The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1908-01-03
WOOD FOR PAPER COSTS
TWENTY SIX MILLIONS.
The Publisher Pays M u c h
More For His Stock Than
He Did Last Year.

Today there is general com
plant among publishers that
printing paper is constantly grow
ing deareT In the Middle West
many local papers are raising
their Subscription price 90 per
cent. in order to pay for the
psper. From the time when Gu.
tenberg first used movable type,
made of wood, to tbs present
day of metropolitan 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 threatened
shortage Of timber, the amount
of wood consumed each year for
pulp has increased since 1899
from 2 million to 81 million cords.
The year 1906 marked an increase
of $4,000 cords in the imports Of
pulpwood the highest average
value per cord for all kinds, and
a consumption greater by 469,O53
cords than that of any previous
year.
Spruce, the wood from which
in 1899 threefourths of the pulp
was manufactured, is still the
leading wood, but it now pro.
duces a little less than 20 per
cent. of the total How well
spruce is suited to the manufact-
ure of pulp is shown by the fact
that during period in which the
total quantity of wood has been
doubled and many new woods
have been introduced, the pro
portion of spruce pulp wood has
remained nearly constant in spite
of the drains upon the spruce
forests for other purposes. Dur
ing this time three different
woods, from widely separated
regions, have in turn held the
rank of leader in the lumber sup.
ply.
Since 1899, poplar, which for
years was used in connection
with spruce to the exclusion of
all other paper woods, has in.
creased in total quantity less than
100, 900 cords, and is now out
ranked by hemlock. Pine, bal
sam, and cottonwood are used in
much smaller amounts.
New York alone consumes each
year 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 Hamp-
shire. Pennsylvania and Mich
igan follow in the order given.
Sixty per cent. of the wood used
in New York was imported from
elssw here, and even so the sup
ply appears to be waning, since
the total consumption for the
State shows small decrease
since 1905, whereas the other
States named have increased
their consumption. Other States
important in the production of
pulp are: Massachusetts,, Mime
sota. Ohio, Oregon. Vermont.
Virginia, and West Virginia.
The average cost of the pulp
delivered at the mill was 1921.
The total value of the wood con.
sumed in 1906 was $26. 400, 900.
The chief item determining the
cost of paper is the cost of pulp.
An example OF the increased
price of paper is found in the
case or publisher of a daily
paper in the Middle West, who
recently paid $1,000 for a car
load of paper. The same guam.
tity and grade of paper cost a
year ago but $500.
The chemical processes of
paper making, which better pre-
serve the wood fiber, are gaining
over the mechanical process. In
1899, So per cent. OF the wood
was reduced by the mechanical
process; in 1906 less than 90 per
cent.
All impOrtations OF wood for
pulp are from Canada, and com
prised, 1906, 739, 200 cords, nearly
all Of which was spruce. Four
and a half million dollars worth
of pulp was imported in 1896, a
slight falling off from 1905.
Circular 120 Of the Forest Ser
vice contains q discussion of the
consumption of pulp wood in
1906, based on statistics gathered
by the Bureau of the Census and
the Forest Service. The pam
phlet can be had upon applica-
ton to the Forester, United
States Department of Agriculture,
Washington, ID. @.