Standing timber is one fire risk that hitherto has not been regarded with favor by the fire insurance companies. Some insurance of this sort has been written in Canada by the London Lloyds on separate limited tracts and an excess loss only, the insured bearing all losses below this limit. The Phoenix Insurance Co., of London, is, however, this year writing some insurance upon green standing timber in Oregon and Washington, with certain restrictions, and at rates varying from 1 and 1½ per cent. The timber must be accessible to markets, not unduly exposed to fire hazard, and only one risk is taken in each fire zone or area indicated by the Company. No risk is written greater than $17,500 in any one such area.
W. R. Brown in an article on this subject in “American Forestry” goes in to some detail in discussing the possibilities of this subject. He summarizes the fire experiences within the territory of various fire prevention associations, and his figures include the 22,000,000 acres under the supervision of E. C. Allen in the twelve western private fire prevention associations which he supervises; the New Hampshire Timberland Owners’ Association with 1,000,000 acres; the Northern Fire Protective Association of Michigan with 2,000,000 acres; the St. Maurice Valley Fire Protective Association of Quebec with an area of 8,000,000 acres—the total of the four associations being 33,000,000 acres. The expenditure for forest ranging and fire prevention is approximately 1 cent an acre for the first three and ¼ cent an acre for the Canadian organization. In the western associations the fire loss for the year 1910 was one-half of 1 per cent. In each association since that time it has been much less than that figure, except for 1914 in the Canadian association, when one fire got away and the fire loss of the year was three-fourths of 1 per cent. upon the timber valuation. Taking all four areas together and summarizing the figures for each which Mr. Allen gives, the average yearly losses respectively were as follows:
1910, .005; 1911, .000171; 1912, .0002328; 1913, .0012636; 1914, .00253; 1915, .00427.
The writer concludes from these figures that in such protective areas fire insurance should cost for the loss ratio not over one-half per cent. annually, with another one-half per cent. added for administration cost of the insurance plan. He gives some further experience upon which to base this conclusion. In Minnesota during the last ten years, with its forest wealth of $280,000,000, the average fire loss has been about $100,000 or one-thirty-fourth of 1 per cent. annually.—American Lumberman.
A new German textile in which paper is spun with about 20 per cent. of cotton is being exhibited in Copenhagen.
Unspun cotton in the form of down is glued to one side of endless rolls of paper and the paper is then shorn into narrow bands, which are spun with the cotton side outwards.
Danish experts were shown “paper” underclothing, jerseys, sheets, bandages, and horse blankets, but the cost of production of the cloth is said to be too high to allow its competing with cotton and woolen cloth under normal conditions.
Forestry can never appeal to individual enterprise on a large scale. Returns are too slow. As a national enterprise of the highest importance it is gaining recognition, and there is a tendency among some American cities to take advantage of its many possibilities. With the exception of the vicinity of the Great Lakes, the world’s largest reservoir of pure fresh water, cities must have water supplies from available drainage or watershed areas. These can be devoted to forestry with advantage from a sanitary point of view, and also with profit when the trees begin to mature. Where convenient, the forested area can also be made to serve as public parks. The city of Fall River, Mass., began in 1909 to plant trees in Watuppa Pond Reservation. There are 3,232 acres of land belonging to the municipality in a natural forest condition and 1,552 acres suitable for reforesting. The trees are supplied by the State Forestry Bureau. The Metropolitan Water Board, which represents Boston and other cities in this matter, has planted, chiefly in the Wachusetts Reservation, about 1,800 acres with forest trees. In six years the State forestry service has furnished to the cities of the State a sufficient number of trees to cover 1,481 acres, and it is estimated that 15,000 acres in city reservoir tracts have been put under some kind of forest treatment. Massachusetts has gone beyond the use of the watershed reservations for this purpose. An act was passed by the Legislature three years ago permitting cities to buy land to be kept distinctly as forests, quite aside from water purposes. There are now several of these city forests in existence.
Elsewhere in the United States the same tendency exists. In ten large and middling-sized cities forest domains aggregating over 150,000 acres are maintained, and it is probable that municipal forests comprise 250,000 acres. Newark, N.J., has a forest of 22,000 acres, and in time the whole of it may be scientifically forested. Hartford, Conn., has a forest property of 4,000 acres, which is being developed for timber production. Here are examples for Canadian cities. Winnipeg’s water development may be made to serve a double purpose. Even Toronto’s suburban ravines, though unsuited and unnecessary for water supply, might serve the dual purpose of timber production and park systems. Municipal trading has many critics, often unreasonable, but municipal reforesting should be made a possibility where Provincial authority is neglecting its duty in that regard and falling behind in the march of progress.—Toronto Globe.
