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♦