Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-09-21
Alaska and the Paper Famine
BY Frederic J. Haskin

Washington, D. c., Sept. 10. The
high price of paper Is one OF the really
important questions of the moment
Paper of all sorts is scarce and appar
emily getting scarcer. This Is especl
ally true of the paper that newspapers
and the cheaper magazines are PRINTED
on, which has scared In q manner DOM
parable to the sensational ascsnA1ons
performed by the prices Of dyes ano
chemicals. And paper today, especi
ally newsprint paper, is no luxury. IL
is necessity of our daily life.
The briefest consideration Shows
what a part paper plays in the modern
scheme Of things. You are contlnu
ally buying and using paper OF one
sort or another, from the time you ge1
up and read morning paper at break
fast to the time when you lay aside
your book or magazine and 60 to
sleep at night The amount of paper
that big city consumes in day Is
enormous. Raise the price OF paper
fifty or q hundred per cent, and q
score Of industries are vitally anected'
The price of paper has risen I'M
mensely since the European war be-
gan, due partly to higher costs OF Ger.
tain chemicals. but chiefly to the TACT
that trade with Norway and sweden
is disorganized, and from these coun-
tries we had been importing great
quantities of wood pulp for paper man
ufacture. If we have not felt the ef'
fects of the situation to any great ex'
tent so far, It is because the men who
use the paper in their business and
pay the bills have been holding on ana
hoping for a return to normal condl-
tons.
In the meantime, we are beginning
to economic on paper in every pos
sible way. More waste paper is being
saved and sold to be used over again
in manufacture than ever before. Ad-
verisers have actually been asked to
hold down the size of their advertise
ments in newspapers in order to use
as little paper as possible in getting
results. A congressional Investigation
into the price of paper has been held.
Some of the less wealthy periodicals
are appearing printed on paper OF new
and startling hue and surface. The
situation Is unprecedented IN the MS
tory Of the paper industry.
II all this Is simply result OF war
the general sentiment Is
that we shall just have to weather the
str1ngenoy as best we can and be
little more careful Of our paper. But
it has been suggested that the present
high prices are at least In part re-
suit Of increased demand as well as
of the cutting of Of foreign supplies:
In which case the end OF the war Will
not settle the question.
And this view, which has led us to
take stock Of our national resources,
has drawn attention to the immense
and little known stretches OF paper
material in Alaska. News print and
similar papers are made from wood
pulp. It is the steady depletion OF our
timber lands that makes US dependent
on foreign countries for any pulp
stock at all. And in southeastern
Alaska we have, on government land,
as the property of the nation, one OF
the greatest supplies Of raw material
for paper making In the world.
It Is only recently that any atten-
ton has been paid to these ALASKAN
national forests Great stretches OF
them are still to be explored. But we
know that they contain billions on bill
lions of feet Of virgin timber. Nature
seems to have laid them out especially
with view to keeping the American
public amply supplied with reading
matter. They are distinctly what lum-
bermen know as a pulp proposition. y
That is, they would naturally and nor
mally be worked for paper rather than
for lumber. The trees are large, often
running up to six feet In diameter, but
the quality of the wood is not the
highest for building purposes. They
are capable, however, of being worked
into a paper equal to the best.
Norway has made of herself large
exporter of pulp and pulp wood. She
has done this because her own natural
resources are not of the most varied
and on looking them over she found
that this particular industry was one
for which nature had fitted her. She
had great stretches of timber Of the
grade and species used in paper manu-
facture. She has large rivers plung'
ing down the steep grades from the
m curtains to the coast within few
miles and generating great power in
their flow. Her deep fjords run far in.
land up the sunken valleys Of these
rivers, go that deep sea vessels can
load at the very mills. And Norway
ships pulp wood not only to America
but through the Suez canal to India
and China.
Now in our own southeastern Alaska
territory we have these very condt