THE EXTENT OF THE BUSINESS IN THE UNITED STATES
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.
♦Publications of 1776 compared with 1900♦
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:
Daily. Weekly. Monthly. Quarterly. Total.
New York 186 1086 592 46 1910
Illinois 180 1109 305 18 1612
Pennsylvania 196 900 221 12 1329
Ohio 171 785 180 12 1148
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:
♦Export statistics♦
“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.
♦Number of mills in operation in United States♦
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:
♦Division of product♦
Writing 1,074,000
Book 2,650,000
News 4,856,000
Wrapping 3,617,000
Boards 3,230,000
Miscellaneous, including varieties
too numerous to mention 1,707,000
Ground wood and chemical wood pulp 10,966,000
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.
[Illustration: THE HYDRAULIC PRESS]
♦Paper ranks third among staple commodities♦
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.
♦Number of mills and their value♦
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.
♦Average output per plant♦
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.
♦Paper aids other industries♦
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.
♦Paper aids great reforms♦
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.”
♦The power of education♦
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.
Transcriber’s Notes
Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant
preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.
Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced
quotation marks retained.
Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained; occurrences of
inconsistent hyphenation have not been changed.
Both “watermark” and “water-mark” occur frequently.
Text uses “Pittsburg”, not “Pittsburgh”.
Page 27: “Henry VI” was mis-printed as “Henry VII”; corrected here.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of Paper-making, by Frank O. Butler