The Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 191?-19??, 1919-08-30
.NEWSPRINT
SITUATION
Recommendation BY the Forest Ser
vice Department of Agri-
culture.

i Two-thirds of the newsprint paper
used by American newspapers is i'm.
ported or is manufactured from wood
or pulp imported from Canada. One
third is made in the United States
from wood grown in the United
States. The former proportion is
steadily increasing, the latter is stead
lily decreasing.
Nearly all of the American news
print manufacturing industry is To-
Gated in the northeastern states
half of it in New York. Forests of
wood suitable for pulp making are
being exhausted in the Northeastern
states. At the present rate Of de-
pletion none to speak of win be left
at the end of ten or twenty years,
But in the Pacific northwest, WASH
ington, Oregon and part of Califor-
MIA and the Inland Empire Of north
western Montana and northern Ida
no are great forests that have been
no more than touched by the Few
pulp mills in that section of the
country.
And in Alaska are enormous areas
of forests-the annual growth Of
which would supply pulp enough for
half of the newsprint paper used
in the United States. No pulp mills
are there.
Few pulp mills have been estab-
lished in the northwest, and none
have been established in Alaska, in
part because of the disadvantage in
reaching the eastern markets. The
Panama canal is believed to have re-
moved much of the reason for this
disadvantage, but other obstacles
such as the disinclination of business
to pioneer in new fields remain.
Development of news print produc-
ton in these regions is also retarded,
it is believed, by the lack of author
alive knowledge of the extent and
character of the available supplies
and the supplies of forest mater
ial, their location and accessibility,
available water power, and the gen
eral situation which confronts the
industry.
The practice of forestry, which is
now the only possible means of a per-
manent supply of domestic pulp wood
in the East, it is believed, would be
greatly stimulated by such survey,
which would develop in detail the
seriousness of the situation.
The sum of existing conditions is
that American conditions are becom-
ing more and more dependent upon
their foreign sources for the raw
material from which paper is made;
the raw material is being exhausted
in the section where the domestic
industry is concentrated, and mills
are moving from this country to
J Canada, while at the same time the
United States contains forest re-
sources in the Northwest and in
Alaska that promise abundant sup
ply for many years, and indefinite
under proper conservation, if the in
dustry can be built up in these re-
gions.
A condition of dependence upon
foreign supplies of newsprint carries
with it serious possibilities not only
for consumers of newsprint (chiefly
our newspapers) but also for other
. business interests and the public gen
= orally. 1t would afford dangerous
:. opening for covert interference
=. with the freedom of the press anc
. with untrameled development of bus
mess through advertising. That sucl
a danger is not imaginary has beer
evidenced abroad.
! A permanent domestic newspape
! industry is therefore a matter O.
, public Importance. It's maintenance,
, is believed to be entirely practicable
o if the proper public action is taken.
The Forest Service of the Unite,
States Department of Agriculture
\ to prevent American newspaper
e from becoming totally dependent up
! on foreign supply, recommends:
Immediately, an adequate govern
mental survey of American resource
, in this field.
Immediate steps to bring about tn
practice of forestry and the conser
n walton of forests in the pulp produc