RAW MATERIAL FOR THE PAPER INDUSTRY 



135 



fibers are torn and broken, and, therefore, a paper made 

 wholly from ground pulp would lack strength. By the 

 chemical processes the entire fibers are separated by the 

 dissolving of the connecting lignin. For this reason 

 chemical pulp is added to ground pulp to give strength 

 to the paper. As the expense of making chemical pulp 

 is about twice that of making ground pulp, the smallest 

 possible amount is employed for the cheaper kinds of 

 paper such as those used for newspapers and catalogues. 

 This difference in cost is due partly to the fact that it 

 requires about two cords of peeled wood to produce one 

 ton of chemical pulp, as against one cord to make one 

 ton of ground pulp, and partly to the' fact that the cost 

 of chemicals used in those processes is considerable and 

 the plant involved is more expensive. In some newsprint 

 papers as much as 85 per cent of ground pulp is used. 

 The chief essentials for the location and operation of a 

 ground - pulp mill 

 are a plentiful sup- 

 ply of wood and 

 good water power. 

 For a sulphite mill, 

 wood, sulphur, 

 lime or limestone, 

 and coal are re- 

 quired. Most of the 

 sulphur, however, 

 used even in the 

 Northern mills, 

 comes from Louisi- 

 ana. 



Newsprint paper 

 must be cheap, rea- 

 sonably strong and 

 light-colored ; and, 

 as the sulphite 

 process is the only 

 one of the chemical 

 processes which 

 produces a light-colored paper, newsprint is made entirely 

 from ground and sulphite pulp. Papers made by other 

 methods could, of course, be bleached, but the expense 

 of this process would make it impracticable. Under 

 methods so far developed the resinous woods, such as 

 the Southern pines, cannot be used by the ground or 

 sulphite methods, and the short-fibered woods, such as 

 poplar, are not strong enough for newsprint. This class 

 of paper is, therefore, made entirely from such non- 

 resinous woods as the spruces, firs and hemlocks. On a 

 basis of 80 per cent of ground pulp, it requires about 1.5 

 cords of wood to produce one ton of newsprint paper, and 

 the cost of the wood amounts to from 30 to 40 per cent 

 of the cost of the paper. 



The soda and sulphate processes produce a dark- 

 colored paper. The latter is a comparatively new process 

 and may eventually take the place of the former, since it 

 produces a stronger paper known as "kraft." From such 

 long-fibered wood as that of the Southern pines a very 

 strong paper is produced, which is used largely for 



A PILE OF SPRUCE AND FIR LOGS TO BE MADE INTO NEWSPRINT PAPER 



wrapping purposes. The soda pulp is too soft for the 

 manufacture of wrapping paper. This process employs 

 chiefly such woods as poplar, basswood, gum, beech, 

 birch, maple and chestnut. When the soda pulp is 

 bleached, as nearly all of it is, it is used in making paper 

 for books and magazines. 



From the above it will be seen that most of our woods 

 may be used for paper making by one process or another, 

 but some are much better suited than others by reason of 

 their long fibers, their freedom from resin, or their 

 occurrence in large quantities. In 1918 the production of 

 wood pulp in the United States was 3,313,861 tons, a 

 decrease of 6 per cent from 1917. Of this amount 41 

 per cent was mechanical pulp, 44 per cent sulphite, 11 

 per cent soda and 4 per cent sulphate. The consump- 

 tion of cordwood by 250 establishments was 5,250,794 

 cords, of which about 744,518 cords were imported. 



These startling 

 figures naturally 

 suggest the in- 

 quiry whether our 

 forests can con- 

 tinue to furnish 

 such a vast 

 amount of wood 

 indefinitely. The 

 following table 

 shows the amount 

 of pulpwood con- 

 sumed in the 

 United States in 

 1918: 



Table I. Pulpwood 

 consumption, 1918. 

 Quantity of wood 

 consumed, by kinds, 

 with percentages of 

 distribution* 



Quantity, Distribution, 



Kind of Wood. Cords. Per Cent. 



Spruce Domestic 2,204,143 42.0 



Imported 666,164 12.7 



Hemlock 836,406 15.9 



Balsam fir 368,117 7.0 



Poplar Domestic 210,849 4.0 



Imported 78,354 1.5 



Jack pine 152,124 2.9 



Yellow pine 133,774 2.5 



Yellow poplar 61,247 1.2 



Tamarack : 52,031 1.0 



Gum 47,145 .9 



White fir 35,119 .7 



Cottonwood 18,685 .4 



Basswood 12,110 .2 



White pine 10,183 .2 



Beech, birch, maple and chestnut 202,930 3.9 



All other species 6,810 .1 



Slabs and other mill waste 154,603 2.9 



Total 5,250,794 



100.0 



* Pulpwood Consumption and Wood Pulp Production, 1918," by Franklin 

 H. Smith, Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture, ir 

 co-operation with the Newsprint Service Bureau. 



