors. The manufacture of this product has become great and even a somewhat diversified industry. Because every section seems to have matches peculiar to itself. man who has been a commercial traN- eer for many years tells us that if he were taken up and carried to any point east of the Alleghanies he could tell within hundred miles of where he was by the catches he should find in use. There is also a national pride in matches. A recent mayor of Manchester, England. visiting friends in Boston few days ago. spoke very highly of our "abominable matches,' and declared that he did not see how high-spirited, independent and enterprising people like ourselves put up with them.
 The American people, however, ap- pear to be fairly well contented with the home product else they would not buy and consume so many with compara- lively so little grumbing. They use LID UooOo.OO0,OOO year or about half of all that are manufactured in the world There are hundreds of factories scattered over the country, one plant on the Pa clfic coast covering 240 acres and oper- ating over 20 miles of railroad over which is carried to it daily 100000 feet of sugar pine and yellow pine logs for the match machines. Inferior lumber will not do. 1t must be straight-grained and free from knots and carefully treated in ad- dtion. The by-product goes into larger things. The factory on the Pacific coast referred to turns out as this by-product a thousand doors and 500 window sashes daily. In single year one match com pany in the lake region cut 225, 900 900 board feet of pine, though that was in- tended for more than years product
 It Is no wonder, when we consider these figures. that the matchmakers are becom- ing anxious. And that is true in other countries as well as our own. In Ger many and France there Is a movement to have forests planted just for match tim Der. and We may soon face a famine in match wood in this country for not all kinds can be used for that purpose. It may also happen that invention may develop something that will take the place of matches. It is not probable that the limit of progress has been reached in the means of producing fire at need. There is no Promotheap penalty for the man who shall made the discovery, but rather welcome and reward by his eager fellow men.