Fifty newspaper publishers of Florida are considering establishment of a plant to manufacture paper from pulp of fibrous trees and bushes in that state, particularly palmetto. Investigations have shown fibrous material is of better quality than spruce pulp which is used in manufacture of newsprint.
In connection with the advance in paper issues, timber limits, which normally have a value of about $1,000 a square mile, have risen to $2,000 a square mile.
A prominent dealer who returned a few days ago from the Quebec woodlands reports that the supply of pulpwood this year is but 50 per cent. of what it was a year ago because of the inability to get labor.
The following information furnished by United States consuls and published in the United States Commerce Reports, will be of interest to the Canadian paper trade:—
The scarcity of paper, and particularly of news-print paper, in Rio de Janeiro is still a serious matter. While stocks have been replenished, there are signs that another crisis is approaching. The “Jornal do Commercio”, the leading daily paper of the city, in an editorial on July 7, seriously proposed that unless the Brazilian Congress saw fit to reduce the import duties on news-print paper for a time, all the newspapers of the country should begin to eliminate news that was superfluous and print smaller daily editions so as to save paper.
The matter has attracted widespread attention, perhaps on account of the impressions that importers usually profit by a scarcity on the local market to make exorbitant demands for what stocks they may have on hand. Although the serious situation now confronting the country has been looming up threateningly for a long time past, no effort seems to have been made to save paper or to collect waste paper and rags.
Senhor Dunshee de Abrantee, of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, himself a man familiar with journalism and the needs of the paper trade, has already presented to Congress a proposed amendment to the forthcoming budget law, providing that imported paper shall pay no duty and only the expediente tax on entering the country.
The scarcity of paper in Spain has caused some anxiety, and representatives of Spanish publishers, printers, and manufacturers of paper and cardboard have informed the Government of their willingness to postpone filling export orders until after the domestic demand for their products has been fully met. They also expressed a desire that the Government fix prices and conditions to control the export of raw materials used in paper manufacture. Accordingly, a royal order, published June 15, 1916, appointed a commission, a representative of the Government presiding, formed of three delegates chosen from each interested group, namely, paper manufacturers, newspaper publishers, and those engaged in bookmaking arts.
This commission is to pass on all complaints formulated, proposing, if necessary, such methods as it judges opportune with respect to the export of paper and un-manufactured cardboard. The custom house authorities must submit to this commission a sample of every class of paper or cardboard exported, its origin, and the name of the exporter.
The paper-making interests in Spain employs chiefly wood-pulp, and its price has increased about 85 per cent since the war began. Imports of wood-pulp in 1913 amounted to 61,000 metric tons of 2,204.6 pounds each; in 1914 to 40,000 tons, and in 1915 to 50,000 tons. More than half of this supply comes from Sweden; other sources are Germany and Norway.
Wood-pulp and logs for making pulp coming from foreign countries were exempted from the transport tax in March last, and an export duty of 18 pesetas gold per 100 kilograms ($1.58 per 100 pounds) levied on endless paper weighing from 41 to 50 grams per square metre and containing mechanical pulp.
In his address before the New York Business Publishers’ Association, formerly the New York Trade Press Association, at the Advertising Club of New York on Oct. 2, Judge C. F. Moore, secretary of the Bureau of Statistics of the Book Paper Manufacturers’ Association, declared that there was a real paper famine in the United States, and that the law of supply and demand was solely responsible for the present high prices of book paper.
He went on to say that the people in the United States were enormously busy and that they were using more paper than ever before; that there was a more acute paper famine abroad than in America, that the mills in the United States were all working day and night six days a week, and that because of discouraging legislation passed by Congress in the past the paper manufacturers had not been keen on building new plants and installing new machinery when there was such a chance for keen competition from abroad. He asserted that there had been no agreement by paper makers to boost the price or to regulate it.
Lockwood’s Directory of the Paper & Stationery Allied Trades for 1917, has just been received by the Pulp and Paper Magazines. The work has come to be regarded as a standard publication, and is eagerly looked for by those engaged in the pulp and paper industry.
The Directory this year contains 768 pages as compared with 742 pages for the previous year. It contains a vast amount of information relating to paper dealers, rag and paper stock dealers, paper box manufacturers, twine manufacturers, wall paper makers, envelope manufacturers, paper bag producers, trade associations, the stationary trade, water marks and brands, etc.
The Trade Statistics contained in the Paper are brought right up to date, which in view of the changed conditions brought about by the European war, make it of particular value. The price to anyone engaged in the trade is $3.00. It is published by the Lockwood Journal Company, 10 East 39th St., New York.
It is estimated by the New York State College of Forestry that 640 cords of beech, birch and maple wood are used every day in the wood distillation industry in New York State. The industry has been greatly stimulated by the European war inasmuch as acetate of lime, of one the principal products of the industry, is used in the manufacture of high explosives.
