Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 July 1895 — Matches. [ARTICLE]

Matches.

It has been estimated that every man, woman and child in the country uses or destroyes *ix matches daily, so that the aggregate consumption of our population may be set down as 800,000,000 eacli day, or the enormous annual aggregate of 109,000,000,000. These matches retail at about 2 cents a box, 200 in a box, so that the retail value of the product in the United States may be set down at $10,950,000 and the wholesale value at about $6,000,000. I am told that the wood used in the manufacture of matches is principally white and yellow pine. In the United States white pine is used almost exclusively. It burns freely, steadily, slowly, constantly and with a good volume of flame. The wood is soft, straight grain, easily worked, a.nd its light weight is of no small consequence in the matter ol transportation charges, which are unusually, high on combustible articles. For the best grade of matches the choicest quality of cork pine is used, a variety of white pine, the trees being large and well matured. A large match company, about twelve years ago, secured hundreds of millions of feet of choice standing cork pine timber on the waters of the Ontonagon river in the upper peninsula of Michigan. This company now cuts annually upward of 80,000,000 feet of this timber, but this is by no means all that is used in the manufacture of matches in this country. Millions of feet more of choice white pine timber are bought every year and made into matches by a number of factories under control of this corporation.