258 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



PULPWOOD REQUIREMENTS 

 STATISTICAL 



Wood is today the preeminent raw material for the manufacture 

 of paper, boards, and other fiber products, a fact that is clearly 

 shown by table 6. 



Attempts have been made from time to time, and are still being 

 made, to pulp other fibrous plants, both cultivated and wild. Esparto, 

 straws, bagasse, and cornstalks are being used with varying degrees 

 of success. But wood is the most compact form of cellulose fiber 



1810 1830 1850 1870 1890 1910 1930 



FIGURE 4. Per capita consumption of paper and boards, as related to use of wood and rags 



that exists in nature and is hence the cheapest and easiest raw material 

 to handle. Wood pulp was first used as a substitute for rags in 

 making paper only 70 years ago and today about 85 per cent of 

 our paper has its origin in the forests. 



Figure 4, plotted on logarithmic ordinates, shows that the trend of 

 per capita consumption of paper has maintained a uniform rate of 

 increase over a 120-year period, during which time wood pulp has 

 displaced rags as the chief raw material, and domestic woods have 

 failed to supply all our pulp wood requirements. Such a record of 

 increasing use cannot be set aside, even though current consumption 

 may indicate a change in trend. Increasing per capita consumption, 

 together with increasing population, has brought our total paper 

 consumption to 12# million tons in 1930 as shown in table 7. 



