TREES TO TRIBUNES

[Music] mm-hmm [Music] at the beginning there are trees from trees paper is made and paper makes possible tomorrow's chicago tribune to ensure a perpetual supply of choice pulpwood vast tracts of timberland have been acquired at heron bay in the province of ontario canada on the shore of lake superior and at bay como franklin and shelter bay in the province of quebec on the gulf of st lawrence let us journey 1230 air miles to the first of the communities to be built by the tribune shelter bay on the fringe of the great north woods 300 miles northeast of quebec and with millions of acres of virgin forest in its backyard that extends northward toward the arctic circle shelter bay is a thriving town of busy healthy happy people although on the edge of the wilderness still shelter bay has many big city conveniences such as plenty of pure water central heat an efficient sewer system and electric lights there is no paper mill here but from shelter bay are shipped each year thousands of cords of wood to the tribune mill at thorough there are a church a school a well-equipped hospital and of course the omnipresent motion picture theater in the far background to the right of this comfortable house can be seen a dam outside of shelter bay it is one of several built by the tribune in rocky river attention is called to it because it will be obvious as the story of paper is told how important apart water plays in the operation from the woods to the presses another tribune town on the north shore is franklin 90 miles southwest of shelter bay strategically located on the franklin river 10 miles to the south at bay como water is harnessed in this pipe of wooden staves 17 and a half feet in diameter it is more than a mile long and the surge of water through it drives the generators in the modern power plant that runs both the paper mill and the town itself bay como the third tribune town on the north shore of the saint lawrence lies near the mouths of the uttar and manukawagan rivers that extend up into the woods bancomo's population of 3200 is rightfully proud of the bustling town with its wide paved streets and excellent stores here are no log cabins but in their place are attractive homes that offer all the amenities of city life many of the town's activities are centered in the handsome community building everywhere there are impressive signs of planning for the future as in this large and well-equipped school in all tribune settlements there are adequate facilities for satisfying the spiritual educational and medical needs of the people although it was founded as recently as 1936 already it is a thriving industrial center concentrated about the fine power plant and paper mill such useful arts as weaving at a hand loom are practiced in these placid homes taking no account of the rugged country that lies outside the door [Music] operations in the timberlands are continuous throughout the year but the cycle may be said to begin in the fall when supplies are shipped north on the broad st lawrence from quebec to discharge their cargos of meat flour potatoes and a variety of other stores in tribune towns [Music] much of the supplies are for the support of the towns but many times must be carried inland for distribution among the lumber camps where appetites are always hearty foodstuffs for men and horses and other supplies are piled up temporarily in caches on the shores of rivers and lakes from these depots they will be taken into the [Music] bush [Applause] moving always north by landing barge and by truck we are now nearing one of the four great stands of tribune timber that cover an area of 7 000 square miles or nearly four and one half million acres three of these great tracks stretch northward from the st lawrence the fourth rich area is the one at heron bay on lake superior 500 miles north of chicago long before supplies are moved into the interior aerial surveys are made to determine what track to cut no more is it necessary for the foresters to trudge hundreds of miles through the woods instead a cameraman looks down on the forest in comfort surveying thousands of acres at a glance wearing an oxygen mask or he is flying in rarefied air at a height of 18 000 feet he photographs the landscape more than three miles beneath with a mapping camera back at headquarters the forestry engineer studies the aerial photographs and pieces them together to form an accurate map of the country's timber thus by the use of modern aerial survey the cutting operations can be scientifically planned for years ahead so far no attempt has been made to fly the logs down from the woods and hacking out a highway through the wilderness is still an important operation fortunately the men in the bush have the best of road building equipment to clear away the brush cut a path through solid rock and build up the shoulders for the heavy loads now let us return to the supplies that were accumulated at the caches and must be moved upstream by landing barges to the various camps from which the lumberjacks operate [Music] over rough terrain strong and willing horses are also used to get the food to the camps still another transportation problem arises each fall for now the men who work in the woods must be taken to the trees they go by land by water and by air [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] with what amazement the lumberjacks of only a few years ago would have contemplated the spectacle of loggers flying to bases by airplanes and then making the trip to camp by taxicab and they would have been just as astonished at the antics of the lively jeep that dashes about delivering