Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1908-01-02
Wood in Paper Taking.

Today there is general complaint
among publishers that printing paper
is consGauttIy growing dearar Ia
the Middle West many local papers
are raising their subscription price so
per cont IN order 70 pay for the pap
or. From the time when Gutenberg
first used movable type. made Of wood.
to the present day Of metropolitan
papers some OF which consume Dbe
product Of acres Of spruce in q single
edition, printing has i'll very large de-
gree depended upon the forest
in the face of threatened shortage
of timber, the amount Of wood con
med each year for pulp las increas-
ed since 1899 from two million to
three and one-half million cords, The
year 1906 marked an increase of 90, 600
cords in the imports of pulpwood,
highest average value per cord for all
kinds, and n consumption greater by
469, 0j3 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 70 per cont. of tile total How
we'll spruce is suited to the mauufac-
ture of pulp is shown by the fact thar
during peri d ich The total
quantity Of wood used has doubled
aud 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, wide.
ly separated regions. have in turn
held the ranl, of leader in the lumber
supply.
Since 1899, the 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 100 900 cords. and
S now outianked by hemlock Pine
balsam, and cottonwood are used in
much smaller amounts.
New York alone consumes each wear
over a million and 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 Mich.
igau follow in the order given. Six
ty per cent. of the wood used in New
York was imported from elsewhere
and even so the Supn'y appears 70 be
waning, since thu total consumption
for the state shows small decrease
since 1905. whereas the other sta'es
named have all increased their cnu-
sumption Other states important III
the production of pulp are Massaelu-
sets, Minnesota, Ohio. Oregon Ver.
mont, Virginia amt West Virginia.
The average cost Of pulp delivered
at the mill was sal The total val
ne of the wood consumed in 1906 was
S26 400 600. The chief item deterruin.
lug tnc price OF paper is the cost uf
pulp An examnle Of the increased
price Of paper is found in tho caea If
n publisher of daily in the Middle
West. who recently paid 81 200 fora
carload of paper. The same quantity
anl grade of paper cost a Year ago
but $500
The chemical processes of paper
liking which better preserve the
wood dbre, are gaining over the mech
anical process In 1899, 65 per cent.
Of the wood was reduced by the mech
anical process; in 1906 less than so
per cent
All importations of wood for pulp
are from Canada, and comprised. in
1906, 739 600 cords nearly all of which
was spruce. Four and half million
dollars worth of pulp was imported
in 1906, slight falling off from 1905