25S JOURNAL OF FORKSTRY 



ernment could suppress a power trust as readily as it could suppress an oil, paper, 

 tobacco, or any other kind of a trust, even to the extent of confiscating its prop- 

 erty. Congress should pass immediately the bill proposed by Secretary Lane 

 more than two years ago and thus make a vast store of energy available as soon 

 as possible. We shall need every ounce of power which our 'white coal' is capable 

 of developing. The emergency may be even greater, after the war reopens inter- 

 national competition, than it now is." 



Forestry and Paper Making 



On both sides of the hne the contention of the newsprint paper 

 manufacturers and of the newspaper associations regarding- cost of the 

 manufacture and price of newsprint has been going on for a long time 

 without any result at present writing. In the United States the case is 

 before the Federal Trade Commission ; in Canada before a special com- 

 missioner. There is one point in the controversy which is of special 

 interest to foresters and which has not received as much attention as 

 it deserves in the testimony on either side. It is the question of sup- 

 plies of raw material, which should influence the price-making if the 

 law of supply and demand is still to rule. It must not be overlooked 

 that the length of time for which pulpwood supplies can be secured for 

 a mill has a most important influence on the price which it is proper 

 for a manufacturer to charge who must foresee the need of amortiza- 

 tion or sinking fund for his plant if he is forced to go out of business 

 for lack of supplies. 



If, as appears from the findings of the Trade Commission, the capital 

 required per ton of paper is from $25,000 to $35,000 — according to 

 others nearer $50,000 — there must be enough in the manufacturers' 

 profit to retire this capital before the end of the supplies to run the 

 mill, or nearly so. There seems to be little doubt that accessible pulp- 

 wood supplies in the Northeastern States and even in Canada are be- 

 coming scanty and hence more valuable (see evidence published in 

 Forestry Quarterly, Vol. XIV, pp. 770 ff.). 



In this connection the question of what can be expected from the 

 cut-over pulpwood lands regarding a second cut, regarding reproduc- 

 tion and regarding growth, is of interest. Answer to this question can, 

 of course, come only from a more or less detailed investigation. Such 

 an investigation has been started by the Canadian Commission of Con- 

 servation, and a preliminary report of the first season's work was given 

 at the annual meeting of the commission by Dr. C. D. Howe, in charge 

 of the investigation. During the summer of 1917 Dr. Howe examined 

 in a most painstaking manner, by careful analysis of sample areas, 



