Recognizing the Savannah Paper Mill

Floor Speech

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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Savannah Paper Mill as it celebrates its 85th year in operation.

My father worked at this paper mill. In fact, I worked at this paper mill, originally known as Union Bag, then Union Camp, then International Paper, and now International Paper, and I have the utmost respect for anyone in that line of work.

At the height of the 1950s, the Savannah Paper Mill employed up to 5,000 people. As the years have passed, the same location, now owned by International Paper, has modernized and trimmed the workforce down to about 650 employees. Some of them come from a generation of paper mill workers that have been there from the start.

The Savannah Paper Mill has always been a visual landmark in the city, long before the hospitality industry became the city's number one market. In the 1950s, the mill could produce 1.25 million tons of kraft paper and linerboard in any given year and quickly became one of the largest mills in the State.

Its proximity to fruitful timber produced optimal conditions for the mill to operate at its highest level, and it remains true today.

Like the rest of Savannah, the paper mill contributed greatly to the war effort in World War II as well, producing paper packaging, a critical war material.

I am proud to be the son of a paper mill worker, and I thank the Savannah Paper Mill for their many years of industry and hope for continued success.

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