﻿PHILIPPINE FIBERS. 107 



WATER POWER. 



Abundance of water power in the past has been a more important 

 factor in determining the location of paper mills than the nearness to 

 the source of raw materials or to the market. At the present time this 

 applies more particularly to plants producing mechanical or ground wood 

 pulp. Steam is necessary for the manufacture of chemical pulp as it is 

 used for heating the digesters and it also furnishes a much more efficient 

 and easily controlled power for running paper mill machinery. There 

 is an abundance of water power in the Philippines, but the cost of 

 installing plants and their location with respect to the commercial 

 centers precludes its utilization at the present time. 



MARKETS. 



The market in the Philippines. — The first consideration of the new 

 industry would manifestly be to supply the home market with those 

 grades of paper for which the raw materials are best suited. The annual 

 imports of paper of all kinds into the Philippine Islands approximates 

 $1,000,000 in value and the demand for newspapers, magazines and 

 books is multiplying yearly. This increased demand is but the natural 

 result of the growth of the public school system throughout the Islands, 

 which creates a greater desire for the knowledge of Western countries. 

 The main items of the total importation are pulp, writing, printing and 

 wrapping papers, all of which could largely be produced from native raw 

 materials. The local supply of cotton and linen rags could be drawn upon 

 for the finer grades of writing and note paper. No other city of its size 

 in the world is so large a consumer of cotton and linen textiles as Manila. 

 For the greater part, these are bleached and unadulterated with woolen 

 fiber, so that the very best grade of paper rags could no doubt be collected 

 here in considerable quantities. 



The foreign market. — Japan is a large importer of paper, approx- 

 imately $2,750,000 in value having been brought into that country in 

 1905. Japanese paper is principally made from rice straw and from the 

 bark of the mulberry, but the demand for wood pulp has increased so 

 greatly in the last four or five years that the Japanese Government has 

 begun a systematic study of the suitability of Japanese timber for the 

 purpose of manufacturing this article. 



In China, the trade in paper has also attained considerable dimensions, 

 statistics for 1905 showing importations approximating $2,000,000 in 

 value. Foreign capital has recently entered the field for the purpose of 

 manufacturing paper from bamboo, rice straw, etc., so as to meet the 

 rapidly growing trade. The nearness of both the Chinese and Japanese 

 markets should enable Philippine manufacturers to obtain at least a 

 share of the trade in tin's commodity. 