At the present time there are but three idle pulp and paper mills in Canada, two of which are located in British Columbia, and the third in Nova Scotia. These are all small mills, and in contrast to that, it is only necessary to point out that all the other mills in Canada are working to capacity.
The annual consumption of paper pulp wood in the United States is 4,300,000 cords, representing an expenditure of $36,000,000 by approximately 250 companies.
When a man is “on his uppers” he is in a very serious condition for then his shoe soles have worn out and he has no money to buy more. This expression therefore carries with it the assumption that the uppers of our shoes wear better than the soles. It is a slang phrase of recent introduction: for can we not recall our boyhood days, and see those gorgeous patches on our Sunday best wax calf shoes, or our every day high boots—patches which were striking emblems of the cobbler’s art? Yes, the soles outwore the uppers then, but they had other less desirable qualities than durability. Hark back, and you can hear again that vibrant reverberation echoing upon the stillness of the Sabbath morn as the deacon, contribution box in hand, tip-toed up and down the aisle; every squeak of those blessed boots sounding like the droaning of a rusty saw in a hemlock log.
Times have changed, however, since those happy days. The Chemist has been busy, and his achievements in the leather industry have been revolutionary. In 1884, Augustus Schultz of New York City, who was not a tanner but a chemist, patented a process for tanning with chromium salts. As a result of this discovery, over ninety per cent. of the shoes worn throughout the world to-day are made with chrome-tanned upper leather. This chrome-tanned leather, which, we are proud to say was made commercially possible in America, is cheaper, more durable, easier to manufacture, holds its shape better, and, in every other respect, is superior to bark-tanned leather of former years. This is the reason why we do not wear patches on our shoe uppers to-day.
The sole leather of to-day, it is claimed, does not wear so well as that of former years. Possibly this may be the case, but still the statement is open to a question. Granted, however, that the sole leather of fifty years ago did wear somewhat longer, there are reasons why we should not care to return to its use. In place of the old style leather, which was a hard and as hard and as slippery as steel, we now have a leather which cuts well, looks well, and, above all else, feels well on the foot. Therefore, looking to our comfort as we do, we would never be satisfied with the shoes that grandpa used to wear.
The meeting of the American Chemical Society, which was held in New York City during the week of September 25 to 30, and the Exposition of Chemical Industries meeting there at the same time, makes us wonder if the chemist will soon be able to make the sole of a shoe wear as long as the upper. Something along this line may be forthcoming, as it is pretty well known in the trade that a sole leather can be produced by means of a so-called chrome combination tannage which will outwear bark-tanned leather three to one. To prove this point, a recent series of tests were made on twenty mail carriers and twenty policemen in New York City. On the right shoe of each was a sole made from a chrome combination, and on the left was the best oak sole obtainable. On the average, two oak soles wore through and the men were on the third before the chrome combination saw its finish.
With the price of leather constantly going up and the supply of hides not sufficient to meet the demand, the time is soon coming when we shall be forced to produce sole leather possessing a greater degree of wearing quality. We shall then have shoes on our feet which will be like the proverbial, “One Horse Shay”; for, when they do go, even the cobbler will not be able to find the pieces.
Reference is made in a recent issue of the “Scientific American” to the excellent work being done at the Bureau of Standards, Washington, D.C. In relation to the pulp and paper laboratory presided over by Frederick C. Clark, a prominent member of the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry, the “Scientific American” says:
“Some time ago, the Government, realizing that we were cut off from supplies of rags and waste paper, which heretofore had been imported in large quantities, appealed to the public to save such refuse material and sell it to paper manufacturers. As a result of this appeal, a manufacturer of waxed paper asked the Department of Commerce whether any use could be made of clippings of his product. In the production of waxed paper sheets, this company is burdened with large quantities of clippings, which have been hauled away by the carload and destroyed. Owing to the association of the paraffin wax with the fiber of the paper, such clippings cannot be introduced into ordinary paper pulp.”
(Telegraph, St. John, N.B.).
Quebec, some years ago, established a provincial nursery, and this year, in addition to the young trees planted on Crown lands, the provincial nursery shipped 400,000 seedlings to pulp and paper companies which are reafforesting the lands they have cut over. The Laurentide company alone bought 250,000 of these young trees. A large number were sold to other pulp and paper companies, and to private individuals. The Perthius seignory alone bought 50,000 seedlings this year; and this is the sixth year in succession during which trees have been bought from the province for use in this seignory. With this example just over our provincial line fence, New Brunswick continues a policy of waste and neglect.
New Zealand paper shortage is interfering greatly with printing business and the government is limiting publications turned out by it. Because of difficulty in getting paper, managers of a number of publications talk of suspending.
