| OCR Text |
Show CAPER 50PPLY ? ' '. ' saving rocesw ;; .-wu--s - iT -ri!r Oar policy of wilful waste V ' V ' ' - in the past is bringing about rX:0 t xii! jx ) a condition of woe ful want V' 4; Xf- 1 Asia's reaf rwotwres W V Y ' fa&VW , 4 , mil IS in'ople of the United States X , V , H f x , ?i are U.e most Inveterate and jUT 4 Y X ? wasteful readers of newspapers SA7 ''i ' ' j , Vr ' v" M la the world. Not only do we , . VT f havo the largest papers for the j, , A IP J "V ,. K 4 leHt money, but we demand an 1 - j;t i i & 4 IfTvvTSrs.'vJ extra edition almost every hour, v , v -I , i - x, t MS in the bigger cities of the cou V J - .T-V S tJ try. Like grUldle cakes, we like " ' t V-- 4 them only when they're hot, and " . -. J, ' U - " xv VVviv the wonderful pictorials for which the world has Lfrife " x - lJlM" '' been scanned by the editors, are thrown aside OYS OU?CT StPZ Y after a cursory examination. Our policy of wilful waste in the past is bringing about a condition of woeful want :: Alaska's great resources mllE people of tin? United States are Uie most inveterate and wasteful readers of newspapers In the world. Not only do we havo the largest papers for the least money, but we demand an JfSrrj???! extra edition almost every hour, :j w.'JW (y! I Mj In the bigger cities of the coun-i'gyj coun-i'gyj try. Like griddle cakes, we like 4 them only when they're hot, and the wonderful pictorials for which the world has been scanned by the editors, are thrown aside after a cursory examination. Did you ever stop to think of the time when this Incessant demand for the print paper may not be met? Already we hear of the rapid increase in the price of pulp, which Is reaching a stage where many of the smaller publications of the country will have to go out of business. Even the bigger "h.CS qre feeling the pinch, and some are raising their jpflcefi, othars reducing the number of pages, nnd still others are making the advertiser pay. ' Ihe newspapers have fi6t been the only ones to suffer by puip shortage, for book publishers, too, have had their worries. In fact, all users of paper, Uli'S t?4tle schoolboy with his tablet, have had to pay more for an inferior quality of paper than was the case a year or two ago In 1914, we used about 5,000 tons of newsprint every day. Our present use has reached 6,000 tons a day, and the demand is increasing at the rate of abotit 16 per cent a year, which is greatly In excess of the rate of Increase in population. To supply our presses with newsprint requires annually about 3,000,000 cords of pulp wood. To meet our requirements for magazines and book papers, stationery and business papers of all kinds, 4,000,000 cords more of pulp wood are consumed con-sumed annually. Production barely keeps up this consumption, for while it is estimated the newspapers news-papers will need about 8SS.000 tons for the first six months of this year, the estimated supply is fixed at 030,000 tons. k. But n few years ago this country was able to supply all of its own needs and In addition furnish fur-nish paper to foreign countries, but that time has passed. Now we must depend upon Canada for at least a third of our domestic supply, and this percentage is rapidly increasing. Our forefathers, and even our fathers, looked about them, and saw apparently endless and Inexhaustible In-exhaustible supplies of forest trees,. The woodman wood-man was not told to "spare that tree," and they ing supplies of the lake states for the needs of the middle West. In addition to the principal pulp-supplying woods, spruce and hemlock, it has been found from tests made by the government that at least 12 other species are suitable for the manufacture' of pulp. Some of these new species are Engle-mann Engle-mann spruce, lodgepole pine, white fir and other cheap and plentiful coniferous woods of Ae West. At least ten of these woods were found to be good enough for newsprint, and paper made from some of them was actually used In editions of several metropolitan newspapers. In looking to the West for our future supply of wood pulp it is gratifying to note that two other elements that will make for the ready development develop-ment of the wood-pulp industry are found in proximity to the forests. These two elements are waterpower and coal. Throughout the mountainous moun-tainous states of the West are hundreds of streams, the power from which, if conserved and harnessed, would operate with the minimum of expense, the greatest pulp plants In the world. The same is true of our undeveloped coal fields in Alaska and other states. In carrying out the government policy of utilizing util-izing the natural resources of the country without with-out Injuring them, the forest service last year made sales of public timber amounting to $1,795,-000. $1,795,-000. These sales were made to a great number of widely scattered interests, including lumber companies, railroads, mining companies and one Western paper mill. To encourage the establishment establish-ment of new mills and pulp plants in the West, the government has announced that it will enter into long-term contracts for the supplying of timber tim-ber at moderate prices, and under such conditions as are just, both to the purchaser