Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-11-05

a. commercial competitor nut eei :
tain conditions have rendered IT neces-
sary for the government to install. III
one of the bureaus in Washington, a
practical paper-making plant, in when
can be manufactured all the various
grades of paper that are made and sold
in American markets.
Chief among these conditions is the
fact that the manufacture of paper.
ancient industry that it is. is not yet
a science: rather it is a hit or miss.
rule of thumb process in practically
every paper manufacturing establish
ment in the United States if not the
world
And il is to reduce the industry to
scientifically exact basis-to StandardiZe
the making of paper. as ii were-that
Uncle Sam has gone into the business.
and has set up. at the bureau OF
standards an up-to-date. completely
equipped paper-makin- plant in charge
of a practical. trained. scientific paper
maker. who knows how paper is made.
how it should be made. why it should
be made SO. and who sees to 1t that
every pound of paper that is made to
be sold to the government for use at
the big government printing Office Is
made in the proper manner
:. X
charge of this new branch of the gov
ernment's work. Under his supervision
all paper tests are made and all the
operations of the paper mill'' are car
ried on. This work does not by any
means form all of the labors in charge
of Mr.. Lewis. who also has charge of the
testing of textiles. such as wools ETC..
but 1T bids fair soon to require his
undivided attention, and to become
most important phase of governmental
activity along the line of standardization
Of various materials.
Years ago all paper was manufactured
from some sort of rag stock. linen or
cotton predominating. Then the fact was
discovered that ii is possible to make
paper from wood pulp. and that such
paper can be made far more cheaply than
il is possible to make it from rags. So
that wood pulp paper, in very large de-
gree, supplanted rag paper: the news
paper and the low priced magazine became
possible. and paper making deteriorated to
a point when not only the permanence of
the current NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. and
periodical--was threatened. but also that
Of unreplaceable public and official dOcu-
ments. Now, ii might be no vsrS-seriouS
matter if. fifty years from now, the files
of preSent-day newspapers and magazines
should be found to have crumbled into
dust: but to have the same thing occur
ia the records of Congress and TO all the
many important public documents. writ
ten and printed, would be a catastrophe
the seriousness of which could scarcely be
estimated. The fact that newspaper files
Of fifty years ago. when rag stock was
used altogether. are in better condition
than are the files of twenty or fifteen
years ago, after the use of wood pulp
paper had become general is ample proof
of the fact that better grades of paper
are necessary. and that to insure the pro-
duction of these better grades a stand
ard must be established and paper max
ing placed on a scientific basis. such as
II had never known before.
Paper is divided into two general
classes-wood pulp and rag. This does not
include the manila papers, straw boards
and papers made from straw and various