The daily sentinel., 1908-01-01
HIGHER STILL
GOES THE PRICE
The PLAIN WHILE PAPER
Used by the Thousands of Newspapers
Higher Than Ever Known-SubsCnpiiOn
Prices Go Up-Some Reasons for the
Constant Increase in Price Of Paper.

Today there is general complaint
among the publishers that printing
paper is constantly growing dearer
III the middle west many local pa
pers are raising 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 papers. some of which
consume the product of acres of
spruce in single edition, printing
has III very large degree depended
upon the forest.
In the face of n threatened short
age of timber. the amount Of wood
consumed each year for pulp has in
creased since 1899 from 100000
to 100000 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 469,053 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 n little
less than 20 per cent of the total.
HOW Mtll SUl uNt Is SAlAiti " AAAN man
ufacture of pulp is shown by the fact
that during a period in which the to-
tai quantity of wood used has dou
bled and many new woods have beer.
introduced, the proportion of spruce
pulp wood has remained nearly con
stant in spite of the drains upon the
spruce forests for other purposes.
During this time three different
woods. from widely separated re-
gions, have in turn held the rank OF
leader in the lumber 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 quantl-
ty less than 100, 900 cords, and is
now outranked by hemlock. Pine.
balsam and cottonwood are used Ia
much smaller amounts.
New York alone consumes each
year over a million and a quarter
cords of wood in the manufacture of
pulp, or more than twice as much as
Maine, which ranks next. Wiscon-
sin, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania
and Michigan follow in the order Civ
en-. Sixty per cent of the wood used
in New York was imported from else
where, and even so the supply ap-
I
consumption for the state shows a
small decrease since 1905, whereas
the other states named have all in
/ increased their consumption. Other
states important in the production
of pulp are Massachusetts, Minneso-
ta. Ohio, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia
and West Virginia.
The average cost of pulp delivered
at the mill was S7.21. The total
value of the wood consumed in 1906
was S26, 400 900. The chief item de-
termining the price of paper Is found
in the case of a publisher of daily
in the middle west, who recently paid
81 200 for n car load of paper The
same quantity and grade OF pnpe"
cost a year ago but $500.
The chemical processes of paper
making, which better preserve the
wood fiber. are gaining over the me-
chanical process. In 1893, G5 per
cent of the wood was reduced by the
mechanical process; in 1906, less
than so per cent.
All importations of wood for pulp
are from Canada. and comprised, in
1906, 10000 cords, nearly all OF
which was spruce. Four and a half
million dollars worth of pulp was
imported in 1906, slight falling off
from 1905.
Circular 100 of the forest service
contains discussion of the consump-
tion of pulp wood in 1906, based on
rtatistics gathered by the bureau of
the census and the forest service.
The pamphlet can be had upon appli-
cation to the Forester, United States
Department of Agriculture, Wash
ington, d. G.