The Washington herald., 1917-03-18
PRINT PAPER SHORTAGE
DUE PARTLY TO WASTE
,lution Of Problem Offered by Secre-
tary of Agriculture.

The Secretary of Agriculture. d. F.
Houston. yesterday issued the following
statement:
"Conditions In the paper industry have
constituted one Of the most serious OF
our domestic problems during the last
year. Due to. the exorbitant prices charg-
ed for newsprint the profits OF the great
dailies were either wiped out entirely or
else reduced to q minimum. while the
small publishers were brought face to
face with suspension and even absolute
ruin. Periodical publishers have Jared no
less badly. the profits of book publishers
have changed to losses in many cases.
and the price Of paper OF every kind has
risen by leaps and bounds.
THE Federal Trade Commission has
brought some measure of relief to the
newspaper publishers. Competition has
been freed from restraint, prices have
been made to bear a closer relation to the
cost Of production. and q more equitable
system Of distribution has been devised
SO that the little fellows VIII get their
fair share Of the Manufactured product
But while the inquiry Of the commission
developed artificial control. 1t developed
also that there is almost an equal bal
ance between supply and demand in the
paper industry.
Depend Upon Canada.
'As II this close balance was not peril
enough. there Is the added fact that the
United States depends upon Canada for
third Of its newsprint paper. This
proportion is increasing rapidly. The
pressure Of economic conditions and lack
of foresight in cutting the forests have
80 depleted the available private supply
of pulp woods In many Of the paper
manufacturing States that there Il not
eRough-left to last more than ten or
fifteen years
1T is this condition Of dependence that
shouId be ended. Changes In Canadian
policy might at any time cut on our
newspapers from this source Of supply
or make 1t available only at excessive
cost On the other han, our own forest
resources are ample to meet all the
paper requirements OF the country.
The publicly owned national forests
contain enough pulp. wood to supply the
entire paper needs Of the United States
for the next eighty years. Cut in
teuigently. it constitutes virtually an
inexhaustible supply for all time.
Use of National Forests.
The first plan Is that Of public sales of
raw material to the manufacturer This
already is being done to some extent. Dur
ing the last year national forest timber
sales to lumber companies, railroads.
and mining companies and one western
paper Inlll amounted 10 NGW
mills might be erected in Alaska, the
Puget Sound country. or the Rocky Noun
tain region, under agreements with the
government for a long term supply OF
raw material. guaranteed under an equit-
able adjustment of prices from time to
time. This already Is being done in the
case Of certain saw mills.
The waste which now occurs in the
manufacture Of lumber L. estimated by the
at
900 cords annually. At least 1000 900
cords consists of coniferous woods, a part
OF which Is suitable for the manufacture
of various grades OF paper. Experiments
at the forest products laboratory show
that much OF this waste can be utilized
paper, fiber board. and other pulp prod
ucts.
Forestry Only sofutss1.
Tor the second phase Of the prob
lem, that Of an assured future supply
Of paper within our own borders, there
Is only one solution: the practice Of for
estry to keep up continuous produc-
ton OF pulp wood. There In nothing
difficult about this solution II the latest
producing capacity OF the forest lands
in the United States Is utilized. There
is no reason why the regions now sup
porting large paper-making plants should
not DO so permanently, as Norway does,
II the native resources of those regions
are but properly organized and inteIIi-
gently used
with intelligent cutting and protec-
ton from fire, the land win restock it.
self. Unintelligent cutting that 'skins
the, land.s howeyer. may. call eventually
for artificial reforestation. Some OF the
paper companies in New England are
acquiring and protecting large areas OF
forest land, many Of them culled or cut
over. In order to insure future supply
OF raw material to protect the enor-
nous investments represented by their
paper plants.
Probably the greatest need Is for an
intelligent. far-sighted administration of
the forest lands now in public owner
ship, in one form or another, and for
the addition Of cut-over forest lands of
low value to the public holdings. State
and Federal alike.