Supplies of certain lines of paper, cardboards, pasteboards, etc., are almost impossible to obtain, and it seems unlikely that this condition will improve much until some time after the war, unless American or Canadian manufacturers are able to relieve the situation. Scarcity of envelopes is very marked, and it is almost impossible to obtain certain lines. One firm in Auckland took orders for 25,000,000 envelopes, but has been able to get orders accepted in the United States for only 15,000,000, and to date only 5,000,000 have been delivered.
The output of pulp and paper from British Columbia last year was 50,307 tons of manufactured paper and 13,000 tons of sulphite pulp, valued at $3,200,000.
(Special to Pulp and Paper Magazine).
October 14, 1916.
Considerable interest was manifest in the New York paper circle during the past fortnight by the resignation from the International Paper Company of Arthur E. Wright. Mr. Wright has been connected with the International for many years. At one time he was Vice-President and Sales Manager, but several years ago he relinquished the former position to devote his entire time to the daily distribution of the company’s 1,500 tons of paper. Mr. Wright has been appointed Secretary of the Perkins-Goodwin Company at 33 West 42nd Street, New York, and has already assumed his new duties.
Another addition to its mills is announced by the Union Bag & Paper Company. At the offices of the big concern in the Woolworth Building, New York, it was said last week it had been decided to build a plant at Hudson Falls, N.Y., for the manufacture of paper bags. The specifications call for a four story building, 100 by 400 feet. Work will be begun immediately and when completed it is expected to increase the company’s pay roll by approximately 400 people.
Press dispatches from San Francisco, Cal., state that the Northwestern Compo Board Company, which, by the way, is a branch of the C. A. Smith Lumber Company, had negotiated with the Union Lumber Company to utilize its redwood refuse at Fort Bragg, Cal., for the manufacture of Compo board. It is also understood that work will be started immediately upon the erection of a suitable mill at that place.
Hans Lagerlof, President of the Scandinavian Trading Company, with offices in the Produce Exchange Building, New York, has just returned from a protracted trip through Scandinavia. Mr. Lagerlof left the States last July, and relates some very interesting experiences during his sojourn in the war zone.
After being idle for about six years, the old paper mills at Mount Holly Springs, Mass., will shortly resume operations. The Mount Holly Paper Mills, Inc., has been chartered in Massachusetts to take over the properties and good will of the old concern. The officers of the new corporation are: Frank Locke, President; H. T. Maynard, Vice-President and General Manager, and H. A. G. Locke, Treasurer. It is stated that the mills will be placed in operations as soon as repairs can be made and new necessary machinery installed.
The Northwestern Paper Company, of Minneapolis, Minn., has amended its charter increasing its capital from $1,000,000 to $1,500,000.
Quite a number of the leading paper jobbers exhibited at the third annual printing show at New York, September 30th to October 7th, where they demonstrated their various grades of papers to the printers of the country. This exhibition has always interested the paper jobbers very much, and it was said that this year’s show was attended by a greater number of people than ever before.
The correspondent on the Pacific Coast of one of the leading trade journals states in a current dispatch that the Hawley Pulp and Paper Company is building a new pare mill at Oregon City, Ore. Orders have been placed for the machinery and excavation for a concrete foundation has begun. It is expected that the mill will be ready for operation about Spring time.
It is understood on good authority that the Kalamazoo Paper Company, Kalamazoo, Mich., in order to have sufficient power to run its new coating plant, will increase its present power plant by the installation of a new 1,250 horsepower turbine engine. Other necessary additions will also be added which will make the company have one of the largest power plants in the state.
The Delaware charters during the past fortnight listed the Roberts Sulphite Company. Objects of the new corporation are to deal in wood pulp and paper stock. The capital stock is placed at $2,500,000.
Another large pulp corporation to be reported during the past fortnight is the Filer Fibre Company. This is a $300,000 concern. It proposes to engage in the manufacture of wood pulp at Manistee, Mich. It is understood that the concern, which is backed by E. G. Filer, will begin immediately the building of its mill, and be in operation sometime about the early spring.
Fifty newspaper publishers of the State of Florida, convened at Jacksonville on October 6th and 7th to discuss the high cost of printing paper and consider the advisability of establishing a plant in Florida to manufacture paper from pulp of fibrous trees and bushes, particularly the palmetto. Investigations, it is said, have shown that fibrous materials are of better quality than the spruce pulp which is used by the mills in the north. Several specimens were shown at the meeting and those from the Florida trees showed more tensile strength than any of the other grades submitted. It was said that the Florida editors will endorse and promote any move that will bring about the establishment of a mill in that state.
New York, N.Y., October 7, 1916.
The outlook in ground wood pulp is very discouraging, so far as the consumer is concerned. There is now a definite certainty that the market must continue to grow more acute and that the value of pulp will be on the ascendancy for some time. While there has been no material increase in the quotations reported for ground wood, since our last issue, these figures are beginning to represent nominal issues, for it is becoming rather difficult to negotiate for such supplies. Now, more than ever, does the prediction, made several months ago, that ground wood pulp would reach $40.00 per ton, seem plausible. From the grinders come reports that they have little to offer. They are working their mills to capacity fulfilling obligations which carry them through the balance of the year. Those mills which have surplus stocks are asking tophigh prices.