men and mail policing the telephone system and covering country that until recently only the plotting horse could negotiate here at last we're in one of the camps but no longer is it an isolated outpost instead it is in constant two-way communication by radio as well as by telephone with the outside world it's a brisk fall day and close at hand are the big trees the first operation in felling is to clear away the brush at the foot of the tree to be cut the lumberjack notches the tree with his keen axe on the side toward which he wishes it to fall only a small notch is needed which means a saving of wood he tests the accuracy of his work for the axe handle points in the direction in which the tree will topple next he makes a deep saw cut on the opposite side it's a swift operation in fact a skilled worker can fail and cut up as much as three cords in a day [Music] there is the familiar cry of the woods timber [Music] the branches and slash are trimmed off later they are piled and secured this is an unwritten law of the woods for otherwise they would constitute an invitation to the deadliest enemy of the timber the red monster fire road barriers are an insistent reminder of the rule against smoking because the criminal hand of the flames is an ever-present menace the ruthless destroyer of the forest he measures four feet with his saw and cuts the tree into lengths this is a special saw invented by one of the workers with a blade that can be instantly replaced if it should break the logs are neatly stacked to be left in the woods until they are hauled to the nearest water they must be stoutly secured or it won't be long before howling blasts will bring down the heavy snows the logs are carefully examined by a checker and a scaler and are stamped with an identifying mark to indicate the tree has been properly filled and does not violate the rigid rule against cutting more than 18 inches above the ground and until the tree has reached its full growth of 80 to 100 years although millions of trees are cut each fall and winter no more are failed in any area than nature will replace in one year there always will be trees because the little fellows are carefully protected to ensure ample regrowth farther up the mountain where already some light snow has fallen we see another method of cutting with mechanical stars they are less picturesque than the axe but they get their trees [Music] as the winter draws in the days get shorter so the work must move along briskly here the logs are snaked out of the woods by a power operated cable from a tower still another unit in the new and modern equipment is this powerful tractor that hauls a heavy load of logs to the nearby sawmill where they are cut into the customary four foot lengths by the biting teeth of the power saw they pop out of the chute to pile up on the frozen lake where they'll stay until the spring fall winter comes first in the mountains here in shelter bay it is still autumn and the triangular navigation marker still guides the shipping but one day the winds come roaring down from the north and the long white winter has begun the triangular channel marker means nothing now until spring it's bitter cold and the snow piles high but life goes on at shelter bay and the other tribune towns for the giant plows break roads to church and school and store nor is it much different up in the bush plunging out of the woods comes a snowmobile typical of the modern mechanized equipment that has eased the grim hardships which once prevailed in this stern and unrelenting country time was when the area was cut off by impassable drifts but now airplanes equipped with ski runners land on fields that have been rolled by tractors or on the icy surface of rivers and lakes transportation for the individual is almost as speedy when the lumberjacks take to skis and go curving down the sparkling slopes even airplanes and other machines have not entirely outmoded the familiar dog team there are daily deliveries of mail by air and it is trekked into the more than 80 camps by these hardy animals of course still another method of getting about is the primitive practice of putting one foot ahead of the other when both of them are wearing snow shoes that's the way a cruising team moves through the winter woods the men in an exploration crew measure trees with calipers and calculate the number of cords that any given area will produce this is entirely a local operation the team strikes out from camp and pitches a tent for shelter in case they should be trapped by a blizzard and can't get back to camp when night falls the cutting operation is unchanged in the winter season the tree is notched and then that sharp saw bites deep into the pulpwood with their appetites as keen as the blade of the axe the lumberjacks head back to camp at day's end awaiting them are heated bunk houses hot water and the ever welcome entertainment of the radio most important is the food much of which comes from deep freeze ice boxes no music is sweeter than that the cook plays to announce rhythmically common get it [Music] the pulpwood is brought down from the timberland in many ways most elemental is the ice slide sometimes half a mile high the logs crash and spin through the air piling up on the ice of a frozen stream as much as ten thousand cords when no ice shoot is available and the roads are narrow the logs are hauled out on horse-drawn sleds and then unloaded on the ice [Music] here on a frozen lake are piles of logs that have been unloaded from horse-drawn slants elsewhere trucks and tractors are used to pull the heavily laden sleds of logs to the ice [Applause] [Music] so [Music] here the logs are unloaded onto a conveyor that is powered by one of those versatile jeeps day in and day out the pulp would accumulate until on the icy surfaces of rivers and lakes throughout the area there are piles some containing 15 to 20 000 cords winter is long in the north woods but always in the eternal cycle of the seasons spring is not too far away comes the warm and reviving sun and winter's grip on the streams is relaxed once again the waterways are open to traffic and life in the woods takes on a quicken temple now the rivers leap and roar and the great harvest of logs cut through the cold months and piled on the ice is released to start its journey software [Music] [Applause] logs are sluiced down the steep mountainsides while others have been pushed off the banks or floated away when the ice melted logged jams are often broken by men in small boats however with logs cut into four foot lengths which is the practice nowadays jams are few when they do occur a few sticks of dynamite loosen up the mass so it moves again here is what you might call a man-made jam a boom is stretched as a barrier to hold back the logs when the loading plant downstream needs more pulpwood for shipment to the paper mills word is telephoned miles to the north and the required amount is sent on its way through the spring drive wide rivers of logs are backed up how many have been cut well the best estimate is 38 million sticks of four feet each one thing is sure the supply of logs is not too great for tribune paper mills are grinding away 24 hours a day six days a week all year round ingenious engineers have devised several ways for bringing the logs to the plants here at bay como they are carried for miles under gravity flow of water in this dramatic single pole flume that connects with the two nearby rivers at shelter bay when their long voyage through the turbulent rapids is completed they go up a conveyor that carries them to the debarking drums huge steel cylinders toss them against one another and by friction the bark is removed incidentally even the bark now is made to serve a useful purpose a way has been found to convert it into stout wrapping paper paper plates and other things with their bark peeled off the logs slick and shining tumble out for another ride in this case up a jack ladder that moves them to the dock where they are delivered by shoots into the hold of a waiting vessel which will carry them up the st lawrence and across lake ontario to the thorold mill when there is no cargo carrier tied up at the dock the logs are floated in flumes to stockpiles still another method is used here at franklin where a flume runs right down main street floating the pulpwood to a waiting ship here the operation is somewhat more direct for the logs go bobbing along by water all the way with no help from conveyors and they're sluiced straight into the hole once the logs are stacked aboard ship the tribune pulp boat is ready to proceed up the st lawrence and through lake ontario to the paper mill at thoro all summer through the navigation season the ships cross and recross the lake to the tribune mill it's on the well and ship canal a famous waterway that connects lake ontario with lake erie bypassing the niagara river and falls from the timberlands a week way by water come hundreds of thousands of cords of pulpwood each year to be converted into newsprint paper from the ship's dock near the mill the logs are unloaded by cranes and come tumbling out in a crashing thunder of sound they have one of two destinations some of them are carried directly to the mill where they will be processed immediately still others climb up an endless chain to the summit of a towering pile of logs a mountain of wood containing as much as 30 000 cords such vast reserve stocks are needed because the tribune consumes more than 3 000 tons of paper every week this ingenious device appropriately called the orange peel draft handles the logs with speed and with safety to the workers it bites into the stockpile closes its huge jaws and swings around with a mouthful of logs that are dropped on the conveyor hour after hour and day after day there is this unhurried march of hulk wood to the paper mill the first step is a washing operation in which the field logs are tossed about in rotating drums and cleansed with streams of cold water then they are discharged into another conveyor although to the unskilled eye the logs all look pretty much alike the experts who work at the sorting tables unerringly separate those best adapted for mechanical from those that go to chemical processing farther up the moving table another sharp-eyed inspector pulls logs off the line because they're defective knobs and other flaws are removed with this machine developed by tribune engineers and amusingly named the woodpecker newsprint used by the tribune consists of approximately 15 percent chemical pulp and 85 mechanical the latter gives paper the characteristics that enable it to absorb ink on high speed presses chemical pulp gives it strength and flexibility the logs that have been selected for the chemical process are delivered a shoving jostling mass to the chipper where they are cut up into chips that are shaken about on screens only the smaller ones pass through the mesh the larger pieces are sent back for further reduction when they are the right size the chips flow like a river of wood up a conveyor to another building in the towers are the digesters where the chips are mixed with chemicals in the sulfite process complete scientific control of the chips and the chemicals is maintained at every step of the operation