The story of paper-making

The century just past has witnessed a marvelous growth in the paper industry. As a seedling oak, first struggling for root-hold and then pushing its way steadily upward through difficulties and obstructions, it has assumed giant proportions, being now firmly established beyond any possibility of disturbance, and sending its branches in every direction. Many causes have contributed to this wonderful development.

In no country of the world are books and newspapers read so extensively as in the United States, whose people must be thoroughly cosmopolitan if, as has been said, “every man who reads the newspaper is a citizen of the world.” In 1776, the natal year of our independence, there were in all the colonies thirty-seven publications, whose total yearly output did not exceed as many thousands; in 1900, according to tabulated statistics, the thirty-seven had increased to twenty thousand eight hundred and six regular daily, weekly, and monthly publications, and their aggregate output is counted not by thousands, nor even millions, but by billions. This too has no reference whatever to the myriad of publications which, while appearing intermittently, are not issued at stated periods; it refers only to regular periodicals, including our daily papers. ♦Illinois’ rank in number of publications♦ In an analysis of these interesting statistics we of Illinois find occasion for great gratification, as it develops that in the number of her publications Illinois outstrips all of her sister states except New York, ranking a close second in the grand total, and even taking first place in the number of her weekly issues. The following table shows the exact figures and their divisions of the four leading states:

An increase of such phenomenal proportions as indicated by these figures makes tremendous demands upon allied and tributary industries, but the increase in the production of paper of the variety required has been sufficient to meet these demands. These conditions, however, affect only one branch of the industry. The increase in the publication of books, together with the multiplicity of commercial and industrial uses to which paper may be put, as briefly outlined in the preceding chapter, explain an expansion that would otherwise be inexplicable. Another cause to be taken into account, a third factor in the wonderful growth of the century, is the export trade. President Hugh J. Chisholm, in his annual report to the American Paper and Pulp Association in New York City, February 15, 1899, made the following statement:

“The past year has been one of marvelous expansion in the export trade of this country. Our industry has shared in this increase of foreign trade, but not to the extent that it ought. Our own markets being the best in the world, manufacturers in past years have naturally confined their efforts practically to them, but we have reached such proportions in our ability to manufacture all kinds of paper that it seems as though there was never a more opportune time to explore and make conquest of the foreign paper market. The amount of paper exported during the eleven months ending with November, 1897, was $4,014,842, and for the eleven months ending November, 1898, $5,143,055, showing an increase of $1,128,213.”

During the past two years there has been even a greater proportionate increase. Considering the fact that ten years ago the exportation of paper was practically unknown, it will be quickly seen that we are fast forging to the front and taking the position in foreign fields which, as the leading paper manufacturing country of the world, we now fully merit. Our products are generally at a premium in foreign markets, and American genius, enterprise, and versatility are everywhere recognized. This export trade also acts as a safety-valve against overproduction, and by thus preserving equality between supply and demand lends stability and confidence to the industry.

There are to-day in the United States 762 different concerns owning and now operating one thousand and seventy paper and pulp mills; these are distributed through thirty-five different states. Of these, New York shows the greatest output, the capacity of her mills being 7,854,000 pounds daily, or nearly one-quarter the total daily output of the United States. Next to the Empire State comes Maine, with a daily capacity of 3,723,000 pounds, while Wisconsin and Massachusetts take third and fourth rank, their mills producing, respectively, 2,674,000 and 2,195,000 pounds daily. Massachusetts upholds her literary reputation by ranking first in the production of both writing and book papers. In the production of wood-pulp paper New York easily outstrips all competitors, her output being nearly double that of any other state, while Maine stands second and Wisconsin third. The total daily capacity (not production) of the paper and pulp mills of the United States is estimated at 28,100,000 pounds, divided according to varieties as follows:

The process of paper-making is continuous, owing to the great expense involved in wiping or cleaning the machinery, an operation necessary to prevent the pulp from drying to or rusting the many parts through which it passes from the time of its entrance into the washer and beater until it comes forth as a finished and perfect product. Allowing three hundred working-days a year to each mill, the total annual output possible would be 4,215,000 tons, which, allowing thirty thousand pounds to a car, would make 281,000 carloads. According to statistics gathered by the United States Commissioner of Labor for the first six months of 1898, the seven hundred and twenty-three plants, many of them having two or three separate mills, actually produced 1,733,019 tons of paper and pulp. This would make 3,466,038 tons for the entire year, although the mills were not run to their full capacity, by any means. The six months from October 1, 1899, to March 31, 1900, mark probably the greatest activity the paper trade ever experienced. The mills were taxed to their utmost to supply demands which were fierce and exacting. The difference between the actual production as estimated for the year 1898 and the present estimated capacity of the mills is 750,000 tons; and as the increased demand has taken up a large proportion of this, it is safe to assume that not for many years have the mills run so nearly to their full capacity as during the two just past. ♦Estimated value of total output for 1900♦ Estimating an average price on all the different classes of paper, not including pulp, the total value of the output for 1900 would amount to about $150,000,000.

Statistics bring out the interesting fact that over one-quarter of the paper output is roll and sheet news paper. If an average value of 2¼ cents per pound at the mills be allowed for this, it is evident that the users of news paper pay out some thirty-two million dollars every year for this important product. Notwithstanding the fact that this paper is sold for one-sixth of the current price of twenty-five years ago, it is yet greatly improved in quality. As a staple in this country, paper has come to rank third in importance in the list of man’s wants. The products of mother earth hold first place, including foodstuffs, raiment, etc.; and the second place must be given to iron and steel, the bulwark of our commercial life. Paper follows next, as the keystone of our intellectual life, and promises in the years to come to play even a more important part in the upbuilding of our modern advancement and business. The conditions of civilization are such that intelligent reading is one of the essentials in individual progress. Affording as it does food for the mind, and opening up the way to profitable employment through which the bodily wants are supplied, reading might almost be classed as next in importance to the food that nourishes and gives strength to the body. On account of its large production of the higher grades of writing, book, and ledger papers, Massachusetts leads in the value of the output; if our estimates are correct, the value of the paper of all varieties manufactured in the state was about $25,000,000 for the year 1900, or one-sixth of the entire estimated product. New York follows with an almost equal amount in the value of the product, while Maine, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania will show about $10,000,000 each, the five states thus making, in value, over one-half of the paper manufactured in the country. In considering these figures it must be taken into account that by increasing the width of the webs and the rate of speed at which the paper passes over the machine, the possible output has in many plants been more than quadrupled during the past ten years, which in part explains the doubling of the value of the output since 1890, during which year, according to the government census, the output amounted in value to $74,308,388.

The number of paper-making establishments is placed at 762, operating 1,070 mills, and the value of the plants is $107,759,974; 52,391 persons find employment in the industry, and are paid wages aggregating $23,575,950, while the value of the material used reaches $78,067,882.

During the decade between 1880 and 1890 the number of paper plants proper had decreased from 692 to 567, 125 in all, or eighteen per cent. In 1880 the average number of employes to each factory was thirty-five, with an average yearly output from each plant of $79,639. During the ten years that followed, the average number of employes in a factory rose to 53, and the average yearly output from each plant to $131,056. With a decrease of 125 mills during that period, there must have been an increase of 5,831 employes and of $19,198,564 in the value of the output.

While the stately array of figures already marshaled is an impressive reminder of the wonderful development of the paper industry, which we accept unthinkingly as one of the benefits of a marvelous century, mere numerals can never tell the whole story. They must be forever silent as to the aims and purposes, the patient efforts, the determination and perseverance, the alternation of defeat and triumph which are embodied in the perfected product of to-day. It is not for them to chronicle the crude beginnings of the industry in the days of the dim and far-away past, nor to trace the slow steps by which it has advanced to its present commanding position. As our earlier chapters recount, its most marvelous strides forward have occurred during the hundred years just past.

