Vol. XV. No. 3-57. 



THE AGRICULTUiUL NEWS. 



THE RUBBER Ih'DUsTRY OF THE AMAZON 

 AND HOW ITS SUPREMACY CAN BE MAIN- 

 TAINED. By Joseph V. Wocidroffe and Harold Hamel 

 .Smith. With a Foreword by A'iscount Bryce, O.M., B.C. 

 ^Tiopical Life Ptibhsldnij Department, John Bale Sons, and 

 Dnniellson, Ltd., London, 191."». Pp. 43-5 + i^lates 4.S. 

 Price 21s. (?5). 



Situated in Barbados, we occupy a position that enables 

 us to know something of Brazil and the Brazilians, more 

 especially of the latter. Before the great Brazilian depres- 

 sion set in, which the authors of this volume hope soon to 

 •see dispelled, many of the Brazilians used Barbados as a 

 'winter' resort. They spent mriney here and practically 

 established a, quartier Bra.iil; but now the houses are for the 

 most part empt}', or are occupied by local people, a fact which 

 is not without significance. Apart from this connexion with 

 Brazil, Barbados is the port of call for the main steamship 

 lines between North and South America, so that there 

 are men of business in Barbados who are in a posi- 

 tion to form a fairly reliable estimate of Brazil's com- 

 mercial status of to-day, and in a position to appreciate 

 the interesting proposals which this book puts forward. 

 Finally a further connexion with Brazil lies in the 

 circumstance that we have had the advantage of corres- 

 pondence with Englishmen holding official positions in that 

 country, like Dr. Willis, late Director of the Botanical 

 Garden at Rio: and lastly, we have had an opportunity of 

 ■seeing a little of the Brazilian Navy. 



As the result of knowledge derived from the foregoing 

 sources, we are inclined to agree with the authors of this 

 volume that there is much need for general reform in 

 Brazil. In nearly all directions, and most of all in the 

 direction of the rubber trade, tlie present state of aifairs 

 indicates marked inefficiency. Viscount Bryce, in his fore- 

 vyord to the present book practically admits it, and the 

 authors themselves prove it, if indeed it is a thing that 

 requires proving. To put it briefly, ^efficiency, especially in 

 regard to the Amazon ruljber industry, is the raison d'etre of 

 this work. 



It must not be imagined, liowever, that the authors 

 approach their subject in any aggressive .spirit. The motive is 

 entirely beneficent, being primarily in the interests of Brazil 

 itself: and secondarily, in the interest of those countries which 

 have provided Brazil with capital, and will, when the war is 

 over, be willing to provide still more if only investors can be 

 assured of even ordinary security. 



Another point which calls for" a word of explanation is 

 the authors' attitude in relation to the East. One might be 

 inclined to infer that this book with its suggestions for the 

 betterment of the Brazilian rubber trade constituted a sort of 

 bolstering up of Brazil against our British rubber industry in 

 the East. These who have interest"* in the East may, in 

 some instances, see traces of such a policy and object to the 

 book on this account; but an impartial study leads to the 

 conclusion that the objection is unfounded (1) because the 



authors primarily advocate tlie production in Brazil of 

 material other than rubber; and (2) because, though the 

 amount of rubber exported may consequently be increased, 

 the authors hope that a combination between East and West 

 may be eii'ected to the benefit of both. 



The means of reform suggested to Brazil are stated in 

 the introduction — in a rather restless and sweeping style, 

 perhaps, ccjnsidering the immensity of the proposals, but 

 none the less plainly — in the following words: — 



'(1) To make the collection and preparation of rubber 

 for export subsidiary to agricultural, stock-raising and other 

 industries, and not the main and, in fact, the sole industry 

 that it can well claim to be at present. (2) To increase the 

 population of Amazonas by the introduction of Chinese, 

 Japanese, and other rsces to clear and settle on the lands 

 available up the Amazon, and wlulst forming homesteads and 

 small farms, to tap and cure rubber to obtain ''pocket-money'', 

 whilst their women and children do the lighter work on the 

 home farms. (3) To ditch, drain and break up, and cultivate 

 the flat, open lands in the rubber zone; to clear and drain 

 the forest areas year by year for the Government, thereby 

 rendering the 300,000,000. untouched rubber trees, believed 

 to be there, available for tapping, whilst the forests would be 

 exploited for their timber and other products, and cattle, and 

 especially pigs introduced (the latter to keep down the 

 snakes), to increase local food supplies and build up an export 

 trade in meat products.' 



Although these are the main proposals put forward, 

 it is the first and last chapters of the book which touch upon 

 the two vital questions of Brazilian policy of to-day. These 

 are the Labour Question and the ^Monroe Doctrine. Brazil is 

 hopelessly deficient in people in relation to her resources, and 

 the people which she does possess are either oppressed or 

 oppressors in one way or another. Mr Hamel Smith .says: 

 'therefore use the indigenous stock to breed from, and in doing 

 so improve the class of man and woman you require as 

 ordinary labourers, peasant proprietors, etc' We would add 

 that moral tone of those in authority must also be 

 improved. To effect a grading up it is suggested, as 

 already stated, that Asiatics should be more extensively 

 introduced, and the authors show in the course of their 

 writings that Japan is fully alive to the demand for skilled 

 lab(jur in Brazil, and that she has taken organized action in 

 the matter. The authors say very little concerning the 

 German influence in Brazil, assuming, we suppose, that this 

 is at an end. Taken as a whole, the anthropological problems 

 in Brazil are extremely complex, and will require the most 

 careful consideration. 



The second great (juestion is the effect of the Monroe 

 Doctrine on the develupment of Brazil. This is a political 

 matter with which we are not in a position to deal, but 

 we gather from the buok under review that many people 

 in Europe, Brazil and the United States con.sider that its 

 present day interpretation is a drawback to the United 

 States and Latin America, and unfair to Europe. 



The main body of the book concerns the life of the 

 seringuero and patrao, calling attention to the imperative 

 necessity for better sanitary conditions of living, and 

 more honest methods of trading. The different kinds 

 a discussion of the relative advantages and disadvantages of 

 of foreign labour are described, and considerable space 

 is devoted to the subject< of internal transportation, to 

 the Eastern and Western rubber industries, and to the possi- 

 bilities before increa.sed food production in Brazil. 



The book will appeal strongly to those interested, as we 

 are, in the West Indies, in the development nf Brazil, and 

 also to those directly coticerned in the production or manu- 

 facture of rubber. 



