Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-01-16
CONSUMPTION OF PAPER.
Actual Output Heavy As Entire Popu.
lation of Country.

Enough paper is manufactured in
the United States yearly to give every
inhabitant his weight in the product.
This Is based on the estimate that the
average weight of the people, counting
men. women and little children, is
about 100 pounds. More than 25.OOO,-
900 pounds of paper are made in the
United States every day.
Mountains are denuded, millions of
pounds of resin, thousands Of tons of
sulphur, shiploads of China clay, tons
of dye, countless pounds of caustic
soda and bales of old rags by the hun
dred thousand are used to make the
paper required by the people Of the
United States. says the New York
American. More paper Is used In this
country than by all the nations of
Europe and Africa combined.
And at that, 1t Is all the mills,
which grind away day and night, can
do to keep up with the demand. AS
matter of fact If the mills should
per in the United States to last week
some firms would be crippled with
in twenty-four hours.
Paper is made from wood and from
rags In machines which cost some
times as much as $450,000. which ex-
plains the reason more poor men do
not enter into the business. After
saving the money to buy the machine
with, the future paper maker must
select a site. which should be located
where there is an unlimited supply of
pure water.
If he ID going to manufacture for
newspapers, the bagging trade, wrap
ping paper building and the thousand
and one other kinds that are manu-
factured from wood, he must be near
a forest. which must be somewhere
above the mill and he must see to It
that the stream near which his mill
Is built Is deep enough to float the logs
down.
The logs are sawed into chunks
about a foot long and then mashed
and afterward cut up into splintery
little chips. These chips are boiled In
caustic soda and the natural cement
in the wood Is destroyed, leaving moth
ing but pulp. Squeezed out and dried,
per that the butcher puts around 10
cents worth of round steak-if you
have the 10 cents.
This must be bleached to make print
or newspaper, and sulphate and a
weak solution of glue must be added
to give 1t strength. for the great press
es pull it rapidly over a complicated
set of rollers and angle bars, cylinders
and formers.
Then a bit of resin must be added
to each ton, to give 1t glaze. and also
1t must be colored slightly, according
to the shade desired. The pulp is fed
over an apron to the first set Of rolls,
like so much mush and milk, and to
succeeding sets Of cylinders. each a
little warmer until 1t is squeezed down
to the point where 500 sheets, say 35
by "A inches, will weigh 81 pounds.
1t Is made in different weights. The
process Is about the same in all grades.
If the paper Is to be fiat 1t Is counted
and placed in bundles, If in big rolls.
it passes over number of rollers high
above the machine, to air dry it in its
passage to the rolls, before being
wound around the core. Usually a
roll contains something like five miles
Of .paper-depending altogether on
the weight Of the paper, or stock, as
1t Is called.
Rag paper Is made from rags, the
process, with variations being much
the same, the addition Of more sizing.
to give 1t smoother and harder sur
face. as in the case Of writing paper,
which may in turn be supersiZed, or
which may be filled with substance
known as China clay--a pure and
white mineral, so soft that 1t may be
rubbed over annealed gold without
scratching 1t.
The finer the grade of work. the
more clay is used.
Surface is given to it by polishing
between heated rolls, and some papers
are so stiff from the process that they
crack in bending. This Is called
enameled paper.
Different sizing is required, depend
ing on the use to which the paper Is
to be subjected. The cheaper writing
paper is made Of wood, some rag is
added as the price ascends. until the
paper reaches a point where 1t is all
made of rag.
Pure linen paper Is so expensive
that only the rich use 1t. 1t is used
for bonds. banknotes and similar work
and high grade stationery. In the
cheap grades there is an imitation of
linen that looks and feels like it. in
what is known as cloth finish" stock,
the lines of a piece of linen being
faithfully reproduced from special
set of rolls for that purpose.
Some people prefer it to the much
more serviceable and perfectly smooth
surface of the same grade and weight
and will even tell you that the cloth
finish is better, though it is made from
the same pulp and on the same ma
chine. What the average man does
( m