The Elk Mountain pilot., 1917-11-15

X/YVS0NHNV0U extra eultlOn almost every HOur,
ulA/kX0yG&EHIu In the bigger cities of the coun-
xSS1SzG0n.1S2y try. Like griddle cakes, like
them only when they're hot, and
the wonderful pictorias for which the world has
been scanned by the editors, are thrown aside
after cursory examination.
Did you ever stop to think of the time when this
incessant demand for the print paper may not be
met? Already we hear of the rapid increase in the
price of pulp, which is reaching stage where
many of the smaller publications of the country
will have to go out of business. Even the bigger
ones are feeling the pinch, and some raising
their prices, others reducing the number of pages,
and still others are making the advertiser pay.
The newspapers have not been the only ones to
euner by pulp shortage, for book publishers, too,
have had their worries. In fact al users of paper,
down to the schoolboy with his tablet, have had to
pay more for an inferior quality of paper than was
the case n year or two ago.
In 1914. used about 5000 tons of newsprint
every day. Our present use has reached G,OOO
tons day. and the demand is increasing ut the
rate OF about 10 per cent year, which Is greatly
In excess of the rate of increase in population.
To supply our presses with newsprint requires
annually about 100000 cords of pulp wood. To
meet requirements for magazines and book
papers. stationery and business papers of all
kinds 1000 600 cords more of pulp wood
sumed annually Production barely keeps up this
consumption, for while 1t is estimated the news
papers will need about SSS 900 tons for the first
six months of this year, the estimated supply is
fixed ut $4,000 tons.
But few years ago this country was able to
supply all of Its own needs and In addition fur
nish paper to foreign countries. but that time has
passed Now we must depend upon Canada for
at least third of domestic supply and this
percentage is rapidly increasing.
Our forefathers and fathers, looked
about them. and apparently endless and In
exhaustble supplies of forest trees. The wood
man not told to spare that tree" and they
ruthlessly. sometimes wantonly. destroyed.
Where one tree was utilized for commercial pur-
poses two trees allowed to remain they
fell, only to rot away be burned in the first
forest fire that swept over the devastated
Today this policy has resulted in privately
owned supply of pulp woods being exhausted
that not more than Is years supply remains.
Serious the situation appears to be, there is
cause for alarm, II we wake up to our duty
to conserve remaining supply. There Is
enough pulp wood In our national forest to meet
the future needs of this country, and II we pur
sue n systematic course In avoiding waste in our
wood manufacturing plants and encourage the
reforestnton of cut-over lnnds (of which
there 70,0OO,OOO acres In the northern states
alone) could easily supply the world.
BY following the correct practices of forestry.
and by conserving our supply the publicly owned
timber in the United States will last indefinitely.
The forest service has estimated that there
are in the national forests at least 3OO,OOOOOO0OO
feet of pulp wood. This Is equivalent to GOO OOO,
900 cords. and for all kinds of paper we use but
100000 cords n year. This estimate does not
include the pulp wood available privately
owned lands of the West.
Practically all of pulp is Mt present made
from northern woods, where stumpage costs run
from S2.50 to SIS per cord standing in the forest.
In the West timber suitable for the manufacture
of pulp ranges in price from % cents to S125
per cord. The fact that these vast supplies In
the West have not yet been developed is due to
several causes. Lack of transportation has been
n big handicap and then the large investments
tied up in the paper mills preclude their move
ment while 1t is possible to secure timber nearer
at hand even at vastly higher prices.
From the standpoint of geographical location
and transportation to the majority of the paper
users in the central and eastern states. The
Western paper woods fall into two broad belts.
The first is available to tidewater shipments from
the Pacific coast. lying principally on the west
slope of the Cascade mountains In Oregon and
Washington, including vast tributary to
Puget sound and running up along the senboard
in southensterly Alaska. There are 1O,OOOOOO,-
600 feet of spruce and hemlock in the national
forests OF Alaska alone. In many respects the
conditions found in Alaska duplicate those of
Norway. the leading country of the world in the
paper industry. 1t Is said by those who have
studied the country that the forest of Alaska Will
produce more wealth for the United States than
even her gold her coal. vast and valuable as
are those commodities.
The second timber belt of Western paper woods
extends through the northern Rocky mountains,
from the Canadian line into Colorado and Utah,
This belt shut or from water transportation can
hardly he considered practical source OF supply
of paper for the eastern states but is n logical
storehouse of raw materials for the paper re-
ouirements of the Mississippi valley. The Rocky
mountains contain number of excellent paper
woods and with proper development should sup
ply both the paper required for local cons'hp-
eion and that necessary to replace the dimtpish-