Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1917-12-07

vS9en@S try. Like griddle cakes, like
them only when they're hot and
the wonderful pictorials for which the world has
been scanned by the editors. thrown aside
after n curSOry examination.
Did you ever stop to think of the time when this
incessant demand for the print paper may not be
net? Already we hear of the rapid increase In the
price Of pulp, which is reaching u stage where
many of the smaller publications of the country
VIII nave to 90 out of business. Even the bigger
snes are feeling the pinch, and are raising
thelr prices others reducing the number Of pages,
and still others making the advertiser pay.
Inc newspapers have not been the only ones TO
suffer by pulp shortage, for book publishers too
nave had their Worries In fact all users of paper
sown to the schoOlboy with his tablet have had to
pay more for an inferior quality of paper than was
the case year two ago.
In 1914, we used about 5000 tons of newsprint
every day. Our present use has reached 6OOO
TONS day, and the demand is Increasing Mt the
rate OF about 10 per cent n year. which is greatly
IN excess Of the rate of Increase In population
10 supply our presses with newsprint requires
annually about 100000 cords of pulp wood To
meet our requirements for magazines and book
papers, stationery and business papers of all
kinds 100000 cords more OF pulp wood are con-
sumed annually. Production barely keeps up this
consumption, for while II is estimated the news
papers will need about 900 tons for the first
six months Of this year, the estimated supply is
fixed at $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 our domestic supply, and this
percentage is rapidly increasing
Our forefathers, and even fathers looked
about them, and saw apparently endless and in
exhaustibe supplies Of forest trees The wood
man was not told to spare that tree" and they
were ruthlessly, sometimes wantonly, destroyed.
Where one tree was utilized for commercial pur-
poses, two trees were allowed to remain as they
fell. only to rot away or be burned In the first
forest IRE that swept over the devastated area.
Today this policy has resulted in our privately
owned supply Of pulp woods being so exhausted
that not more than Is years supply remains
Serious as the situation appears to be, there is
no cause for alarm, II we wake up to our duty
to conserve our remaining supply. There Is
enough pulp wood in our national forest to meet
the future needs of this country. and If we pur-
sue a systematic course In avoiding waste In our
wood-manufacturing plants and encourage the
reforestation Of our cut-over lands (of which
there 70OOO000 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 VIII last indefinitely.
The forest service has estimated TINT there
are in the national forests at least 300OOOO00OOO
feet of pulp wood. This Is equivalent to 100000
900 cords, and for all kinds of paper but
7.00OOOO cords year. This estimate does not
include the pulp wood available privately
owned lands Of the West
Practically all of our pulp is at present made
from northern woods where stumpage costs run
from s.. 20 to 81 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
ment while II Is possible to secure timber nearer
at hand, even Mt 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 the west
slope OF the Cascade mountains In Oregon and
Washington. including vast areas tributary to
Puget sound and running up along the seaboard
in souheaSterlv Alaska. There 70.OO0.0O0.-
600 feet of spruce and hemock 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 or her coal vast and valuable
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 off from water transportation can
hardly be considered practical source of supply
Of paper for the eastern states but is logical
storehouse OF raw materials for the paper re-
luirements of the Mississippi valley. The Rocky
me curtains contain a number of excellent paper
woods, and with proper development should sup
ply both the paper required for local conSTmp-
lion and that necessary to replace the diminish