It is most unfortunate at this time, but it is understood that, in various parts of the country, the water conditions are very poor and that it is with difficulty many of the machines are being kept in operation. In fact, some of the mills have been shut down a good part of the time, owing to lack of water power. This is a very serious condition, because the demand has reached extraordinary proportions. Not only is there the usual call for ground wood, caused by the Fall business, but there is an added demand, stimulated by the shortage of sulphites and the rush of many mills to substitute, as far as possible, the ground wood pulp. Present quotations have already reached $30 per ton, f.o.b. mill.
Conditions in the sulphite markets seem to be growing worse, rather than showing any tendency to improve. Importations are very limited and it is apparent that the foreign producers are not at all very anxious to have much of their stock sent to his country. For, they say, the continent of Europe presents a much better paying field. It is understood that the Germans, the French, Italians, and the other countries which are able to get stock from Sweden are paying whatever is being asked—more than the current quotations in the United States. Domestic mills are working to capacity and the volume of imports from Canada has increased considerably, but the demand is of such proportions that it is impossible for the manufacturers to keep up with it. A great deal of interest is reported in the market, but mills still hesitate about paying the very high prices and are buying very cautiously, in the hope that the situation will improve in the near future. But indications are far from warranting such hopes. Bleached sulphite is to-day quoted—nominally—at as high as 9½c for foreign stock. Easy bleaching is going at about 6½c—whenever it can be had. Domestic unbleached is quoted at about 4c, but is also not available in large quantities. Foreign strong unbleached remains at about 5c to 5½c. Krafts are to-day practically unobtainable. The producers are consuming whatever they have not already contracted to sell, finding it more profitable to convert the pulp into paper. Reports have been heard of instances where manufacturers have not found it possible to live up to their obligations and have had to stop deliveries on contracts. The nominal price for kraft pulp is about 5¾c.
The rag market, as a whole, is very quiet. As the local dealers say, the situation is dependent on the action of roofing rags and, since these are inactive, the other grades are forced into a similar state. Reports from the roofing mills show that they are all working to capacity and that they have plenty of orders on hand. However, they are all pretty well stocked with rags and have no need to come into the market. It seems to be understood in the trade, from the way the buying is going on, that the manufacturers are conferring possibly once a week and are informing each other of the various amounts of stock which have been offered by dealers and of the prices which have been named. In this way it has been possible for them to keep tabs on the rag men and to keep the market from advancing. Because of the inactivity in roofing, thirds and blues, solid whites, and the other grades of old rags have not been moving very well, nor have they been bringing the prices which the dealers expected they would be bringing at this time of the year. A slight increase, however, was noted in the demand for No. 1 new white rags. In fact, one rumor had it that a large lot of these rags had been sold at 10c. It is known that a large writing manufacturer refused an offer at 9c and a little later wired an acceptance, but it was not taken.
Rope has been looming up strong within the past few weeks and the market is now verging the 6c mark. It is understood that there are lots of stocks in England, but these cannot be had because of the embargo so the domestic manufacturers find themselves facing a scarcity in this particular commodity. The demand is now improving and bids fair to continue so for some time.
The waste paper market has been characterized with considerable activity during the past few weeks. The shortage of sulphite has stimulated buying considerably and everyone is in the market looking for stock. Hard white and soft white shavings, in particular, are in strong demand and are reaching a stage where they will be hard to obtain. They are quoted about as follows: hard white, 4¼c to 4¾c; soft white, 3 to 4c. The demand for ledger, magazine and book stock is fairly strong and will most likely increase in strength, if present indications are to be taken into account. Ledger stock is at 2¼c to 2½c; magazine, at 1¾c; krafts, at 3c; mixed papers, at 60c to 65c.
In the paper market, the acute situation remains unrelieved, nor is there any apparent sign of relief visible. This is true of all kinds of paper. The mills are all operating to capacity in the hope of catching up with orders, but this hope has been futile as will be realized when it is understood that some of the manufacturers are still working on orders received several months ago. Newsprint has been the miracle of the industry. Despite all of the schemes which have been published stating the many ways in which the newspapers were curtailing their consumption and saving paper, the demand is to-day as strong as it ever was. The mills are shipping more than 100 per cent. of their production—drawing from their reserve supplies, so that these have dwindled to a dangerous degree. It would be hard to name a real quotation for newsprint at the present time for the only lots to be had are not those in the hands of jobbers who are asking as much as they can get for their stock.
