The Ocala banner., 1920-08-20
eLoRlDA WILL RELIEVE NEWS
pRINr SHORTAGE
First PuIp-Mal<ine Plant TO Utilize
Native saworass Will Soon be
Erected at Leesburg

sociation meeting at Barlow adjourn
ed Saturday. Editor and Mrs. Gilbert
ID. Leach and little son. drove to Tam.
pa, where they spent several days and
Tuesdays Tribune contained the fol-
lowing interview with Mr.. Leach:
The making of newsprint paper
pulp from Florida sawgrass on a
large scale will be started near Lees
burg within a comparatively short
time. was the statement made yester-
day to a Tribune man by Gilbert ID.
Leach, editor of the Leesburg Com
mercial, and one of the factors of the
new company, which has million dol
lar capitalization and is incorporated
under the laws Of the state OF Dele.
ware.
The company's engineer is in the
North now arranging to secure ma
chinery for the first OF series OF
pulp-making plants which are to be-
erected adjacent to the huge sources
of supply, and which are in several
sections of the state. A forty-acre
tract has been secured at Leesburg a:
a site for the first pulp mill. to which
the sawgrass will be brought for re-
ducton ID is not the present inten-
tion of the company to manufacture
- l.. f0.,k n1y In md
sell il to the paper mills.
The source of supply for the Lees
burg plant is some 17S,O00 acres OF
sawgrass privately owned, which the
company now controls. The compan!
also has secured permission from the
state to harvest the grass on state
owned lands in different sections OF
the state.
The general manager of the concern
is +. X. Lacy of Mount Vernon, n. Y.
who has spent years in untiring effort
TO produce satisfactory newsprint pa
per from Florida sawgrass. That he
has been successful was evidenced "
Mr.. Leach yesterday, when he produc-
ed samples OF newsprint from saw
grass pulp, made by a rather crude
process. but showing that a splendid
product for newspaper printing can
be made available from the million OF
more acres of this grass now lying un-
used in Florida
The sample of paper shown by Mr..
Leach was of the general thickness
and color of that used in producing
The Tribune, but far tougher, which
shows that it will be much better for
use on a perfecting press than is the
paper made from wood pulp. being
better able to stand the strain of un-
rolling at rapid speed forS feeding
the rotary presses.
Will Be a Huge Industry
Mr.. Leach said that he had investi-
gated every angle of the proposition OF
making newsprint paper from the
Florida sawgrass and he is convinced
that the product is to become one OF
the largest industries in Florida. II
will command unlimited backing, be
cause newspaper publishers through
out the country have been alarmed
over tie rapid consumption Of the
available wood for rewsprint. 1t 's
only certain classes of wood that will
make coed newsprint and the sources
of supply are daily becoming further
from the large centers and the IN
creasing cost of white paper has be
come a nightmare to the publishers
For instance. newsprint that could be
bought in carload lots four years age
at two cents per pound ranges in price
now from eight to fifteen cents and
the supply so short that several times
within the past two years many OF the
largest newspapers Of the country
have been on the ragged edge OF ac
tual suspension OF publication, and all
have had to "cut corners" by reducing
the number of pages per issue in order
to achieve continuous publication.
Produce Two Crops Year
Whereas it takes fifty to a hundred
years. to produce fair-sized tree, two
crops of sawgrass can be cut each
year from any patch of this grass. II
grows in both fresh and brackisb
water and contains a large percentage
of tough fibre The pulp-making con
Germ has devised system of harvest
ing the grass in the form of cater
pillar tractor with a moving machine
and a conveyor which will
carry the grass as it is cut to barge
which will be towed behind the trac
tor
As the concern expands its business
plants will be erected at
Othnr nOiOtS in tha state A1roadv