October i, 1906.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



inanufactuiers and exporters of the United States which, 

 we feel certain, will be turned to good account. 



The United vStates long have been large buyers of cer- 

 tain South American products, such as rubber, as a mat- 

 ter of necessity, but South America has bought European 

 manufactures. There are many goods made here wliich 

 the Latin Americans can use to advantage on a larger 

 scale than in the past, and with the new era of South 

 American development now opening we shall expect to 

 see Europe's predominance in that trade declining. 



SYNTHETIC RUBBER ONE YEAR HENCE.? 



PROFESSOR WYNDHAM DUNSTAN, whose inter- 

 esting paper read before the British Association 

 appears on another page, is willing to go on record with 

 the statement that synthetic rubber will be an accom- 

 plished fact — some time. Some of his readers understood 

 him to predict this important discovery within a year. 

 The time limit which he really made, however, was be- 

 fore the A.ssociation met again at York. Suppose it 

 should never again meet in York ? Anyway, his state- 

 ment would have weight were it not for the fact that 

 he follows it by prophesying that Mr. Kelway Bamber's 

 discovery that the latex of India-rubber can be cured 

 by chloride of sulphur will be of commercial value. 



To begin with, it isn't the wish of the writer in any 

 way to minimize the excellent work that the gentlemen 

 in the government service in Ceylon have done in con- 

 nection with India-rubber. That it would be a commer- 

 cial possibility, however, to take the latex of any rubber 

 tree and make it up into marketable goods is not to be 

 thought of. It should be appreciated that rubber to be 

 of any value to the world at large must ninety-nine 

 times out of a hundred be compounded, and not onlj' 

 compounded but made up into certain physical shapes 

 for specific purposes. Any one familiar w'ith rubber 

 manufacture can readily see that it would be impossible, 

 for example, to make an elevator belt with the rubber 

 compounded to give the best wearing surface and with a 

 strong friction by the use of latex in which was a modi- 

 cum of chloride of sulphur, instead of a doughy com- 

 pound run into sheets and shaped by the belt press. In- 

 deed, how in the world could one get any sort of com- 

 pounds into latex and chloride of sulphur, and where in 

 the world would reclaimed rubber and other assistants 

 that are absolutely necessary to-day be added ? 



Mr. Bamber's experiment is exceedingly interesting 

 but not practical, and Professor Dunstan's estimate of 

 its value is not sound. Is his estimate of the possibility 

 of a commercial production of synthetic rubber within 

 one year — or twenty-five years— any sounder? 



The pact that government ownership of the railways 

 is being strongly urged by Mr. Bryan and his political .sup- 

 porters does not mean, of course, that I'ncle Sam is going 

 into the railway business right awaj'. But if he were it 

 would be a matter of considerable interest to the rubber 



manufacturers, particularly on account of the large volume 

 of rubber supplies needed every year by the railwaj' com- 

 panies. Considering the amount of red tape, time, and an- 

 noyance involved in selling the government a few pounds ot 

 elastic bands or rubber erasers nowadays, the prospect 

 would not be a pleasing one of having to trade with oflicial 

 purchasing agents in dealing with millions of feet of air 

 brake hose, for example. 



DEATH OF GEORGE F. HODGMAN. 



As we go to press conies from London the sad news of the 

 death of Mr. George F. Ilodgnian, of the Ilodgnian Rubber 

 Co., New York. He left two months ago with his wife for 

 a tour of Europe. At that time he was in the best of 

 health. Ten days ago his son Theodore was summoned to 

 England, arriving only a few days before the suddenly de- 

 veloped heart trouble terminated fatally. The passing of 

 one who stood for so much in the way of fair dealing, high 

 courage, and staunch friendliness, will shock and sadden 

 the whole trade. 



KING LEOPOLD'S RUBBER REALM. 



WH.VTEVER may be the outcome of the rumored 

 negotiations for the acquiring by Americans of an 

 interest in the Congo rubber trading companies, the ru- 

 mors at least afford an occasion for reviewing an interest- 

 ing branch of the crude rubber situation. No other coun- 

 try, considered as a source of crude rubber, has ever re- 

 ceived so much attention at the hands of the general public 

 as the Congo Free State. In the first place, this was until 

 lately an unknown country. It is not a score of years since 

 Stanley, just become famous on account of his daring inva- 

 sion of " Darkest Africa," announced to the world his dis- 

 covery of untold wealth of rubber along the great Congo 

 and its tributaries. 



Commercial companies were speedih- formed to exploit 

 the resources of that region, rubber always being considered 

 first, because the rubber was ready in the forest for any 

 comer, without waste of time for planting, building, or other 

 development work. Returns were speedy, and at such a lib- 

 eral rate as to suggest magic. Few white people had ever 

 seen the Congo countr3% so that it remained a land of mys- 

 tery, and all the more mysterious because of the great profits 

 of the trading companies operating there, whereas raw rubber 

 had never been associated in the public mind with getting 

 rich quick. Besides, the Congo Free State had as its patron 

 a European monarch whose name was on everybodj-'s tongue, 

 and who was generally supposed to be getting a good share 

 of the trading profits referred to. The whole civilized world 

 has been called into the so called Congo controversy, in rela- 

 tion to the treatment of the rubber gatherers, whether inspired 

 by pure philanthropy or commercial jealousy — a question 

 not to be discussed here. 



The fact is that there is yet avast amount of rubber in the 

 extensive area of the Congo Free State, despite what has 

 been exported. It is mainly upon the receipts from the 

 Congo that the rubber trading at Antwerp has been built 

 up, within a few years, from nothing to 5000 or 6000 tons a 

 year. The figures below show the amounts of rubber ex- 

 ported year by year from the Free State proper : 



