The Paper Trade. By A. Dykes Spicer, M.A. (Methuen and
Co. 12s. 6d. net.)—Mr. Spicer's story of the paper trade is interesting throughout. The various materials, the methods of handling them, the machinery, the prices obtained, the wages paid, are all set out and illustrated with elaborate tables. In 1800 about ten thousand tons of paper were made ; the amount now produced is not less than eight hundred thousand tons. The average price a hundred years ago was ls. 6d. per pound ; now it can be obtained at id. per pound. For literary purposes, how- ever, 21d. per pound may be considered a fair average. Two canoes have been mainly efficient in bringing about this result,— the abolition of the duty and the use of new materials. The duty was abolished in 1860, not without considerable disturbance. The policy did not please the papermakers. These gentlemen preferred to pay the Excise so long as an import-duty was kept up. Their organ in the Press, six months after the repeal, declared that it had been a huge mistake. The "dying industry" was not unknown in those days. Of course, this was all an error. The mere removal of the presence of the Excise officers from the factories, with the resulting freedom in working, was an incal- culable benefit. A striking parallel case may be found in the glass trade, where freedom in manufacture has been followed by a vast increase of production and fall in price. The other contributing cause was the use of esparto-grass and wood-pulp. These materials were not employed before the repeal. Straw had been used, but not with satisfactory results. Better-class paper was used for making up again ; but the price is now so low that it does not pay for the carriage. Meanwhile, wages have risen. In Mane.hester labourers received in 1839 14s. for a week of sixty hours, in 1904 195. 6d.; machine men 21s. and 44s.
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