The Daily Alaska empire., 1947-09-19
Alaskan Newsprint
Editor and Publisher

Thanks to an interested Congress, things are nov ing fast in the development of Alaskan newsprint President Truman has signed the bill permitting sale of standing timber in the Tongass National Forest and the way has been cleared for negotiation of contracts for the new industry there.
 The Department of Agriculture is accepting bids fer the timber rights up Oct l. And the successful bidder will be required to invest somewhere in the ncighbz hood of $5000OO00 for plant and town con- struction and power development.
 There doubt there will be bids. The in- creasng demand for paper products particularly news print has whetted the interest of many manufacturers in making further capital outlays for larger plant capacity. The timidity of year ago, when most manufacturers doubted the strength of the growing market, has disappeared. Kimberly Clark has agreed to operate the Southern newsprint mill and at least other manufacturer is investigating the abilities of still another newsprnt mill in the South
 Alaska, it's forests completely undeveloped, will providea valuable source of newSprnt for this country Ultimately, Alaska and the new mills in this country will vally increase the worlds supply There is danger of a prospective manufacturer being able to find market for his output It is going to take to bring the worlds supply up to the world demand. The foreign market will continue to grow as has the domestic market
 It is going to be two three years before any great volume of newsprint production will be eff feced It may be longer in Alaska. But however long it takes, the important fact is that in contrast to ago the newsprnt picture for the future is brighter No longer must the newspaper publishers of this country look forward to increasing demand and a constant supply.
 There has been much more written and said about newsprnt the year but nowhere, except in the columns of E. and P has there been any acknowledge ment of honor due to the men who have turned the tide toward greater production. It is little known fact that whatever increased newsprint receive in the years ahead from mills in this country and Alaska will be the result primarily of the hard work and interest of the newspaper publishers themselves It ought to be welknown fact in view of the criticism leveed at those publishers for alleged logging Of newsprint.
 Long ago publishers in the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association the handwriting the wall and developed the first mill in Texas making paper from Southern pine. All of the publishers in the South and perhaps in the whole country would have been lot off in the last if it had not been for that production. And now these same pub-
 fishers have laid the groundwork and interested capital in buildinS second mill in Alabama. It is possible that still third mill in Louisiana may result from their efforts
 On the West Coast another group of publishers converting mill in the northwest to newsprint Other individual publishers throughout the country have acquired old mills making other grades and now changing them to newsprint.
 And it takes stretch of the imagination to cede that Congressional action Alaskan newsprint about largely through the interest displayed by all newspaper publishers.