7oL XI. No. 276. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



379 



THE INTERNATIONAL RUBBER 

 EXHIBITION, 1912. 



The following is taken from a leading article in the 

 India Rubber World for November 1, 1912: — 



Trade expositions may properly be divided into three 

 kinds — those that are distinctly technical in their character, 

 that are intended only for people directly interested in that 

 {particular trade, and without any purpose of attracting 

 outside attention; second, those that are planned expressly 

 to attract the general public, and which carefully avoid 

 -everything of a too technical character; and third, those that 

 seek to combine these two funclinns, having enough of 

 a technical character to appeal to all those associated 

 with the particular trade, and enough of general interest 

 to attract the public at large. The Rubber Exposition 

 just held belonged to this third class, but undoubtedly it 

 was much stronger on its technical side than it was in its 

 general appeal to the public at large. Viewed as a rubber 

 show intended for rubber men, it left little to be desired. 

 The exhibits of crude rubber, reclaimed rubber, compounding 

 ingredients and manufacturing machinery were full and 

 ■varied, and covered the ground with satisfactory complete- 

 ness. But in the department of manufactured goods the 

 same cannot be said, for while certain manufacturers made 

 admirable exhibits, there were important branches of the 

 rubber-manufacturing industry which were practically 

 unrepresented. 



The exhibit Drs of crude rubber cannot be complimented 

 too highly on the intelligence, enthusiasm and thorough- 

 ness with which they did their work. Brazil exhibited 

 ■with a lavish hand — nor was the Middle East far behind. 

 Both wild rubber from the Amazon and plantation rubber 

 from the Federated Malay States and Ceylon were for- 

 warded to the exhibition in generous quantity and im- 

 pressive variety. It was altogether the finest collection of 

 ■crude rubber ever brought together in this country. A cer- 

 tain rubber mill superintendent, after going over these 

 exhibits carefully, remarked: 'I have learned more about 



■ crude rubber in the ten days of this show than I had ever 

 learned before in any ten years in the factory.' Of reclaimed 

 rubber and of compounding ingredients there was also 



■ a comprehensive exhibit; while the foundry men, with their 

 machinery set up and in motion, contributed a great deal to 

 the importance and value of the enterprise. Undoubtedly, 

 ;all these groups of exhibitors— crude rubber producers, 

 planters and importers, manufacturers of compounding 

 ingredients and makers of machinery, found their ten days at 

 She Exposition time profitably spent. Many of them indeed 



■ expressed great satisfaction over the Vesults of their partici- 

 ; pation. 



But among the manufacturers of finished rubber goods 

 who attended the show and who undoubtedly derived great 

 tienefit from what they observed, there must have been 

 a number who regretted that they had not seized upon this 

 opportunity to exploit their products in a large way. Some 

 of them when approached before the exhibition took the stand 

 that they could see no particular benefit for them in showing 

 their goods to other rubber men — which undoubtedly was true. 

 But in a city like New York, with its five million permanent 

 population and with its half million floating population — more 



■ or less — it would have been possible at a show of this charac- 

 ter, covering so large a floor space, to have secured an extreme- 

 ly large attendance of people outside of the rubber trade- 

 consumers of rubber goods; and to this class the rubber 

 manufacturer might have appealed, with no little profit to 

 ■?umself. And that undoubtedly is the chief lesson learned 



from the first rubber show, the result of which will be shown 

 at the second American Rubber Exposition, whenever that 

 may be held. There is a great deal connected with many 

 lines of rubber manufacture that could be made extremely 

 interesting to the general public. There are many articles 

 made almost exclusively by hand, which had they been manu- 

 factured at this show would hav-e proved great centres of 

 attraction. Some of the footwear manufacturers have gone 

 to considerable expense in sending demonstrators around the 

 country — and even abroad— to explain and to illustrate, by 

 the actual operation, the making of rubber footwear. 

 It is thought worth while to give the demonstration even 

 before small groups of people. At an exposition in such 

 a place as New York it would be possible to have thousands 

 of spectators during a single day. The public can always be 

 relied on to attend any sort of exhibition, if it is properly 

 encouraged. 



Nor would the attendance of the general public in large 

 numbers interfere with the success of the more technical side 

 of an exhibition, especially in a place like the Grand Central 

 Palace, where (as was the case in the recent show) the techni- 

 cal departments were grouped chiefly on the upper Hoors, tha 

 main tioor being reserved for exhibits of a more genera 

 character. 



One feature of the recent show — which on another 

 occasion would undoubtedly be much enlarged upon, 

 because it was one of the most successful features of the 

 Exposition — consisted of the moving pictures. There 

 were two of these moving picture shows, one on the main 

 floor under the auspices of the Brazilian exhibit, the other 

 on the second floor under the auspices of the Federated Malay 

 States. Both attracted a great deal of attention, and to many 

 of the visitors proved the most interesting part of the exhibi- 

 tion. The plantation pictures were particularly to be 

 commended, as they set forth in such orderly fashion the 

 whole process of rubber culture in the East, showing the 

 clearing of the forests, the preparing of the ground for the 

 seed, the planting of the seed, the destruction of weeds and 

 insects, the tapping of the trees, the gathering of the latex, 

 its coagulation, the preparation of the rubber for the market 

 and its final shipment to the rubber centres of Europe. This 

 feature could be — and probably would be at another exhibi- 

 tion — made much more prominent, and with most gratifying 

 results. 



The management of the recent Exposition is certainly to 

 be congratulated. It was a most creditable achievement, far 

 beyond the expectations of many American rubber men. 

 But by reason of the lessons taught by this first experience, 

 the next exposition (whenever that may occur) will undoubt- 

 edlj' be more complete, more fully rounded out and symmet- 

 rical. It will not only be highly instructive from a technical 

 standpoint to rubber men, but will be equally attractive to 

 the public at large. 



Published paper No. 135, of the Wellcome Chemical 

 Research Laboratory, deals with an investigation of the dried 

 leaves of the .sourscp (Aitoua mnricata), obtained from 

 Dominica. An alcoholic extract of the material, distilled 

 with steam, yielded a small amount of an essential oil which 

 possessed a strong, somewhat agreeable odour. The portion 

 of the extract soluble in water contained a large amount of 

 potassium chloride, together with dextrose, tannin, amorphous 

 products, and a small amount of an alkaloidal substance 

 which could not be crystallized. The part of the extract 

 insoluble in water was a dark-green resin, consisting largely 

 of fatty matter. The constitution of this resin is given *t 

 the end of the paper. 



