The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-04-29

1 to go out of existence during the pres ent year, and the expenses of the larger journals will be enormously increased. For instance, one newspaper of Chicago uses about 40,000 tons of white paper per annum. The increase in cost over 1916 will be about $25 per ton, making an in crease in expense of more than S1, 600 900 per annum. I have met a number ot newspaper publishers who have told me that the, increase in the cost of their publications this year from white paper alone will be from $50000 to $100, 600, and as this additional cost brings no addi- tional profit, 1t will be seen that the situation is most serious one.
 MT. Graves, the United States for ester, tells me that vast amount of pulp material is wasted in the manu- facture of lumber. He says at least one-fourth of the usable volume of the average tree is left in the woods and less than half of the material in the logs Is made into lumber The waste in one year Is equal to more than 60, = 0oo,0o0 cords, and & large part of this is in soft woods that could be used in the manufacture of paper In addition, there are new kinds of wood that can be used to make paper, and there is a vast suppry of timber in the national forests fitted for pulp wood which will warrant the Cht4f reservations.
 Said MT Graves: I've have in the na- tional forests several hundred billion feet of soft wood that might be used in the manufacture of pulp We have 105. 900, 000000 feet of western yellow pine. 740O0, 000, GOO feet of western hemlock, 20. oo0, Oo0,oo0 feet of Sitka spruce, and 2S,- 00O,0oo 900 feet of white fir, all in sufficient quantities in any number of localities to justfy the putting up of mill. We have also large quantities of lodge-pole pine. Engelman spruce and Amabils fir. There Is a great deal of cheap water power available in the forests and the wood is sold on such terms that the manu- facturers can make large profits. Some of the pulp manufacturers are investigat- ing these forests with view to the es- tablishment of mills, and this is so in many different localities.
 "The forests of southeastern Alaska, ? continued MT. Graves, ''are especially adapted for the manufacture of pulp wood. They contain billions of feet of spruce and other soft woods fitted for paper, and the timber is so situated on the slopes of steep mountains that it is easily accessible to atidewater. The ports and waterways there are never closed by ice The climate is like that of the north western Pacific states. The boats run the year fOunQ, ana the mills could be built on the shore and have excellent shipping facilities. Much of the timber is offered for sale at from 50 cents to $1. 50 per 1000 feet, and the cost of the wood when delivered to the pulp mills would be only about $3 per cord. The Canadian mills are now paying for similar wood s6 to $7 per cord Some of the United States mills are paying s16 and more. The forest service has picked out five To- cations where it is believed pulp mills would pay. Each Is surrounded by large bodies of valuable timber and each ha s water power that could easily be devel- oped. So far no pulp mills have been established there"
 During my travels in Alaska I have gone through large part of the national forests. I entered the Tongrass reser- vation when we crossed the Portland ca nal at the international boundary, and I travelled in and out among the islands of that reservation for a distance of about 800 miles In going to Skagway. The reservation ends on the slope of Mount St. Elias, and it is "a little north of that mountain that the other forest reserva- . tion begins This is the Chugach reser-