The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-06-30
[. W. BARRETT TELLS OF PLANS ID MAKE NEWSPR|NT PAPER
Experiment With Alabama Spruce Pine for Making NeWsprint Accounted at
 Rotary Club Luncheon

A complete mill for the manufac- ture of newsprint paper will be erected in Tuscaloosa if plans being made by E. w. Barrett, editor and publisher of The Age-Herald are carried out. This statement was made by MT. Barrett in talk to members of the Rotary club yester- day aftSrnoon, and $1,5o0,OOO will be invested in this mill.
 In brief talk he told of the mod ern daily newspaper and his recent experiment in having newsprint pa- per made from the pulp of Alabama spruce pine, which has heretofore been considered worthless product.
 For many years MT. Barrett stated that he had believed that paper could be made from this spruce pine, but every paper manufacturer he had ap- preached on the subject had told nm it was useless to talk of this as they had tried everything. However, he declared that he decided to make the experiment and succeeded in inter- esting Robert Glade, an expert Cana dian paper manufacturer in it.
 Experiment Made.
 MT. Glade came to Alabama and looked over the situation becoming more interested in the project stated the speaker and several cords or thls pine was cut between Lock 16 and Lock II on the Warrior river and ship ped to the Defiance paper mill near Niagara Falls. The experiment was made on May 2, and the paper made from the Alabama pine was nsed TOT the issue of The Age-Herald June 20, said MT Barrett and proved De- yond A doubt that news print paper could be made from this spruce pine.
 MT. Glade reported that this
 paper was equal in every respect
 to paper made from Canadian
 spruce wood and the breaking
 strength was II pounds per
 square inch, said MT. Barrett.
 He also pointed out the differ
 ence in the price of coal here and
 at the northern mills which would
 be a considerable saving. A sur
 vey is being made of the territory
 to ascertain the amount of spruce
 pine in that section while various
 tests are being made by paper
 manufacturers with this wood
 A sample of the pine together with paper made from Canadian spruce and that made from Alabama pine were exhibited.
 Demand For Newsprint.
 It was pointed out by MT. Barrett that there was such a demand for newsprint paper now that no sales department was maintained by paper manufacturers. Cash must be paid for all paper he declared and the present demand would continue in his opinion. He stated that the Birming- ham dailies consumed 10000 tons of paper a year and 1t would be a great saving to them to be able to get paper from a plant so near.
 The plant which will be erected will have daily capacity of 50 tons, he stated, and the remainder of the ham papers would be utilized by Montgomery and Mobile, all of which could be shipped by water.
 Tt will be interesting to know the cost of producing The Age-Herald at the present time is approximately S2,000 per day." said MT Barrett. For the year of 1900 we consumed 459,105 pounds of paper at total cost of $10,7SS.eS. for the year 1910 we consumed 1.7s0,196 pounds at a cost of $44,754.91 and for the year 1920 the newsprint consumption was 3,027,232 at a cost of $125,717.0S.
 Increase in Cost.
 ''It will be seen from this that the actual cost of white newsprint for the year 1920 over the year 1910 was $S0,962.12, There has been an in crease in the cost of newsprint for the year 1921 over the year 1920 and the cost to us for the first five months of 1921 amounted to $71,000. At this rate the white newsprint for the year 1921 will cost The Age-Herald approximately $175.0oO, or an increase of s50,000 over the year 1920. Salar- ies and the news service of news papers has increased In proportion to the cost of newsprint. The Associate Press service alone for 1920 over 1910 was approximately $10,000."
 The closest attention was paid td MT. Barrett's talk and at the con- clusion he received quite, an ovation, and many of the Rotarians gathered around him at the speakers table aft CT the luncheon and congratulated him on his talk and achievement.
 Sidney Lazarus, formerly of Bir- mingham but now of New York and a former member of the Rotary club. was introduced by President Oscar Wells and made a brief talk express ing delight at being home for a visit and again meeting old friends.