a byproduct of this process is commercial alcohol of which are produced nearly a million gallons annually from sulphite liquid formally wasted now we return to the logs that were chosen on the sorting tables for mechanical processing in this battery of grinders each one of them can transform 30 cords of wood into high grade pulp every 24 hours the logs are forced under pressure against huge grindstones water flows over them continuously mixing with the fibers of the wood from the bottom of the grinder issues a steady stream of pulp at frequent intervals samples are taken for analysis in the mill laboratory as a check on quality throughout the mill in every department and in every operation there are constant tests to ensure the highest standards without deviation mechanical and sulfite pulps are thoroughly beaten together after chemicals have been added to color and brighten the paper the mixture is pumped into the paper making machines it flows onto wire screens much of the water is drained off and the motion of the screen causes the pulp fibers to interlace and become paper next the paper well that's what it is now races through a series of rolls to squeeze out more of the water content notice that at this point it is still damp and lymph as it passes between other rollers finally it is further dried by moving around heated cylinders now it has the crispness of paper a last touch is given by steel calendar rollers that polish the paper and give it a smooth finish this is the culmination of the efforts of ten thousand men working a thousand miles from chicago men in the woods and the towns and the myths here paper fine paper has been made from trees after it has been rewound on steel spindles it goes to another department where it is prepared for shipment by wrapping in extra heavy paper observe the package or we shall see it again then the rolls of paper which weigh about a ton each are trundled along on a miniature railroad to the docks tribune owned ships are waiting to carry them to chicago where trees finally become tributes the rolls fill the hold and are loaded also on the decks of sturdy freighters that will plow across three of the great lakes to their destination from the mill at borold ontario through the welland canal the length of lake erie northward through lake huron then southward across lake michigan moves the parade of paper to chicago finally coming to rest at the warehouses on the river near tribune tower this end of the long supply line think of what we have seen at the other end as the giant cranes swing into action remember that towns have been built in the wilderness with homes and churches and stores schools and hospitals are operated and municipal affairs administered men have cut roads through rugged country tamed wild rivers erected mills and maintained shipping lines and all this effort reaches a quiet climax here in the warehouses with the delivery of the paper all summer long this scene is repeated again and again as the roles accumulate against the needs of the winter and spring to come soon by the magic of printer's ink that paper will live as a tribune instead of a tree will become the pages on which will be recorded the events of the day every day throughout the world tear on tear the rolls are stored away awaiting the call of the always hungry presses now let us move into tribune tower and get out the newspaper the daily business of producing the tribune is cheaply concentrated here in the newsroom where the nerve ends of telephone and telegraph wires are tingling with earth's activities in the past 24 hours there are more than 400 editors reporters and other employees in the news department there's a reporter getting his assignment from the day city editor and a photographer preparing to set out from the office in a story others of the staff of more than 40 photographers are assigned by telephone some of them in cars on the road ready to speed away to the source of the news when possible reporters return to the tower to write their stories but chicago is a big city and many of them report by telephone to a rewrite man however they all manage to get in at least once a week that's payday from a thousand correspondents in other cities the telegraph wires bring the news other dispatches from correspondence and press association are received by the busy teletype machines copy girls cut off a portion of the paper roll and it is delivered to the telegraph desk where the domestic news is edited that is the story of the nation outside of chicago to a similar desk goes information received by cable and by radio from american trained correspondents all over the world to be handled by the cable editor in his staff thousands of photographs nowadays are transmitted over wires this is a wire photo transmitter and here is the receiver telegraphing pictures originated in the tribune in a year i received 150 000 photographs of which 25 000 are printed every day they are displayed in a lively array from which the picture editors make their choice photographs are mounted and retouched in the art department where also originate the many maps and drawings that help clarify the news elsewhere there are departments that are almost little newspapers within the tribune such as here where experts write the daily story of baseball and football basketball and bowling boxing and golf and all the other pastimes under the direction of the sports editor somewhat more staid is the news received over the ticker in the editorial division devoted to finance and business where trained writers present the news of markets and trade in chicago and other commercial centers