Albuquerque citizen., 1908-01-03
NEWS PRINT IS
STILL GOING
Up
SCdrCltylOf Timber May Put
PrOhibitive Price on
Paper.

Under the heading. Wood for Pa
per Costs Twenty-siX Milious-The
Publisher Pays Much More for His
Stock Than He Did Last Year the
forest service of the department Of
agriculture has issued a circular Civ
sing the following facts:
To-day there is general complaint
among publishers that printing paper
is constantly growing dearer. In the
middle west many papers 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 in very large degree de-
pended upon the forest.
Shortage of Timber.
In the face of a threatened short
age Of timber the amount of wood
consumed each year for pulp has in
creased since 1889 from two million
TO three and one-half million
pounds The year 1906 marked an
increase of $4,000 cords in the i'm
ports Of pulpwood, the highest aver
age 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 il now produces a little
less than 40 per cent of the total.
How well spruce is suited to the
manufacture of pulp is shown by the
fact that during the period in which
the total quantity of wood used has
doubled and many new woods have
been introduced the proportion of
spruce pulpwood has remained near
1y constant in spite of the drains
upon the spruce forests for other
purposes During this time three
different woods, from widely separ-
ated regions, have in turn held the
rank OF leader in the lumber sup
ply.
Since 1892 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 outranked by hemlock. Pine,
balsam, and cottonwood are used in
much smaller amounts.
Great New York Consumption.
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. Wis
consin, New Hampshire, Pennsylva-
MIA, and Michigan follow in the or
der given Sixty-seven per cent of
the wood used in New York was i'm
ported from elsewhere, and, even so,
the supply appears to be waning.
since the total consumption of the
state shows a small decrease since
1906, whereas the other states
named have all increased their con-
sumption. Other states important in
the production of pulp are Massachu-
sets. Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon, Ver-
mont, Virginia, and West Virginia.
The average cost of pulp deliv-
cred at the mill was $7.2l. The to-
tai value of the wood consumed in
1906 was $26, 100000. The chief
item determining the price of paper
Is the price of pulp. An example of
the increased price of paper is found
in the case of a publisher of a daily
in the middle west, who recently
paid $1,000 for a carload of paper.
The same quantity and grade of pa
per 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 1899, 65 per
cent of the wood was reduced by
mechanical process; in 1906 less than
SO per cent.
'All importations of wood for pulp
are from Canada. and comprised in
1906, $4,000 cords, nearly all of
which was spruce. Four and a half
million dollars worth of pulp was
imported in 1906, slight falling off
from 1906"