Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1917-11-30

IA have the largest papers Tor rne
EAzzzzzun7zEzryzuuv@N least money, but demand
NEGgE%zTNSAM extra edition almost every hour
ElHALANSAXAkAIH in the bigger cities of the coun
We@zaAg AMsSgE try Like griddle cakes, we like
them only when they're hot, and
the wonderful pictorials for which the world has
been scanned by the editors, are thrown aside
after a sorry examination
Did you ever stop to think of the time when this
tnceSsant 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 feeling the pinch, and are 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
suffer by pulp shortage for book publishers, too,
have had their worries. In fact all users of paper
down to the schoolboy with his tablet have had to
pay more for inferior quality Of paper than was
the case year or two ago.
In 1914, we used about 5000 tons of newsprint
every day. Our present has reached 5000
tons day, and the demand is increasing at the
rate of about 10 per cent year, which is greatly
In excess of the rate of increase tn population.
To 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 it is estimated the news
papers will need about $4,000 tons for the first
six months of this year, the estimated supply is
fixed at 100000 TONS
But few years ago this country was able to
supply all of its needs and in addition fur
nish paper to foreign countries but that time has
passed Now we must depend upon Canada for
ut least third of our domestic supply and this
percentage is rapidly increasing.
Our forefathers, and our fathers, looked
about them, and apparently endless and In
exhaustbfe supplies of forest trees. The wood
man was not told to "Spare that tree and they
we're 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 be burned in the hrst
forest fire that swept 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
40 cause for alarm, if wake UP to our duty
to conserve remaining supply. There is
enough pulp wood in national forest to meet
The future needs of this country, and II we pur-
sue a systematic course in avoiding waste In our
wood-manufacturng plants and encourage the
reforestation of cut-Over lands (Of Whch
there are 100000 acres in the northern states
alone) we could easily supply the world.
nv 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 oooOoooOoOOo
feet of pulp wood. This is equivalent to 6Oo,OOo-
600 cords and for all kinds of paper we use DuI
100000 cords a year. This estimate does not
tncIude the puip wood available on privately
owned lands of the West.
Practically all of our pulp is at present maze
from northern woods, where stumpage cosls run
from SO 10 to SIS per cord standing in the forest
In the West timber suitable for the manufacture
of nnln ranges in price from % cents to $125
per cord The fact that these vast suppnes LII
the West have not yet been developer IS uue "
several causes. Lack of transportation mas peen
big handicap and then the large investments
fled I'D in the paper mills preclude their move
ment while it is possible to secure timber nearer
at hand even at vastly higher prices.
From the standpoint Of geographical locatlon
and transportation to the majority OF the paper
,,sers in the central and eastern states 1he
Western paper woods fall into two broad pelts.
The first is available to tidewater shipments IrVn
the Pacific coast, lying principally on the west
slone Of the Cascade mountains IN oregon anu
washington, including vast areas tributary "
Puget sound and running up along the sespoaau
in southeasterly Alaska. There are lo'oooooo'
600 feet of spruce and hemlock In the nalonal
forests of Alaska alone. In many respects Tue
conditions found in Alaska duplicate those ol
Norway the leading country OF the Worio III tne
paper industry. 1t is said by those VINO nave
guided the country that the forest OF Alaska wiz
nroduce more wealth for the United STATES th'n
even her gold or her coal, vast anu ''i -
are those commodities.
The second timber belt of Western paper Wooos
extends through the northern Rocky MOUNTAINS
from the Canadian line into Colorado ana utah
This belt shut off from water transportalloH en-
hardly be considered practical source Oh sulpAy
of paner for the eastern states, but is loglca'
storehouse of raw materials for the paper re-
oufrements of the Mississippi valley. me ROCKY
mountains contain number OF excelen' paper
woods and with proper development shoulo sup
for
dton and tr,c- necessary tn replace the diminish