106 



ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



$4,050,000. Adding this to the cost of rags and labor, we find that $23,- 

 625,000 is the total cost of manufacturing paper worth $27,000,000, a 

 measure of profit by 110 means unreasonable, and which might even be 

 considered small, were not the manufacture comparatively free from, those 

 sudden changes that affect the manufacture of cloth and metals. 



Light as we may esteem it, there are few branches of business of more 

 importance than the rag trade. No other country in the world, strange to 

 say, is more dependent upon rags than the United States ; and this is, in a 

 great measure, attributable to the immense consumption of paper in the 

 publication of newspapers, magazines, and works of all kinds, besides 

 what is used for commercial and mercantile purposes. 



The following table shows the quantities of rags imported into the 

 United States during the years 1852 and '53, the sources from whence 

 obtained, with their value : 



For the four years, 1850, '51, '52, '53, the quantity of rags imported into 

 the United States amounted to 97,816,035 pounds, costing $3,262,000, or 

 about three and a third cents per pound. 



In 1850 we imported rags from nineteen countries; in 1852 from thirty- 

 two ; which increment seems to have arrived near the ultimate limit, as 

 we were only able to add Peru to the list in 1853. 



Italy seems to be the great source of supply. In 1850 we obtained 

 nearly half as many pounds from there as from all other places, while the 

 amount paid exceeded half the whole sum. In 1851, the quantity and 



