Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1908-01-08
COST OF PAPER
STEADILY UPWARDS
AND A GREAT SHORTAGE OF
PULP SUPPLY THREATENED.
TIMELY BULLETIN ISSUED
Carload of Print Paper Now Costs
$1,000 Where Only One Year Ago
II Could Be Bought for Ssoo-Big
Duty on Pulp and Paper-Some in
teresting Data.

Washington, d. c., Jan. "A cir
cular just issued by the forest service
contains a timely discussion of the
consumption of pulpwood in 1906.
There is general complaint among
publishers that printing paper is con
stantly growing dearer. In the mid
die west many local papers are rails
ing their subscription price so per
cent in order to pay for the paper.
From the time when GUTENBERG first
used movable type, made of wood, to
the present day of metropolitan pa
pers, some of which consume the pro
duct of acres of spruce in a single
gree depended upon the forest.
In the face of threatened shortage
of timber, the amount of wood con-
sumed each year for pulp has in
to three and a half million cords. The
year 1906 marked an increase of
$4,000 cords in the imports of pulp
wood, the highest average value per
cord for all kinds, and a consumption
greater by 469,05S cords than that of
any previous year.
Spruce. the wood from which in
1899 three-fourths of the pulp was
manufactured, is still the leading
wood, but it now produces little less
than 20 per cent of the total How
well spruce is suited to the manufac-
ture of pulp is shown by the fact that
during a period in which the total
quantity of wood used has doubled and
many new woods have been intro
duced the proportion of spruce pulp
wood has remained nearly constant in
spite of the drains upon the spruce
forests for other purposes. During
this time three different woods, from
videly separated regions, have in
turn held the rank of leader in the
mmher supply.
Since 1899 poplar, which for years
was used in connection with spruce to
the exclusion of all other paper woods
has increased in total quantity less
than 100000 cords, and is now out
ranked by hemlock Pine. balsam and
cottonwood are used in much smaller
amounts.
New York alone consumes each
year over million and a quarter
cords OF wood in the manufacture of
pulp, or more than twice as much as
Maine. which ranks next. Wisconsin,
New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and
Michigan follow in the order given.
Sixty per cent of the wood used in
New York was imported from else
where. and even so the supply appears
to be waning, since the total consump-
ton for the state shows a small de-
crease since 1905, whereas the other
states named have all increased their
consumption. Other states import
ant in the production of pulp are:
Massachusetts, Minnesota, Ohio, Ore
gon, Vermont. Virginia and West
Virginia.
The average cost of pulp delivered
at the mill was 1921 The total value
of the wood consumed in 1906 was $780,
100000. The chief item determining
, the price of paper is the cost of pulp.
An example of the increased price of
paper is found in the case of a pub
, Usher of daily in the middle west,
who recently pair $1,000 for carload
! of paper. The same quantity and
grade of paper cost year ago but
$500.
The chemical processes of paper
making, which better preserve the
wood fiber, are gaining over the me-
chanical process. In 1899, 65 per cent
of the wood was reduced by the me-
chanical process; in 1906, less than so
per cent.
All importations of wood pulp are
from Canada, and comprised, despite
u heavy duty in 1906, $4,000 cords.
nearly all of which was spruce. Four
and a half million dollars worth of
pulp was imported in 1906, a slight
falling off from 1905.