Economic Selection and Processing of Raw 

 Materials in the Paper Industry 



By MARTIN L. GRIFFIN, of the Emerson Laboratory, Springfield, Mass. 



THE selection of raw materials and 

 the most economic treatment of 

 them, or the determination of the 

 normal product from a given raw ma- 

 terial, is a most important question to 

 decide by those already in the business 

 or by others contemplating it. Failure 

 to grasp the significance of this results 

 in economic waste and loss of profits. 

 The artistic and commercial value also 

 of the product will often suffer se- 

 riously. 



The manufacture of paper naturally 

 lends itself to the tempering of such 

 raw materials as result from other in- 

 dustries. To a considerable degree it 

 is the treatment of by-products. It is, 

 or should be from the very start, a 

 building-up process from the raw ma- 

 terial. In a considerable sense, it is 

 a plastic art wherein the composition 

 of the finished product bears little re- 

 semblance to the original raw stock. 



The textile industry creates value in 

 cotton by the mechanical processes of 

 labor without changing its nature ; the 

 paper industry, taking the residue of 

 this and other industries, creates a new 

 value by mechanical and chemical treat- 

 ment ; and, without spinning and weav- 

 ing, molds a product comparable with 

 the finest fabrics. How great then 

 will be the gain to civilization when the 

 principle involved in this illustration 

 becomes the ruling spirit in paper mak- 

 ing! 



The manufacture of paper has made 

 enormous strides and has been highly 

 developed during the last few years, 

 but has, unfortunately, lost ground at 

 many points in economic treatment. The 

 extravagant consumption of paper has 



brought with it extravagant methods 

 of manufacture. 



Sawmills producing lumber for 

 structural and ornamental purposes 

 have given place to pulp mills, a large 

 proportion of which treat the wood 

 chemically, occasioning a shrinkage of 

 over one-half the original solid con- 

 tents. I except ground wood, of 

 course. This condition has come about 

 through a most natural process. The 

 value of our forests as a source of lum- 

 ber has been less than as a source of 

 paper stock, while stream conservation 

 and effect on climate, and all that goes 

 with it, have been given little consid- 

 eration. 



Undoubtedly there is already, or can 

 easily be produced, a sufficient quantity 

 of unappropriated material suitable for 

 the bulk of the needs of this industry. 



As the value of the forest increases, 

 there will be some lessening of the con- 

 sumption of wood, and a gradual ap- 

 propriation of other sources of raw ma- 

 terial until it has reached its normal 

 equilibrium. To this end, greater dili- 

 gence will be exercised by those mills 

 relying upon wood, in adapting their 

 conditions and processes to the most 

 economic results. 



Manufacturers who are making a 

 class of papers to which wood is nor- 

 mally adapted, as news and under cer- 

 tain conditions wrapping, will not pass 

 through the ordeal which those will 

 who have misapplied wood to the manu- 

 facture of higher grades, but still very 

 inferior for the uses designed. These, 

 in the nature of things, will have to 

 contend with the increasing cost of 

 wood, the growing revulsion of the pub- 



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