Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1908-05-28
WOOD PULP SUBSTITUTE
One Who Invents 1t May Realize
Enormous Wealth.
Forests Are whitening Away under
the tremendous Consumption and
Some People Say q Paper FAM
Inc IL Eminent.

wood pulp for making paper, writes c.
F. Carter In the Sunday magazine sup
plement OF the New York Tribune may
realize from it wealth beyond the dreams |
OF avnrice. The forests from which the |
worlds paper supply is drawn are |
whitening so rapidly under the tremen- |
dous consumption that a paper famine is
believed to be imminent, says the Fourth |
Estate.
So grave is the situation that the |
| nited states government has establish |
ed an experimental laboratory at South |
Boston 10 try to find a substitute 70. |
wood pulp The British government, |
equally concerned over the outlook re-
Gently sent the most renowned paper
making chemists to India and Burma for
the same purpose.
Scores, perhaps hundreds. Of private
individuals are also eagerly engaged IN
the quest for paper making material. SO
TAR neither government nor private in
vestisators have made substantial prog
ress. Yet all the time the worlds con-
sumption Of paper increases. while the
forests diminish At the present time
he United States uses as much wood
for paper in one year as grows in the
forests in three
f"peT pays an extremely important
part in the worlds economy. II not only
serves man In the humber capacities of
newspa pers and bank checks but for
| bout every other use in life, from the
cradle to the coffin Napkins, car wheels,
stair ratings. furniture. tubs. buckets.
artificial flowers, lead pencils, stage set
| tings. building materials, and some hun
dreds OF other objects are made from
paper. Japanese soldiers cook their ra-
| tions In paper saucepans
The annual consumption Of paper af-
! fords a pretty fair gauge Of national de-
veopment. For instance. the United
states consumes 3713 pounds Of paper
per capita every year England s7.is
pounds, Germany 2a92 pounds. France
POS pounds. Argentina llA pounds, Japan
| 5.2s pounds and Russia 253 pounds
China uses only eeven-hundtedths Of
| pound.
To supply the United States with paper
| in 1905 required 3o43, $50 cords Of wood
3o4,5s5 tons OF straw, and sSo.442 tons Of
rags and waste paper. all Of which yield
ed product Of total value Of slss-
| 1896. 1t can readily be seen, therefore.
that there are millions in it for the man
1
| this tremendous demand
| About every vegetable product that has
ever been suspected If ha, ing a fiber
has been the subject of paper making ex-
periments. The sagebrush which covers
| so many thousand square miles OF the
arid West has been tried, but cannot be
utilized satisfactorily by any process
now known. Banana stalks have been
| tried also. So has ramle.
New York expert spent three or four
years studying the possibilities OF corn
| stalks for paper making, An excellent
| paper midway IN properties between that
| from rags and that from wood pulp Is
made by stripping off the hard outer
| shell OF the cornstalk and boiling II In
| Caustic soda The pitch cooked by Itself
Yields a parchment-lke paper. The en-
tire stalk except the nodes yields a
rather hard paper OF intermediate quail
! ity. But processes must be further de-
veloped before cornstalks can take the
place of wood pulp.
The same expert Is now studying
ba gasse. which is the residue of sugar
cane after the Juice has been pressed
out. Mills are now In operation In
Louisiana and Texas making lockwood
and pressboard papers from bagasse
mill in Michigan is making boxboard
| paper from peat In both these ma
terials the fibre Is so short that 1t is
necessary to mix old paper or wood
Il pulp with II in order to It, Corn
stalks seem to be the most promising
| material In this country at present. Per-
s.stent experiments have been made;
/ bat the results so far have not been sat
isfactory except to sundry promoters,
who have taken advantage of popular
Il credulity to sell stock. II once salts
factory process OF treating cotton stalks
can be found, vast possibilities will be
opened up: for It is estimated that TWEEN
ty-three million tons Of them are burned
or plowed under in the South annually.
Sindall. the British expert thought
ba mboo the most promising material he
could find in India and Burma, with rice
straw second. But both the character
and the length Of the fiber in bamboo
and rice straw preclude its use az
substitute for wood pulp unless some
revolutionary process for treating it can
be found.
Another English expert proposes to re-
turn to the first paper making material
papyrus. used by the Egyptians and the
old Romans. Unfortunately, the papyrus
supply Is too limited to be OF prime I'M
portance.
over in Germany they are reintroduc'
ing straw for paper making. In the last
II years the quantity Of straw used for
paper in the Fatherland has trebled. The
production OF paper from straw dates
back to 1900 The process was first used
In the United States In May, 1857, After
1850 the use OF straw began to decline.
owing to the competition OF wood pulp.
In Belgium. Holland and Italy the use
of straw for paper making ceased alto
gether years ago; but the stubborn Ger
mans stuck to 1t until they found out
how to simplify and improve the process
and now they ind this material specially
adapted to the manufacture OF fine
papers
The Germans were also snrewd enough
to begin replanting their forests a hun
bred and fifty years ago. so that their
supply Of wood pulp will be kept up in
definitely. The Japanese also had the
foresight to take up the care OF their
forests wears ago