Abstract: A method for controlling the addition of cationic additive materials to a paper mill slurry used to neutralize the anionic contaminants in a papermaking process is disclosed which utilizes total organic carbon measurements of samples of the slurry as an indicator of the cationic demand of the paper mill slurry. The method of the present invention discloses the discovery that measurements of the total organic carbon taken from filtered samples of the papermaking slurry correlate very well to cationic demand measurements of a papermaking slurry. Therfore, measurements of the total dissolved organic carbon content may be used to determine the desired addition rate of cationic additives in a more convenient and reliable manner than prior control measures. According to the method of the present invention, monitoring of the papermaking slurry by total organic carbon measurements as a cationic additive control parameter provides improved control of such factors as machine drainage and retention.