On    account   of  its    large    production  of  the
higher  grades  of  writing,  book,  and  ledger  papers,


130        The  Story  of  Paper-Making

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  pro-
duct, 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  The  number  of  paper-making  establishments

mills  and     js  placej  at  762,  operating   1,070  mills,  and  the

their  value        ,  ~   ,        '  ..
value  of  the  plants  is  $107,759,974;  52,391  per-
sons find  employment  in  the  industry,  and  are
paid  wages  aggregating  $23,575,950,  while  the
value  of  the  material  used  reaches  $78,067,882.
