PAPER AND PAPER STOCK 



FEW people realize that the preservation of our forests is 

 strictly a commercial matter. So' long as wood continues 

 cheaper than brick, stone, or concrete, just so long will we con- 

 tinue to build with wood. If paper can be manufactured from 

 wood pulp cheaper than from other kinds of paper stock, we 

 shall continue to cut down our forests and run them through 

 the pulp mills. The following article, taken from a paper- 

 maker's circular, throws an interesting light on the subject. 



In the earlier days of the paper industry the raw materials 

 used were linen and cotton rags, but with the growth of popula- 

 tion and the spread of education it soon became apparent that all 

 the rags in the world could not make a tithe of the paper supply 

 required by man, and therefore peat, straw — bleached and un- 

 bleached — esparto grass from Spain and northern Africa, were 

 introduced and speedily found their place as the basis of more 

 or less expensive grades. It was not, however, until attention 

 was called to the fact that cellulose could be obtained from 

 wood that paper-making reached its final and greatest develop- 

 ment. A supply of raw material was thus provided, apparently 

 inexhaustible, cheap, and equal in quality to all but the very 

 highest grade of rags ; and thus great newspapers, magazines, 

 and editions of books were made immediately possible for the 

 first time. 



During the past five years the acceleration in the rate of 

 consumption has been so great as to make it apparent that no 

 natural resource of the world could indefinitely supply the de- 

 mand for a paper-making material — this in spite of the fact 

 that the amount of wood used in the manufacture of paper is 