Wrapping papers are still very hard to get. It will be interesting to know that many of the large consumers of wrapping paper have reached the stage where they find they cannot stand the cost and are making price as follows: so much for an article unwrapped, and so much for an article wrapped.
R. W. JOLLY.
On the 19th of September six roof trusses on the new machine room building, which is under construction at the plant of the Ontario Paper Company, Thorold, collapsed.
The building when completed will have fourteen trusses and at the time of the accident six trusses had been erected with the exception of riveting them. Seventy-five per cent. of the rivet holes had been filled with proper bolts. The trusses were all tied together with purlins of 6″ × 8″ Long Leaf Yellow Pine.
When the six trusses were finished the guy line which held No. 1 truss was slacked off as it was felt that the steel work would support itself. When the guy line was loose the entire six trusses simply toppled over without any warning.
Mr. Sam Bartlett, who was working on this structure in the capacity of iron worker was caught between the falling structure and an 18″ 1. beam and was instantly killed. He was a resident of Sydney, Nova Scotia.
Careful examination of the steel was made after the accident and while a number of theories have been advanced to explain the failure nothing definite can be determined.
The collapse will not delay construction materially as the wreckage has been cleared away and new trusses are rapidly being built.
Not only does Quebec take effective measures against fire in her forest lands, but she takes effective measures to keep the forests in perpetuation, where they do not cover cultivable land. Quebec some years ago established a provincial nursery, and this year, in addition to the young trees planted on Crown lands, the provincial nursery shipped 400,000 seedlings to pulp and paper companies which are reafforesting the lands they have cut over. The Laurentide company alone bought 250,000 of these young trees. A large number were sold to other pulp and paper companies and to private individuals. The Perthius seignory alone bought 50,000 seedlings this year; and this is the sixth year in succession during which trees have been bought from the province for use in this seignory.—Hamilton Herald.
With regard to the importation of wet sulphite wood-pulp from Canada and the United States, according to a bulletin just issued by the Trade and Commerce Department, the British Royal Commission on Paper have decided that where they are satisfied that this pulp contains moisture in excess of the quantity contained in ordinary dry pulp, they will grant licenses for that excess up to, but not exceeding, 40 per cent. of the total weight, in the case of pulp arriving in the United Kingdom after August 7. The pulp must be imported on the ordinary licenses issued by the commission. The amount of moisture excess must be proved by the certificate of a competent chemist.
According to information in the hands of the West Coast Lumbermen’s Association, an Iowa pharmacist after seventeen months experimenting, has produced a liquid which makes wooden shingles absolutely fireproof. In a test of the new fireproofing liquid, made at the University of Iowa by the inventor, a block of wood one-half inch thick was saturated with the fireproofing and then placed in running water for twenty-four hours. After that it was thoroughly dried again and held for one hour over a Bunsen burner, which had a temperature of between 700 and 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, that being a much greater heat, it is said, than is developed in a conflagration. The wood was not burned and only charred very slightly at the point of the flame. The new compound is reported to be sufficiently low in cost to make it practical in connection with shingle manufacture, and when a shingle is saturated the moisture drys out, leaving an insoluble mineral fireproofing substance in the fibre cells of the wood, which cannot be washed out with water and is said absolutely to prevent combustion.
A special trade commission from Australia which will investigate overseas methods of manufacture and production, and conditions of employment, in timber, paper, iron and other industries will shortly come to Canada. The commission will be composed of experts, an equal number of representatives of capital and labor being arranged for. They will also visit the United States.
Two new wet machines are being placed in the Foley pulp mill at Thorold and a new grinder has been installed in the Davey mill, which is connected with the Foley plant and will shortly be operated in conjunction with it.
Waste hemlock tanbark remaining after tannin is extracted is being used by a number of mills in place of between 30% and 40% of expensive rag stock ordinarily used in making felt roofing.
A. A. McDiarmid, has resigned his position as chief engineer on the Mattagami Pulp and Paper Co., Toronto, and is now engaged in special work at Sault Ste. Marie.
The increase in the exports of paper, wood for pulp and pulp for the twelve months ending June last is 23.8 per cent. To a considerable extent this is due to advancing prices. It will be noticed that the export of wood pulp during the period of the twelve months in question has declined slightly. There is more wood available at the present time than a few months ago. Northern Ontario points report the most acute shortage, although the situation there has improved somewhat.
| 1915. | 1916. | 1916. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| To Britain. | To U.S. | |||
| Paper | $16,200,635 | $21,256,296 | $1,032,786 | $17,759,018 |
| Pulpwood | 6,463,125 | 6,102,170 | —— | 6,102,170 |
| Wood pulp | 9,257,036 | 12,220,988 | 672,673 | 10,793,647 |
| Total | $31,920,796 | $39,579,454 | $1,705,459 | $34,654,835 |
Mr. H. Moore, secretary of the Clements Paper Co., Nashville, Tenn., spent a few days in Toronto and Montreal recently calling upon the trade.
