The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1920-01-15
PAPER FAMINE
IF FORESTS ARE Wasted
Survey of Pulp Wood Resources Shows
Need for Constructive and Per
manent American Policy.

In less than ~ years W per cent oil
the pulp and paper mills Of the coun-
try. mainly those in the East, will have
practically exhausted their supplies of
spruce. hemlock and fir--the principal
woods from which the paper on which
newspapers are printed is made.
The annual cutting of these woods in
| the New England states and New York
is approximately 3.262, 900 cords, and at
this rate the supply will last approx
imately IL years. The estimated an
nual cutting in the lake states is $685.
900 cords, and if continued will ex-
haust the'supply in that region within
Is years. Pennsylvania. Maryland, Nir-
ginia and North Carolina, with their
smaller forest resources. are even worse
off, the annual cutting being calculated
at l,470.000 cords. at which rate the
spruce, hemlock and fir will last but 10
years. Only in Alaska, Washington,
Oregon and California are the reserves
in no immediate danger OF exhaustion
if the cutting continues at the present
rate Of 2.21s,000 cords a year.
These figures, Of special interest be.
cause OF the present paper shortage,
are included in estimates compiled by
the forest service OF the United States
department OF agriculture. The data
accumulated give additional emphasis 70
the demand for a nationwide policy
that will put privately owned forests
on a permanently productive basis and
will also result in utilizing mill waste
for paper making.
Mills Location a Factor.
Even if the country's hemlock, spruce
and fir resources, including the vast
| forests Of far-off Alaska, are Jumped to-
gether, the supply of these woods will
be sufficient TO meet the lumber and
paper demands for less than three
| fourths of a century. assuming that
the present rate Of cutting continues.
AT first glance it might seem that a
national supply for three-fourths of a
century makes il unnecessary to worry
over the lumber question for some time.
| But. a. already stated, % per cent OF
the pulp and paper mills are located IN
the East, these are very expensive
establishments. often costing millions
| of dollars. and cannot be moved con
veniently to new locations, nor can
wood be shipped TO them economically
from great distances. Consequently
talk of easily utilizing the far of re-
serves Is impractical unless the present
mills are to be scrapped and new ones
built nearer the source Of supply.
Up to 10 years ago the United States
was self-supporting with regard to
%newsprint. but within the last decade
the consumption has exceeded home
production and promises to do 50 IN
creasinglv. In view OF this situation
two alternatives present themselves.
| according to forest service experts and
representatives Of large wood using in
dnstries. The country must depend in
e%reasinglv upon Canada, eventually
abandoning many of It's own mills, or
the nations policy with regard to lts
private forests must be radically
| changed. Canada now has 80 paper
and pulp mills which produce approx
imately 200 tons of paper a day, OF
which 50 per cent is available for eN.
port. of all supplies Of paper, wood
and pulp used by the United States
| about one-third now comes from an
ada.
While the supplies of pulp wood in
Alaska and the Northwest are very
great. only abou-5 per cent of the mills
are located in those regions. SC long
as publishers can obtain Canadian pa
per more eheaply than they can get IT
from the West. il is TO be expected that
they will buy from Canada. Neyerthe-
less. there are several factors which
should gradually bring western paper
into competition with the eastern Ca
madam produet. according 10 forest ex-
perts. There are quantities of wood in