Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1918-07-17
ESTIMATED 100000 POUNDS
WILL BE NEEDED FOR
NEXT YEAR.
WAR QUADRUPLES
GOVERNMENTS NEED
Serious Conditions in Paper Market
Threatened by Unusual Consumption
Increase Largely Resulting From
Vast Amount Of Propaganda Being
Distributed.

| Washington. July 17.-Estimates
prepared by the different government
departments INDICATE that upward of
/ S0,000,000 pounds pounds Of paper, Of
all grades, out chiefly Of expensive
finish, will De required to meet the
| needs of the government for the COM
ing year. This is four O. five times
the amount ordinarily consumed, and
is roughly per cent of the entire pa
per production of the United States.
The increase, of course, Is largely
due TO the war. Some OF the govern
mental agencies have been expanded
to ten times their ordinary size; a
dozen or so new bureaus and divi-
sions, such as the railroad administra-
ton. the fuel administration, and the
food administration, have been added
to the list, and the committee on pub
lie information. of which George Creel
is chairman, is conducting the most
extensive propa ganda work in this
and in foreign counties. That is where
the additional paper is going, into
countless records, and letters and
booklets and statements.
Planning For Economy.
There has recently been created, as
part of the war industries board,
what is known as the paper commit
tee, which is empowered under a
broad law recently passed by congress
to curtail the production and distribu-
ton OF paper as a war necessity. Reg
ulations are being formulated where
by all paper consumers, the news
papers, commercial establishments and
individuals who write only few let
ters- year are 10 be restricted in
their supply.
All of which is causing the very per-
tinent question by the manufacturers
OF paper who are struggling along
trying TO supply the trade and by 9TH
ers as we'll: Is the government vast
ing paper? And will the government.
as we'll as the public, be restricted in
paper consumption"
Even casual survey Of the gov
ernments activities reveals TO the
manufacturers mind. and Is being
commented upon in no uncertain
terms, that the government actually
is wasting paper to a very large de-
gree in many ways. In the aggregate,
it is estimated. hundreds of thousands
OF pounds of paper could be saved by
the government during the present
crisis, IL economies such as those
which will De practiced willingly by
the public were undertaken in the
various bureaus and departments.
Much Paper Wasted.
To begin with, thousands of letters
are sent out from Washington everS
day. Carbon copies. as many some
times as five or six, are made OF all OF
them for fling purposes. Whether or
not all the copies are essential for FL
ing. is not the question. The TACT ro-
mains that most Of the letters are
brief, and that instead OF half sheets
being used, full size paper is consumed
for both the original and the carbon
copies. Long envelopes are used for the
mailing when small envelopes would
do Just as we'll.
Another method of waste in the
minds OF many persons. is thru the
army OF press agents. disguised as in
formation bureaus employed by al
most every department and internal
bureau Of the government. In their
mad scramble to get the activities OF
their chiefs into print, these press
agents flood the newspapers Of the
country and the Washington CORE
spondents with long statements and
special articles, many Of which are ut
terry worthless from newspaper
standpoint. They simply go into the
waste basket
Handouts" Great Waste.
These articles. which are Known in
Washington as handouts" invariably
arc >mimeographed double or triple
spaced on very good quality paper.
The Creel committee is guilty of such
practices. just the same as the various
individual bureaus. II the government
really wanted to save paper, II is diff
ficult to see why the statements given
out in such quantities should not be
single spaced.
Furthermore. much paper is wasted
in booklets and circulars. Many Of
these are printed on one side of the pa
per only, and then in large type. Book
paper, too, Is used in the same way.
MN -