Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1916-05-18
PAPER AND RAGS
The World Confronting Paper Fam
inc And Why Prices Must Go
Higher.

paper. HIS SuUSLdnIG ~ PAO
duced commercially from cotton
and linen rags and from wood
pulp. Millions of tons of cellu-
lose are required annually to
supply che requirements OF the
! paper mills of the world.
In normal times sixty per
cent. Of the rags and forty per
cent. of the sulphite used for the
manufacture aof paper in the
United States is imported from
foreign countries.
But Cellulose is also the basis
of modern high explosives.
The Dupont Powder Mills
have installed an enormous bat
terry of beaters having a capaci-
ty Of any paper min in the Uni
ted States. They are paying
fabulous prices for rag stock
and commanding the first choice
of rags from all over the coun-
try.
/ What in normal times would
be the fibrous texture of fine pa
pers is now being converted into
ammunition for bomb and tor
pedo and howitzer and machine
gun.
Germany has confiscated the
entire supply of raw materials
for the manufacture of paper
4 within the confines of her en-
pire. Even the wood pulp of
Germany is now being converted
into explosives, sparing only
enough for the manufacture of
such amounts of paper as are
absolutely essential to domestic
requirements.
The government of Germany
has fixed the size limit which
the publisher of a newspaper in
the Empire may not exceed.
/ The German resident who would
buy daily paper can do so on
/ ly on condition that he surrend-
er the paper of the day before
to be returned to the paper mill,
cleaned and converted again in
to stock for the publication Of
future issues.
England, in times of peace,e x-
ports coal to Sweden and balan-
ces the account by importing
Swedish pulp. But with the out
break of the great war the Brit
ish Empire needed all her fuel
supply to operate her munition
plants and war ships.
4 Sweden, in retaliation, has re-
fused to ship pulp to Great Brit
on, and, owing to her shortage
of coal and the dangers and diff
ficulties of ocean traffic, she is
now shipping very little pulp to
/ the United tSates.
South America, Central Amer
lea, Australia, India, Africa and
many Of the European countries,
finding their usual sources of
supply closed to them, clamor to
the United States for relief and
find that our stock or raw ma
terials is SO nearly exhausted
that we can scarcely produce
enough paper to meet the re-
quirements of our own people.
The god of war has not only
appropriated the wood pulp and
cotton essential to the manu-
facture of paper but he has also
claimed for his destructive pur-
/ poses the bulk of available chem
icals of scarcely less impor-
lance.
Bleached sulphite (wood fl
bre) that formerly sold for$2.65
per cwt., now commands as high
as $500 per cwt. Bleaching
I powders that commonly sell for
little more than a cent pound
are unobtainable even at 13 cts.
Soda Ash, Rosin, Satin White,
Ceasein and Alum have doubled
and trebled in price. Aniline
Colors that the paper manufac-
turer commonly buys for forty
I cents per pound are now difficult
to obtain even at $4,000 per h.
Every article that enters m
to the production of paper has
advanced in price and is still
bound to advance to even higher
prices. Labor, now feeling the
stimulus of war orders, COM
mands more that the same grade
of labor could command before
the war.
There is no immediate posi-
bility of a speery return to nor