and the public. Experts report that it is entirely practical to manufacture newsprint in Alaska and deliver it, through the Panama canal, to New York, at a cost of not more than $35 per ton. When it is considered that current prices for similar paper range from $G0 a ton upward, it is evident that a new industry could be built up in Alaska that would be an exceedingly profitable one. While no deflrUte plans have been made to that end, it Is possible that before long Uncle Sam may find it profitable to erect his own mill In Alaska to produce print paper. Such a mill would cost about $2,500,000, and it would pay for Itself within a few years. The present attitude of the government officials is that if private manufacturers manufac-turers of paper can be induced to meet the demands de-mands of the country it would be unwise for the government to enter the field, but if our present threatened shortage of paper materializes, such a plant will doubtless be constructed in Alaska. Another phase of the wood-pulp Industry that is being considered by the government experts, is to more fully utilize the vast quantities of wood wasted annually by the sawmills of the country. This waste aggregates something over 60,000,000 cords a year, a large part of which might be saved. If we are to make our paper industry a perma-ent perma-ent one, it is necessary for us not only to conserve con-serve our present supply but to plant cut-over lands, to insure a supply in the years to come. Denuded lands can be planted with 1,000 young trees per acre at a cost of about $10 per acre. Some of the large paper companies are now doing do-ing this, and their efforts are being encouraged by the government. In addition, the forest service serv-ice is carrying out a definite policy of reforestation reforesta-tion in various parts of the country. were ruthlessly, sometimes wantonly, destroyed. Where one tree was utilized for commercial purposes, pur-poses, two trees were ajlowed to remain as they fell, only to rot away or be biifned in the first forest fire that swept over the devastated area. Today this policy has resulted in our privately owned supply of pulp woods being so exhausted that not more than 15 years' supply remains. Serious as the situation appears to be, there is no cause for alarm, if we wake up to our duty to conserve our remaining supply. There is enough pulp wood in our national forest to meet the future needs of this country, and if we pursue pur-sue a systematic course in avoiding waste in our wood-manufacturing plants and encourage the reforestation of our cut-over lands (of which there are 70,000.000 acres in the northern states alone) we could easily supply the world. By following the correct practices of forestry, and by conserving our supply, the publicly owned timber In the United States will last indefinitely. The forest service has estimated that there are in the national forests at least 800,000.000.000 feet of pulp wood. This is equivalent to 600,000,-000 600,000,-000 cords, and for all kinds of paper we use but 7,000.000 cords a year. This estimate does not Include the pulp wood available on privately owned lands of the West. Practically all of our pulp is at present made from northern woods, where stumpage costs run from $2.50 to $5 per cord, standing in the forest. In the West timber suitable for the manufacture of pulp ranges in price from 25 cents to $1.25 per cord. The fact that these vast supplies in the West have not yet been developed is due to several causes. Lack of transportation has been a big handicap and then the large Investments tied up In the paper mills preclude their movement move-ment while it is possible to secure timber nearer ot hand, even at vastly higher prices. From the standpoint of geographical location and transportation to the majority of the paper users in rhe central and eastern states. The Western paper woods fall fnto two broad belts. The first Is available to tidewater shipments from the Pacific coast, lying principally on the west slope of the Cascade mountains in Oregon and Washington, including vast areas tributary to Puget sound and running up along the seaboard in southeasterly Alaska. There are 70.000.000,-000 70.000.000,-000 feet of spruce and hemlock In the national forests of Alaska alone. In many respects the conditions found in Alaska duplicate those of Norway, the leading country of the world in the paper industry- It is said by those who have studied the country that the forest of Alaska will produce more wealth for the United States than even her gold or her coal, vast and valuable as are those commodities. The second timber belt of Western paper woods extends through the northern Rocky mountains, from the Canadian line into Colorado and Utah. This belt, shut off from water transportation can hardly be considered a practical source of supply of paper for the eastern states, but is a logical storehouse of raw materials for the paper requirements re-quirements of the Mississippi valley. The Rocky mountains contain a number of excellent paper woods, and with proper development should supply sup-ply both the paper required for local consumption consump-tion and that necessary to replace the dlminisn- |