The century that has marked such material progress in the production of paper has been pre-eminently one of vast intellectual and industrial activity and advancement, and it is a fair statement that paper has not only contributed largely to the general progression that has taken place, but through it as a medium standards have been reached that must have remained unknown were it not for its efficient service. Through man’s inventive genius the utility of this valuable product has been increased a hundred-fold, and its wider use has been the means of broadening and extending other manufactories. It has aided invention, and is the medium through which new discoveries, theories, and conclusions have been proclaimed. It is the handmaid of literature and music, and through its fostering agency the highest culture is to-day placed within the possible reach of the masses. Formerly, any considerable degree of learning was confined to the favored few—they were the “wise men” and the “magi”; those who could read even the simplest forms of language were the decided exception, and works to be read were rare, and confined to the libraries of the great cities. To-day, through the abundance and cheapness of publications, all men may hold close communion with the minds of leading thinkers past and present, and the melodies of the great masters are brought within the hearing of all. ♦Paper’s service to the fine arts♦ In art it has served as noble a purpose as in literature and music. The fineness and delicacy of surface, attained through modern processes, make possible the half-tone and other fac-simile reproductions, which cultivate an appreciation of the beautiful and carry into even the humblest of homes the refining influences of great works of art; reproductions used in illustration also elucidate and render great assistance to the correct interpretation of scientific and other publications.

But do these material attainments mark, in themselves, man’s greatest achievements? Vast and complete as they are, our answer must be no. Each, within itself a type of highest thought, becomes an integral factor in the progression of the race, the perfectability of man, his nature and condition.

The advanced thinkers of to-day agree that the hundred years just ended have been especially remarkable from a humanitarian standpoint. They have been made notable by movements tending toward man’s elevation, toward the righting of his wrongs, and the alleviation of his sufferings. Victor Hugo declares: “This century is the grandest of centuries ... because it is the sweetest. This century ... freed the slave in America, elevated the pariahs in Asia, extinguished the funeral pile in India, and crushed the last fire-brands at the martyr’s stake in Europe.” If we ask how these great reforms were wrought, the answer must be, in part at least, that their accomplishment was the result of public sentiment properly educated and directed. This were surely impossible without paper. By dint of the universality of its service to mankind the ruling minds of all thinking nations are frequently placed upon a common plane, becoming possessed of common convictions, and upon the sudden presentation of important international problems, often act with a degree of unison that strikingly illustrates how much of one mind we are, how nearly upon one plane the thoughts of men are moving. As a force both in shaping and giving expression to public opinion, the press wields a power that is at once unquestioned and invincible. As Chapin says, the productions of the press “go abroad through the land, silent as snowflakes, but potent as thunder.” Power without an agency of expression is helpless, and the paper sheet is the medium that makes possible the potency of the press. On its white wings it bears abroad the inspired words that stir men’s hearts and prove the heralds of “liberty, equality, and fraternity.”

When man has been set free from his fetters, whether they be the physical ones of iron or the no less binding chains of caste and custom, he is helpless until education and enlightenment restore to him the manhood, independence, and self-reliance which he has been denied. It is the chief glory of this century that mankind has been helped to a higher intellectual plane and the blessings of truth and knowledge have been more widely disseminated than ever before. “The statesman is no longer clad in the steel of special education, but every reading man is his judge.” Higher education has brought to man a quickened sense of the inherent nobility of his nature, and has changed his conceptions of the relations that exist between his own life and that which pulsates about him. To quote again from the great French writer: “This century proclaims the sovereignty of the citizen and the inviolability of life; it crowns the people and consecrates man.” And this broadened enlightenment, this deepened sense of man’s dignity and nobility, have in their turn contributed to the humanitarian side of life, making it easier to redress wrong and establish justice.

In all these great movements of the century, paper has been the means of transmitting intellectual force; it has been the messenger and herald of better things than the world had known. Its history has always been closely linked with that of man; it has been the pace-maker of his progress, in the realm of mechanics and of economics as well as in music, literature, and art. They have come up together out of the past; they are associated in noble and uplifting work in the present; together they go forward to such broader fields of usefulness as the future may disclose.