a newspaper world of its own is this department that assembles views of society and club life there are five different neighborhood sections of the sunday paper that carry local news of particular interest to their readers of the north the northwest the west the southwest and the south section of chicago and suburbs under the direction of the metropolitan editor these five hometown papers are prepared each week under the direction of the city editor local news is gathered verified and written determining what shall be printed on what page and at what length is the daily task of the managing editor the city editor the news editor and the makeup editor to the millions of readers the paper means much more than news here in the sunday room are originated such popular features as a line of type or two white collar girl rhymes and remnants front views and profiles and columns on the theater music motion pictures and a dozen others then there are the experts who write about subjects of particular interest to women cooking beauty fashions child care home decoration and many more another group of specialists are those who write and edit the sunday magazine of books responsible for all these specialized feature activities the roto and graphics sections the magazine of books the section on amusements and the comics is the sunday editor over all the various editorial departments is the managing editor back of the schemes are two essential departments that relate to the past this is the reference room the morgan newspaper idiom where are filed 4 million pictures and 11 million clippings that comprise authentic information on people and events over the years the second repository is the editorial library in charge of five trained librarians it is the largest and finest newspaper library in the world now let us suppose that the news has been gathered and written and the feature articles prepared the next step is to provide illustrations one of the phenomena of modern journalism is the comic strip the adventures of whose fictional characters have become a daily necessity for newspaper readers another kind of drawing is the page one cartoon that provokes thought on a civic or a national problem on a copy of his pen and ink drawing the cartoonist applies color as a guide to the craftsman who will prepare the plates for the press the cartoon and comic strip are placed in front of an engraving room camera that reproduces them on a sensitized negative glass plate from which they are transferred to the surface of a piece of sensitized zinc let us follow the cartoon of which four identical plates are made using the cartoonist's copy as a guide this artisan prepares the four plates for the four colors yellow red blue and black mechanical screens constituting the bend a process named for its inventor are applied to each of the color plates to control the strength of the tones and produce gradations of color the bende artist checks his work through magnifying glass to be sure that the screen which is a pattern of dots has been accurately placed next the plate is dusted with a powder to which newspaper men have given a fanciful name it is picturesquely called dragon's blood after the plate has been heated it is etched in an acid bath that breaks into the metal to place in relief the areas to be printed the plate is washed moves on to the router a man with a sure eye and a steady hand who cuts away the excess metal understand the process is repeated with the other three plates the four plates are proof one after another with yellow red blue and black ink and the result is the cartoon as it will appear on page one on another floor of tribune tower is the color studio where two different natural color photographic processes are commonly in use in this case the lady in the beautiful hoop skirt is photographed by a single shot color camera three negatives are made simultaneously yellow red and blue when the subject is shot through three filters from these three negatives is made a natural color carbural print such as this full natural color photographs are also made like this one which is a single film like the familiar commercial color transparencies in the color engraving department the transparency is placed before the lens of the camera negatives are made in much the usual way except that in this process a screen is placed in the camera in front of the negative this screen is a glass plate on which are two sets of lines about 65 to 75 to the inch and placed at right angles to each other this grill breaks up the photographic image into small dots to permit etching separate negatives are made through four different color filters each of which eliminates all but the yellow red blue or black as the four colors appear in the transparency the negatives are printed on photosensitive copper plates and they are etched in a solution that splashes up against the surface and eats away that part of the copper between the dots after the copper plates are routed just as with the zinc plates they are proofed in color with the same inks and the same paper that will be used in the presence to maintain complete control of quality the tribute manufactures not only its own paper but also its own printing inks here are the four proofs first the yellow then the red the blue and the black all together we have the lady of the hoop skirt remember the screen that broke up the image although they are not obvious except under a magnifying glass the image consists of tiny dots take away the glass and they combine to form a full color reproduction of the subject while pictures are being engraved at the same time words that