W. J. Gage, President of W. J. Gage and Co., Toronto and the Kinleith Paper Co., St. Catharines, has been awarded $4,000 damages by Arbitrator P. H. Brayton in his claim against the city of Toronto. In connection with the Bathurst street hill improvements a retaining wall was built which stood against the Gage property and the latter contended that the site should be treated as a business location. Mr. Gage witnesses declared that the damage done was several times more than what has been awarded. The official arbitrator took the view that the land occupied by the retaining wall should be paid for and no more and handed out judgment accordingly.
At the annual meeting held recently in Toronto, the report of the directors and the annual financial statement of the Spanish River Paper Mills, Limited, which have already been published in these columns, were presented. The improvement in the company’s position was favorably commented upon. George H. Mead was re-elected president, P. B. Wilson, Vice-president, Thomas Gibson, Secretary and A. H. Chitty, Treasurer.
So serious has become the shortage of news print in Winnipeg, that the newspapers of that city have discontinued giving free copies to employees while all correspondents have been cut off and no free exchanges to other newspapers are given.
The district fire rangers around Port Arthur have returned to their homes having concluded their duties for the present season. The loss from fires in the Thunder Bay district this year was the smallest on record.
John Rumelhart, who was convicted of having stolen pulp wood in his possession, was sentenced at Port Arthur to twenty-six months in the penitentiary. In passing sentence upon him Sir Glenholme Falconbridge stated that the rights of pulp wood owners must be respected. The pulp wood in question was from a storage room of the Horrigan Co., which was located at Black Bay.
The engagement is announced of Miss Edna Frances, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank E. Mutton, Toronto, to Flight Lieutenant Arthur W. Kilgour, youngest son of Mr. Robert Kilgour of Toronto, President of the Trent River Paper Co., Frankford, Ont. Miss Mutton left this week for Bombay, India, where the marriage will take place.
Herbert C. Jarvis, General Manager of the Empire Wall Paper Co., Limited, Toronto, states that the price of all materials entering in the manufacture of wall paper, has increased by leaps and bounds during the past few months and the end is not yet in sight. A few months ago prices were advanced and the company expected that this increase would result in decreased sales but on the contrary the demand is steadily growing. With the large contracts which the firm have, Mr. Jarvis says that he hopes to maintain net prices about the same as are today.
A charter has been granted to Canadian Wood Products, Limited, with headquarters in Toronto and a share capital of $40,000. The company is empowered to manufacture and deal in lumber, pulp and other forest products.
Ald. A. H. Stratton, of Peterboro, who was for many years engaged in the stationery and wall paper business in that city and is a brother of the late Hon. J. R. Stratton, proprietor of the Peterboro Examiner, has, in company with his brother-in-law, T. F. Matthews, purchased the plant and business of the Review Printing and Publishing Co., Peterboro, which has been in liquidation. The Review is one of the oldest in Ontario being established in 1853 by the Whites who later became owners of the Montreal Gazette.
The wholesale paper business in Montreal formerly carried on by John R. MacGregor has been taken over by John R. MacGregor and Thomas Harkness and is now conducted under the name of the MacGregor-Harkness Paper Co.
Port Arthur is to have a large sulphite plant, a free site being given the company on the north water front, of some *0 acres. An agreement has been entered into between the corporation and has several and astern capitalists. The bylaw will be soon voted upon by the ratepayers. The first unit is to be started within thirty days after the carrying of the measure, and be completed and in operation within one year. It will have a capacity of fifty tons a day and, inside of five years, the capacity is to be increased to one hundred and fifty tons whereupon the company will receive a deed for a further tract of land of ninety-seven and one half acres. It is expected that by the time the complete mill of one hundred and fifty tons is finished the outlay on buildings and equipment will be in the neighborhood of five million dollars.
It was stated recently, both in reports on the street and in some newspapers that Hon. G. Howard Ferguson, Minister of Lands, Forests and Mines for Ontario had entered into a secret deal with a large paper company of Appleton, Wis., enabling that concern to export pulp from eight thousand acres of Crown lands in the Thunder Bay district, for manufacture in the United States. It was rumored that the law compelling all pulp wood on Ontario Crown lands to be first turned into pulp or paper in the province, before being sent out of the country, had been set aside by the simple provision of selling the land to the Appleton firm. Hon. Mr. Ferguson has given an emphatic denial to the charge, in which he stated there is not a word of truth, and adds that no suggestion had ever been made to him to allow pulp wood to be exported. He pointed out, in connection with tenders now being called for the right to cut pulp wood and other timber on the Pic river and other territory in the Thunder Bay district covering about 1,400 square miles that the provisions clearly state that the successful bidder must erect a pulp mill with a minimum capacity of one hundred and fifty tons daily which, with its equipment, must cost not less than a million dollars, and also a paper mill with a capacity of one hundred tons a day. The tenders for the Pic River concession close on December 1st.
