The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1914-11-27
THE HAsKIN LETTER
CONCERNING PAPER
By Frederick J. Haslkin.

ID
Because you do rot write your let
ters on tablets OF clay like the anc-
lent Babylonians, you viii ind let
ter writing something more Of a lux
ury this winter than It has been in
the immediate past. For clay is
!. plentiful in these United States, but
| rags, owing to stoppage OF Euro
pead exports, are not And 1t is from
lrags-linen rags-that our best writ
ing paper is made So In still an
other direction, you will hnd, the war
is affecting you and your pocket
book.
On account OF the rag shortage,
prices Of bond, ledger and other pa
pers made wholly or In part 6roln
cloths have also materially advanced
and will continue to rise until rag
collections in Europe can be resum-
ed.
These, however, are but straws in.
dicating the. way in which the wind
Of the war have blown. Some Of the
big effects on the paper trade Of the
United States have been in other di-
rections, and incidentally, haye
taught the layman what a surprising
array Of substances is used in the
manufacture OF paper. The industry,
for instance, was materially affected
by interference with the exports Of
Scandinavian wood pulp, the shut
ting down Of the English china clay
mines, the stoppage OF shipment Of
anihne dyes from Germany, and the
falling off Of casein and bleaching
powder importations. II a:so selt :se
loss of importations Of such things
as old ropes, fax waste and woven
wire
But by far the most conspicuous
Of the European conflict was on the
news print paper situation. The very
cause whichs emit a flood Of extras"
over the country and SO increased the
demand for paper from 10 to 80 per
cent cut of simultaneously an i'm
portant part of the normal supply
Of its materials
Under the organization of the trade
under the present tariff law, Swed-
en-, Norway and Canada were send
ing US at the time Of the outbreak Of
the war considerable part OF the
ground wood pulps used in making
news print paper, and with the gem
eral upheaval the European supply
suddenly stopped. A news" famine
was thought to be imminent, but
with increased imports from Canada
and drafts on stored stocks the dam
ger period was passed Another in
teresting development has been the
arrival at eastern ports within the
last six weeks OF a few cargoes OF
pulp from our own Pacific coast
through the canal.
News paper Is made almost exclus-
lively from the pulp of spruce trees.
Some idea Of how vast Is the demand
Of the more than $500 daily newspa-
pers of the country for paper is in
dicated by the fact that one New
York daily requires for It's morning
edition of 415,000 copies 62 tons OF
paper; and this requires in turn all
the material in ten acres of ordinary
spruce forest. For a years supply
for this paper between 1000 ana
5000 acres Of forest must be denuded.
If only the annual growth Of spruce
were cut, between 100000 and 5000
acres Of forest would be required to
keep this single journal in paper.
In the whole United States about
5000 tons of news print paper Ii
used daily. From these figures the
fears OF foresters concerning spruce
exhaustion can be readily under
stood. In recent experiments the
forestry service has proved that jack
pine and hemlock produce excellent
pulp, and these woods will no doubt
soon be largely used.
OF paper manufactured domestic
ally, book paper leads with a value
of over 100000, 900 annually, and is
followed In order by news print,
wrapping and writing paper. Even
the seemingly weightless tissue paper
is turned out in sufficient quantity
I to reach total annual production
Of over $4,000 tons valued at nearly
$1O,O00.00o.
\ The process of manufacture Of pa
per consists in the reduction Of what
ever materials are used to fibrous
pulp in water, the addition Of "fill-
err and sizing materials, the feittng
or interlacing of the fibres as they
dry, and the application Of pressure.
Practically any substance containing
as much as thirty per cent Of cullu-
lose, the fibrous tissue OF plants, can
under appropriate treatment, be
utilized in the making OF paper.
Simple as the process seems, 1t was
not made use OF so far as Is known
until about los B. G. when the Chin
ese discovered the secret Their
knowledge OF papermaking was
spread into the near East by the
Arabs in the eighth century OF this
era, and was introduced by the Moors
into Spain in the eleventh century.
B. the fifteenth century paper was in
general use in Europe.
Rags we're used as the source Of
paper almost exclusively until after
the middle OF the last century when
the use of ground wood was begun.
This practice grew rapidly and made
possible the tremendous development
OF the cheap newspaper as we'll as
the expansion Of other coarse paper
branches of the industry. Wood pulp
is of three kinds; mechanically
ground wood, snlphite and soda fibre.