Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-02
PRINTING PAPER is
GROWING DEARER
LACK OF LUMBER CAUSES IN-
CREASE IN COST
Three and one-HaIf Million Cords Of
Wood Used Each Year In
Making Paper for Use
of Journals

Today there is general complaint among
publishers that printing paper Is con
stantly growing dearer. In the middle
west many local papers are raising their
subscription price so per cent in order 10
pay for the paper. From the time when
Gutenberg first used movable type, mace
of wood. to the present day of metropoli-
tan papers. some of which consume the
product Of acres of spruce in single
edition. printing has in very large degree
depended upon the forest.
In the face of a threatened shortage
of timber the amount of wood consumed
each year for pulp has increased since
1899 from 100000 to 3,500,000 cords. The
year 1906 marked an increase of $1,000
cords in the imports of pulpwood, the
highest average value per cord for all
kinds, and consumption greater by 46s,-
953 cords than that of any previous year.
Spruce, the wood from which in 1899
three-fourths of the pulp was manufac-
tured is still the leading wood, but 1t
now produces a little less than 10 per
cent of the total How we'll spruce is
suited to the manufacture of pulp is
shown by the fact that during period in
which the total quantity of wood used
has doubled and many new woods have
been introduced, the proportions of spruce
pulpwood has remained nearly constant
in spite of the drains upon the spruce
forests for other purposes. During this
time three different woods, from widely
separated regions, 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 quantity less than 1OO,-
600 cords, and is now outranked by hem
lock, Pine, balsam and cottonwood are
used in 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. Wisconsin. New Hampshire
Pennsylvania and Michigan follow in the
order given. Sixty per cent of the wood
used in New York was imported from
elsewhere, and even so the supply APP
pears to be waning. since the total con-
sumption for the state shows small de-
crease since 1905, whereas the other states
named have all increased their consump-
ton. Other states important in the pro-
duction of pulp are Massachusetts, Min
nesota, Ohio, Oregon. Vermont, Virginia
and West lrginia.
The average cost of pulp delivered at
the mill was 1921. The total value Of the
wood consumed in 1906 was S26, 400 900. 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 publisher of a daily in the mid
die west. who recently paid $1,000 for a
carload of paper. The same quantity and
grade of paper cost a year ago but $500.
The chemical processes of paper maxi
ing, which better preserve the wood fiber,
are gaining over the mechanical process.
In 1899 60 per cent of the wood was re-
duced by mechanical process; in 1906 less
than so per cent.
All importations of wood for pulp are
from Canada and comprised, in 1896, 1885,,
600 cords. nearly ali 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 con-
tains a discussion of the consumption of
pulpwood in 1906, based on statistics
gathered by the bureau Of the census and
the forest service. The pamphlet can be
had upon application to the Forester
United States Department of Agriculture
Washington. D. c.