Thomas Gain, sales manager of the Don Valley Paper Mills, Toronto, who has been ill for some time, is able to be around again and attend to his duties.
Rev. Dr. A. C. Crews, who is editor of the Sunday School publications of the Methodist Book and Publishing House, Toronto, has been elected president of the Toronto Chess Club.
Charles V. Syrett, of the Victoria paper and Twine Co., Toronto, has returned from a motor trip to Erie, Cleveland and other cities. He also visited the mills of the Hammermill Paper Co.
Thomas Wark, who for some time has been superintendent of the Deferiet mill of the St. Regis Paper Co., has resigned his position to enter upon his new duties as superintendent of the St. Maurice Paper Co. at Cap Madeleine, Que.
A charter has been granted to the W. E. Gallagher Printing Co., Limited, with a capital stock of fifteen thousand dollars and headquarters in Kitchener, Ont. to engage in printing, publishing, engraving, book-binding, etc. as well as to deal in paper boxes and stationery. The incorporators of the company are W. E. Gallagher, A. B. Robertson and C. E. Cornell.
An offering is being made of $1,500,000 Laurentide Power bonds at 90 and interest.
The segregation of the Laurentide (Paper) Company’s water powers last year, to the Laurentide Power Company, created a new and very powerful factor in the hydro-electric situation in the Province of Quebec, and particularly as regards Montreal.
The new company was formed by the Laurentide (Paper) Company, with a capitalization of $7,500,000 of common shares, and the money derived from the sale 5% par value of first (closed) mortgage bonds, due 1946, and $10,500,000 of these securities was used to finance the development of the water power to a present capacity of 125,000 horse-power.
In the year ended June 30, 1916, Canada’s exports of paper were of a total value of $21,256,296, as against $16,200,635 in the corresponding period in 1915. Of this former amount $17,759,018 worth or more than the total value of the 1915 export was sent to the United States.
As a result of a discovery made at the Forest Products Laboratory at Madison cheaper dyes are now available in the United States. It has been found that dyes made of osage orange wood are a commercial success and can be placed on the market at a considerably less cost than foreign-made dyes can be purchased. Carloads of the wood are now in transit, consigned to eastern extract plants.
The anti union Presbyterians are talking of establishing a weekly paper to forward their cause. The matter is being seriously taken up by the Publication on Committee and the new paper will likely be a weekly.
According to a press despatch from Watertown, N.Y. as the Pulp and Paper Magazine was going to press the following story regarding the attempted purchase of the Donnacona Paper Company appeared:—
The Donnacona Paper Company, with mills located at Donnacona, Quebec, thirty miles from Quebec City in the St. Lawrence river, is the prize now sought by the French syndicate of Parisian newspaper publishers who failed some time ago to secure control of the Remington Paper and Power Company’s group of mills near here.
The French interests were unable to get permission from the Government boards of France to send money from that country to the United States in time to close the deal before their option expired.
The Donnacona mills is a new mill, having been in operation but a year. It has an output of one hundred tons of paper a day. A feature that appeals to the fact that pulpwood can be bought much cheaper in Canada than on this side.
G. H. P. Gould, paper mill magnate and owner of the St. Regis and Gould Paper Companies, is president of the Donnacona company, with Walter N. Kernan, of New York, vice-president.
According to an American exchange the following are the facts relating to Canada’s pulp and paper industry:—
The new mills planned and in course of construction, and the extensions to existing ones, will, if carried out as intended, add a per-diem capacity of 840 tons of newsprint before the end of 1918. During the twelve months ended March last the amount of printing paper exported was 463,204 tons, or at the rate of 1,544 tons per day, as compared with a tonnage of 292,579, or 975 tons per day, in the corresponding period ended March, 1914.
The International Paper Company doubled its dividend last week by declaring a quarterly distribution of 1 per cent., or 4 per cent. per annum on the preferred stock, as compared with the 2 per cent. annual rate maintained since 1908. There is $22,407,000 of the preferred outstanding.
N. M. Jones of Bangor, Maine announces that at a conference of capitalists in New York, from which he has just returned, the sale of the largest pulp and paper mill in the Canadian Maritime Provinces to a syndicate of Maine and New York men was arranged. The property, for which it is said $2,000,000 will be paid includes mills at the Reversing Falls, near St. John, N.B., and large timber lands in New Brunswick. The syndicate includes Hugh Chisholm of Portland, President of the Oxford Paper Company, and Maynard S. Bird, also of Portland.
When a shipment of wire rope is received and is not to be placed immediately into service, see that it is stored away in a place protected from the weather and any acid fumes. It is advisable to coat the outside layer of the reel or coil with a good lubricant.