FORESTRY AND THE PAPER INDUSTRY 



BY HONORABLE D. F. HOUSTON 



SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE 



CONDITIONS in the paper industry have consti- 

 tuted one of the most serious of our domestic prob- 

 lems during the last year. Due to the exorbitant 

 prices charged for news print, the profits of the great 

 dailies were either wiped out entirely or else reduced to 

 a minimum, while the small publishers were brought face 

 to face with suspension and even absolute ruin. Periodical 

 publishers have fared no less badly, the profits of book pub- 

 lishers have changed to losses in many cases, and the price 

 of paper of every kind has risen by leaps and bounds. 



The Federal Trade Commission has brought some 

 measure of relief to the newspaper publishers. Compe- 

 tition has been freed from restraint, prices have been made 

 to bear a closer relation to the cost of production, and a 

 more equitable system of distribution has been devised so 

 that the "little fellows" will get their fair share of the man- 

 ufactured product. But, while the inquiry of the Com- 



mission developed artificial control, it developed also that 

 there is almost an equal balance between supply and 

 demand in the paper industry. 



In 1914, we used about 5,000 tons of news print 

 every day. Our present use has reached 6,000 tons a day 

 and the demand appears to be increasing at the rate of 

 10 per cent a year, materially faster than the increase in 

 population. To supply our presses with news print re- 

 quires annually about 3,000,000 cords of pulpwood. To 

 meet our requirements for magazine and book paper, sta- 

 tionery and business papers of all forms, wrapping papers, 

 wall papers, cardboard, fiber board and the like, 4,000,000 

 cords more of pulpwood are consumed annually. Pro- 

 duction barely keeps pace with this consumption. For 

 instance, the estimated demand for news print for the first 

 six months of 1917 is 888,000 tons. Against this is placed 

 an estimated supply of 930,000 tons. 





THE GLENS FALLS BOOM, GLENS FALLS, NEW YORK 



Pulpwood in the Hudson River on its way to the paper mill, indicating in a small measure the vast quantities of pulpwood taken from the forests of northern 



New York to be made into print paper. 



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