Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-10-17
The Paper Situation
By Frederic y. Iiaskln

by Frederi
Washington, oct. 15.-W When you /
pay two dollors or more for a book /
that would have cost you but a dol |
lar and a half five Years ago. and /
when you pay twenty-five cents for |
O magazine that used 10 cost you fif- |
teen cents. and when even your old re-
Liable daily paper goes up from one
cent to two cents, you may place a
large part Of the blame on the Arneri-
can spirit Of reckless waste, as ex-
en.plifled IN the ruthless cutting %
forests to mske paper pulp.
American business, sompiacent
about It's world beating efficiency. ac-
tualy exhibits many cases Of retk-
lessneBs hardly less creditable than
that Of the man who climbs out on a
long limb and then saws Il of between
himself and the trunk The paper
manufacturers Of the United States are
now out on such a long limb. Ninety
1 Ave per cent Of the mills which make
our news print paper are located IN
New England, New York and the Lake
states. Each Of these establishments.
We are told represents capital value
Of from three 10 FIVE million dollars.
And each Of them faces the sad fact
that the forests upon which Il has
been depending for a supply of puip
are rapidly becoming depleted There
are enormous quantities Of pulp
wood. available in the West and in
Alaska, but the mills. with n few ex-
ceptlons. are in the East. Hence the
facts that the United states is be-
coming each year more dependent
upon importations for its paper sup
ply, and that during the war there
was a paper famine which drove use
full publications into bankruptcy and
boosted the price Of everything we
read.
Such situation would be in
evitable in time Of war IL we had not
an adequate supply Of pulp wood in
this country. But we have the pulp
wood in great quantities, Tho whole
trouble is that the woods in the
neighborhood Of the mills have been
, exhausted by reckless cutting. and
new mills have not yet been establish
, ed in the West where there is plenty
, Of wood. In this situation. the pub
fishers are showing an increasing
, tendency to take the matter Of paper
! manufacture into their own hands
Several large papers own their owr
: mills. A large number Of smaller con-
! Germs are banded together to bus
their paper comparatively, and MAY
ultimately make it that. way 4
. southern newspaper recently printed
> ar edition on paper made of southern
scrub pine. which had been especially
i. ground for this purpose The re-
:. sultant paper was not of high grade
. but 1t served the purpose and showed
f.. that the South is not dependent upor
\ either northern or western woods. Thi
development Of special process 10
grinding and pulping the southern
" woods would greatly improve m
paper made from them.
= Need Independent supply.
n It is especially undesirable 70 b
Il dependent upon other countries 70
q paper supply. Not only is war O
embargo likely to cut Il or. but
Y paper supply should be free from an
J. taint of political control. IN the In
terests OF complete freedom Of Ii
n press.
In this situation some urge a hig
!, industry in this country may buil
tariff on paper and pulp so that ia
, itself up TO the point where impor,
are unnecessary. Others say ths
= this is economically unsound and ar
;. just. With enormous supplies
pulp wood at his disposal, the Amer
!. can paper maker, they say, should
able to compete successfully with n
foreign paper maker. who has small
resources for the most part, and h'
:, ocean freights to pay in ADDITION. 2
protect the American industry with
:. tariff. they urge, is merely 10 81
:, courage the American manufactur
= in his wasteful habits and make q
!, publisher and the public pay the bi
~ At present large imports Of pap
are coming in from Germany al
are said to be selling for about VII
1t costs the American mills 10 pr
l,a duce the same grade of paper. tn
de is partly due 10 the rate OF exchan
81 "a temporary advantage 10 the &c
man manufactures. which will
time disappear. But it is a less
nj in conservation which America shou
/ take to heart that Germany. a sm
n and thiclly settled country, is able
II send large quantities of paper TO Il
II country and undersen the domes
II producers.