EUROPE: FRANCE. 85 



which are subjected to cold maceration or to an active bath in water mingled with 

 some chemical agency. Paper is also made of wood shavings, to which plaster, 

 koalin, and ashes are added for the purpose of concealing the impurities and the 

 defects of fabrication. An increase of weight is distributed throughout the paper. 

 Moreover, paper which contains a large proportion of wood pulp quickly turns 

 yellow under the influence of light and heat. 



Professor Martens, director of the experimental institute of Charlottenburg, 

 was recently directed by the German Government to make scientific examinations 

 of the quality of the different kinds of paper employed in the State and private print- 

 ing houses. He caused to be sent him one hundred strips of paper taken out of 

 the different reviews and works printed for the State. Of the slips examined by 

 him, he found that the printing would remain legible for years upon only six. The 

 paper from which the strips were taken was made of rags. Twenty-five per cent 

 of the cellulose contained but very little wood pulp and a maximum of 8 per cent of 

 ashes. The greater number of the slips that is to say, sixty-two contained a large 

 proportion of wood pulp, ashes, plaster, etc. 



The professor concluded that the works printed upon that paper would be illeg- 

 ible in forty or fifty years. 



The master printers of France and the Association of Paper 

 Manufacturers, in which are represented the heads of printing houses 

 and lithographic and engraving establishments, favor the creation 

 of such a bureau as the one in question. M. Fortin, president of 

 the Central Union of Paper Manufacturers of France, read an argu- 

 ment in favor of the proposition which would fill about seven pages 

 of the Congressional Record. He favored the fixing of a special 

 "type" or quality of paper to be made for the Government and 

 bear a mark showing State control. The advantages to be derived 

 by manufacturers would be the certainty of having good work appre- 

 ciated, a simplification in methods of testing the qualities of prod- 

 ucts, guaranty of honest competition, and greater steadiness in 

 prices. 



He believed that the public would use stamped or controlled 

 paper in larger quantities because they would be sure of its good 

 quality; that it would meet with a large demand in foreign coun- 

 tries on account of its well-established character. French jewelry, 

 he says, is popular abroad on account of being made under Govern- 

 ment control. Inspected paper will be in demand by publishing 

 houses for editions de luxe and other works. In Government offices 

 stocks of paper, regularly numbered, will be constantly on hand, and 

 an official will choose a number according to the importance of the 

 document to be transcribed or printed. 



M. Fortin stated that all the professions represented in the syn- 

 dicate for which he spoke had been injured by the application of 

 new methods of manufacture, mechanical and chemical. The facil- 

 ity of obtaining almost unlimited quantities of raw material, pre- 

 pared for use at a relatively insignificant price, has caused production 

 to far outstrip the constantly increasing demand for paper. He 



