Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-03-03
NEWSPAPERSHELP
us. IN SEARCH
FOR PULP WOODS
Enormous Demand for Paper
Proves Heavy Drain on Spruce
and Substitutes Are Desired

A recent issue of the New York Her
aid Is printed ON paper made from
woods which have not been used here
tofore for news print paper.
The sheet which newspaper read
ers hold in their hands each day is
made of wood. II one looks closely
the little wood fibers can be seen, es-
pecially in the margins where printing
does not obscure them. The larger
part of the wood so used is ground
UP, while some of it is reduced by the
action of chemicals. The chemical
pulp has the longer fibers and GER
tain proportion of it Is added to the
ground wood to give the finished pa
per the required toughness.
Spruce the Best Pulp Wood.
Spruce, abundant in the New Eng
lank and lake states and in Canada,
has heretofore been the standard wood
for making news print paper and as
long as there was a supply sufficient
to meet the needs of the paper indus
try there was no reason to seek SUBJ
stitutes. But heavy inroads have been
made On the spruce forests of the
western part of the United States in
this day Of great circulations and
large editions, especially OF Sunday
papers with their many parts. On a
rough estimate, newspaper with an
average circulation of $4,000 copies
and an average edition OF 20 pages,
uses each day the product Of about
four acres of forest. When this figure
is multiplied by the great number of
newspapers published in the United
States, many of them with much larg-
er editions, and when this is further
multiplied by 365, because many pa
pers are issued every day of the year,
lit can be seen that the drain upon
the forests is enormous. Foresters
say that even under the most approved
methods known to their profession, it
Ecould scarcely be expected that spruce
would be able to hold its own. but
would need supplementing by other
material.
1t is but natural, therefore, that pa
per manufacturers are looking for new
sources of supply which will furnish
AN abundance of wood pulp, at price
which will not be prohibitive. Pop
lar and few other woods are used, but
they do not go very far.
Forest Service Seeks New Woods.
In the national forests there are
many woods considered inferior by
for purchase at low rates and many
/ of the timber stands are readily ac-
lcessible. The forest service, in its de-
sire to utilize to the best advantage all
| of the resources of the federal TIM
Der holdings, has been seeking proper
uses for these trees and has expert
mented in making pulp from them at
! its pulp laboratory at Wausau, Wis,
| an auxiliary OF the forest products
Laboratory at Madison The Wausau
Laboratory is equipped with standard
machinery and all experiments are
carried out under conditions which
duplicate commercial practice.
AS final test of the value of some
lof these new woods under practical
conditions, arrangements were mace
between the forest service and the
Herald to print some part of its edt
ton on paper made from various
woods that showed promise as substf-
tutes for spruce, These woods were
ground at the Wausau laboratory; the
product was then mixed with the US.
ual proportion of chemical pulp and
made into news print paper, rolls OF
which were sent to New York for the
experimental run.
Need of Practical Test.
The new woods must fulfil many
conditions as to color, finish, and
strength. In these trial runs, most of
the paper is made from various west
ern frs, which show considerable
promise. but the investigators do not
consider their test complete until they
have subjected the paper to actual
printing conditions.
In addition to their interest in find
ing new uses for 1ittle-used woods,
federal forest officers naturally desire
to keep the newsprint paper manu-
featuring industry within the United
States. They therefore seek to pre-
sent the opportunity offered by many
of the woods on the national forests
where there is supply of cheap wood
available for many years to come.
/ Other woods have been tried for
pulp by the forest products laboratory
and other newspapers will make ex
detrimental runs of the paper. Any
one interested in this experiment, OF
lin other wood pulp tests carried on by
the forest service, can secure exact
information by writing to the forest
products laboratory at Madison, Wis
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