50 OUR VANISHLNG FORESTS 



use, but the spruce supply was not unlimited, and 

 balsam, hemlock, and many hardwoods began to be 

 mentioned with it. Brown paper manufacturers 

 learned to use the yellow pines from the south, Jack 

 pine and even Douglas fir, where supplies were avail- 

 able, and paper came to be made from sawmill 

 waste. This latter development, however, has been 

 much handicapped by the fact that the sawmills 

 have gradually receded to the west and left the 

 sister industry behind. There are, of course, a 

 number of paper makers on the Pacific Coast, but 

 generally speaking, large enough contiguous sup- 

 plies of the proper wood to justify the great expense 

 of putting up plants are comparatively rare. Paper 

 manufacturers are looking for the future even to 

 Alaska where there is still hemlock and spruce in 

 abundance. Remember, however, that if paper is 

 to be made five thousand miles away, the ultimate 

 consumer will have to pay the cost of transportation. 

 A number of experiments have been carried on 

 in an attempt to manufacture paper out of other 

 materials than wood, like corn stalks, straw and 

 certain grasses. It is possible to make some kind of 

 paper from any vegetable fibre, but as yet nothing 

 has appeared that can compete with wood in cheap- 

 ness, availability and adaptability. The solution of 

 the problem of raw material for paper making still 



