EUROPE: ITALY. 



161 



number, who is compensated for his labor by a collection taken after 

 the reading is completed. Each auditor is expected to contribute at 

 least i solda (about i cent in United States money). 



CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION. 



Someone has said that *' the consumption of paper is a measure 

 of a people's culture. " The truth of this is fully proven in this com- 

 munity. The only daily in fact, the only paper published, daily or 

 weekly II Carriere di Catania, is a four-page sheet, 22 by 33 inches, 

 which claims a circulation of but 3,000 copies. 



The consumption of wrapping paper is proportionately small. 

 The custom of wrapping every parcel, as is done in the United States, 

 does not prevail. If a purchase is made at the bakery, meat or fish 

 market, a fruit stand, or at most of the provision stores, and one 

 wants the goods wrapped, the custom is for the buyer to take paper 

 with him usually an old newspaper or sheets from children's copy 

 books. These are used as long as they will hold together. Paper 

 is considered an expensive luxury, and no greater consumption can 

 be expected as long as the masses earn but a bare existence. 



There is no likelihood of Sicily ever becoming a producer of 

 paper, there being no raw material or water power and coal being 

 very expensive. The present price of steam coal is about $7 per ton 

 (2,240 pounds), f. o. b. bunkers, shipboard. 



An industry requiring large quantities of paper is the orange 

 and lemon trade, in which tissue is used for wrapping the fruit and 

 lining boxes. All of this now comes from northern Italy. One of 

 the largest shippers of fruit told me the price he paid was about 4^ 

 cents per pound, delivered. 



IMPORTS, DUTIES, DEALERS, ETC. 



The amount of paper received at this port in 1897 (last statistics 

 available), including paper, printed matter, books, music, and litho- 

 graphs, was as follows: 



S C R P & P- 



II 