is news stories editorials and feature articles are put into type in the composing room on a battery of more than a hundred type setting machines this is an amazingly complicated mechanism that is yet most simple to operate with the typewritten copy before him the operator taps a keyboard much like that of a typewriter for each tap a brack the letter drops into a groove when enough are in place to fill a line molten metal flows over the molds and the result is a solid metal line of timing and 70 million such lines are set each year when the compositor finishes the story he carries the lines of type to a makeup bank where the type matter is placed in a metal tray called a galley in preparation for proofing ten proofs are pulled some going to the editors in the newsroom and others to the proofreaders who work in pairs one reading and the other checking the proof against the original copy a task that requires the utmost care in the interests of accuracy and in a day they check more than a million words the stories are in type the engravings are made so the paper is ready to go to press under editorial direction the make up men with skilled fingers lift the lines of type and place them into the forms with their headlines column by column and page by page there's page one with the cartoon in place the form is locked up and wheeled to the matrix room a sheet of moist blotter like paper is placed over the page of pipe which passes under a roller at a pressure of 10 tons when the matrix comes out it contains an indented reproduction of every line of type and of every illustration reinforcing strips are placed on the back of the mat after this operation is completed it goes into a chute for a drop of several floors to the stereotype boundary first it is trimmed so it will fit the casting box then it goes into a former that heats and dries it and also shapes it so it will fit the casting box of the autoplate machines molten metal is forced into every letter and line on the mat and 15 seconds later there is an exact cast of the page curved to fit the press for one day's issue of the paper there may be cast as many as four thousand of these stereo the cast which weighs about fifty pounds is placed in a shaver that planes the edges to give them a smooth finish so they will fit snugly on the cylinder of the printing unit when a stereotype is completed its page number is plainly marked on its face and the roller conveyor carries it to the press on which it is to be used one by one the stereos of the various pages are locked into position on the presses a button is pushed and the cylinders slowly turn there are the three color plates that will imprint yellow red and blue on the daily page one cartoon on another press is our friend miss hoops on still other fresh units and there are 160 of them are printed the sunday music and drama section and the sunday magazine of books also in color on other presses the sunday comic sections are being printed the fortunate christmas snatch a peek at their favorites days ahead of the regular reader meanwhile for the sunday edition the rotogravier and graphic sections are rolling the tribune had the first colorado press in the world to print on a continuous running sheet of paper and there's miss hoops again more than a million and a half of her to be included in the sunday edition now back to the presses where we saw page one start to roll one moment's silence a pressman pushes a button and a mounting crescendo of sound throbs through tribune tower [Music] they're rolling sweet as you please see there tribune's coming off at the rate of 44 000 an hour and that means a lot of paper underneath the presses when a roll is nearly exhausted another is placed in contact the paper of the new roll catches the old sheet and is held by glue the old sheet is cut and away it goes again but we need another roll so let's go back to the warehouse this time the elevator descends with a great spool of paper that has been in storage for days maybe months awaiting this moment on a dolly it moves through half a mile of concrete tunnels to a sub-basement of tribune tower [Music] the packaging that was so neatly applied back at the mill in thorold is removed and soon the trees that made possible this paper will become tributes from the presses the papers are carried up by conveyor to the mailing room where they are bundled for delivery some are tied with wire because they're tossed off the trucks at newsstands and often dropped from speeding express trains for out-of-town dealers others that go by mail to individual subscribers or to small dealers in other cities are wrapped by hand through the night as the presses rumble and roar seemingly endless streams of bundles move from the mailing room to the loading platform where under brilliant flood lights they are placed into the waiting trucks to be speeded away to railroad stations airfields and distribution points throughout chicagoland [Music] so closes the story of trees to tributes from the stately spruce felled in the remote woods with a freshly printed copy of the newspaper in the hands of its readers epitomizing the ideal which has guided the chicago tribune through more than a century of continuous service to chicago and the nation is an inscription on the wall of tribune tower lobby it is a definition of what the tribune believes a newspaper should be the newspaper is an institution developed by modern civilization to present the news of the day to foster commerce and industry to inform and lead public opinion and to furnish that check upon government which no constitution has ever been able to [Music] provide you