36 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[November i, 1906. 



mer? Wouldn't that stock be pretty well vulcanized 

 before it reached the nearest rubber factory ? 



Suppose further, that Mr. Bamber cabled President 

 Dale of the Rubber Goods Manufacturing Co. (of course 

 in code) : " Have just mixed ten tons Rainbow packing 

 stock, formula 40 per cent. Ceylon milk, 60 per cent. 

 Rainbow, 2 cents a pound, f. o. b. New York. Will you 

 purchase?" Wouldn't the price be too high? 



There is much more that might be said about the pro- 

 cess, but nothing with the light that we have at pre.sent 

 upon it that leads to a belief in its commercial value. At 

 the same time it is interesting, and the work that Mr. 

 Bamber has put upon it of distinct scientific value, :uid 

 for it he should be congratulated. 



CEYLON'S RUBBER SHOW. 



THE GOODS MADE OF RUBBER. 



EVERY now and then a request comes to hand for a 

 general catalogue of goods made of rubber — some- 

 tliing which will embrace all manufactured articles into 

 which rubber enters. Such a book no doubt would be 

 very interesting to look through, but its practical value 

 would not be such as to tempt a business man to incur 

 the expense of getting it out. Besides, no matter how 

 complete the list might be in manuscript, it would not be 

 complete by the time the printers were done with it, so 

 rapidly do new applications of rubber come to light. To 

 be of practical value, catalogues of goods must relate to 

 the output of a single factory, or the stocks of a single 

 dealer, or at least to the articles belonging to a certain 

 line of trade. 



A complete list of rubber goods would include pencil 

 tips, deep sea cables, balloons, golf balls, garden hose, 

 beer stoppers, hospital sheeting, automobile tires, wagon 

 springs, combs, telephone receivers, and thousands of 

 other things equally different one from another. And it 

 must be considered that a very large use of rubber is in 

 articles in which it plays a subsidiary part. Even a rub- 

 ber tire is of no use without the wheeled vehicle upon 

 which to apply it. The hose used on railway trains is 

 only a part of the air brake system. And the millions of 

 pounds of rubber packings made every year are valueless 

 except in connection with steam engines and pumps, and 

 when in use the packing is out of sight, where its exist- 

 ence would not be suspected by the uninformed. 



The fact is that it is not easy always to tell what are 

 and what are not "rubber goods," even assuming that 

 good rubber is used. Men's suspenders would hardly fig- 

 ure as rubljer goods, although every pair worth having 

 contains a certain amount of rubber. No one a.sks for a 

 catalogue of all the goods made of iron, or into which 

 iron enters. There is no list of paper goods. And for 

 the above and many other reasons, it is not probable that 

 we shall soon see a complete catalogue of rubber goods. 

 It would be easier, no doubt, to compile a list of manu- 

 factured articles in which some application of rubber is 

 not involved. 



OUR congratulations to the first proposer of the Cey- 

 lon Rubber Exhibition ! And to everybody who 

 worked in its development, upon the successful outcome. 

 Congratulations to Dr. Willis, of the botanic gardens, 

 and his colleagues ; to the enlightened government of 

 the colony, for its part in the work ; and to the rubber 

 planters, not only of Ceylon, but of the neighboring 

 States concerned with rubber. 



One result of the exhibition will be to promote interest 

 among planters in scientific plantation methods, to the 

 end that better returns and larger profits will be gained. 

 It will lead to a wider interchange among the planters of 

 experiences and views, so that all may share in the com- 

 mon fund of knowledge of rubber culture. We take it 

 that man}' rubber manufacturers will now feel a deeper 

 interest in plantation rubber, which will tend both to 

 their interest and that of the planters. 



One more point is that the holding of the Ceylon exhi- 

 bition will fix a higher estimation in public opinion upon 

 rubber planting, and lead to the more intelligent consider- 

 ation of the subject by investors. It is de.siral)le not only 

 that those with capital to invest shall learn of desirable 

 channels, but that they shall be guarded against mis- 

 takes, and the event at Peradeni\'a should have the effect 

 of bringing to a head, as it were, information on many 

 points connected with rubber, and be the means of dis- 

 pelling the popular ignorance that has prevailed hitherto. 



Finally, news of the rubber show must in time reach 

 the powers that be in the Amazon valley, and teach them 

 that the world is not bound for all time to depend upon 

 Para for its rubber. Then the Brazilian tax collectors 

 might become less rapacious, and the local governments 

 undertake to do something for the benefit of the rubber 

 traffic, thereby helping themselves, besides promoting 

 the consumption of rubber. 



SECOND HAND MACHINERY. 



IN business, as in other departments of life, "straws 

 show which way the wind blows," which remark we 

 are moved to make by the suggestion which reaches us 

 that the condition of the second hand machinery trade 

 may be taken as indicating the prosperous condition of 

 the rubber industry. Not that anybody has suspected a 

 lack of prosperity in the rubber bu.sine.ss ; there have 

 been no important failures for a long time ; new factories 

 are going up and old ones being enlarged ; and the fact 

 that more rubber is being used is a matter of common 

 knowledge. Still, it is pleasant, now and then, to dwell 

 upon the prosperous condition of one's business, and this 

 is why we stop to think over our correspondent's sugges- 

 tion regarding second hand machinery. 



The point is made that the demand for such machinery 

 is, so to speak, crowding the supply ; there are more buy- 

 ers than sellers. There are people who want machines 



