3O2 PAPER IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



large offices in this city. The quantity of paper used was not far 

 from 1,700 tons. Upward of 25,000 sets were printed. This enter- 

 prise, by the way, was in the hands of an American syndicate, repre- 

 sented by the Times in the United Kingdom. The first edition of 

 5,000 copies was printed on American paper. Cheap editions of some 

 of the standard novels were issued last year, as was also the Edin- 

 burgh edition of Robert Louis Stevenson's books. The general print- 

 ing business in 1898, which was above the average, and the printing 

 of the encyclopaedia and of these novels required a tremendous 

 quantity of paper. 



An important trade has been developed in what is called "art 

 paper," produced now to a considerable extent by some of the Mid- 

 lothian mills. The consumption of this class of paper has increased 

 vastly in recent years. Art papers originated in the United States. 

 A company having mills near Edinburgh was among the first on this 

 side of the water to adopt the process, or one of the processes, of 

 making the paper. Commenting on the enterprise of these paper 

 makers in learning the secret of art paper, a member of a prominent 

 printing house said to me: 



But the Americans make the best art paper; not only that, the American mills 

 produce the best printings in general. They put a fine "skin," or finish, on the 

 paper. 



As to what proportion of the entire output of the paper mills in 

 the Edinburgh district is consumed in this market, the estimates of 

 men in the trade differ widely. A conservative estimate places it at 

 a third of the total value of the product. Of course, the class of 

 paper chiefly used is printing. A third of the annual product of all 

 kinds of paper (in value) would be not far from $3, 250,000. A well- 

 informed dealer ventures the opinion that an amount equal to the 

 proportion of the home product consumed here is brought from other 

 parts of Scotland, from England, and from foreign countries. This 

 would make the total annual consumption of paper of every descrip- 

 tion in Edinburgh and district $6,500,000. Not less than two-thirds 

 of this large paper bill is for printings. There are neither statistics 

 nor data of any kind available for a further estimate of the relative 

 quantities or values of the other classes of paper consumed. 



It may not be out of place to say that there is a large demand in 

 this part of Scotland for millboards and similar products. One of 

 the principal users of millboards and leather boards in Edinburgh 

 mentioned to me that when in the United States recently, he was 

 considerably interested in certain products in which highly com- 

 pressed paper was made to take the place of metal. He is convinced 

 that the manufacturers of these products, by applying themselves 



