April i, 1907.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



2C.3 



ber regions of the Amazon better methotls oi dealing 

 with the rubber gatherers could be adopte<l, wiih the 

 result not only of improving the condition of the natives, 

 but of putting the rubber trade on a better basis. The 

 results of the American company's efforts on the Congo 

 will be looked for with especial interest, in view of the 

 charges that have been made of cruelty to the rubber 

 gatherers there. 



A ROYAL PHILANTHROPIST. 



''plIR King of the Belgians, after years of silence mider widc- 

 *■ .spread criticism of his conduct of Congo affairs, has lately 

 seen fit to make public some statements in defense. This was 

 done in tlic shape of an interview accorded by his Majesty to a 

 representative of the New York news agency known as the 

 "Publishers' Press," which has been widely published. It last 

 appeared in a semi-official publication, La Verite Sur le Congo, 

 which indicates that the report of the interview is sanctioned by 

 King Leopold. 



To use the King's own words, "Xo one in Europe has been 

 painted a monster in such blackness" as he ; he has been de- 

 scribed as "an ogre, whose chief delight is to order the torture 

 of helpless .\frican negroes." To which his answer is: "It would 

 be absurd for us to illtreat the blacks of the Free State, because 

 no state can prosper without its population being happy and 

 increasing." There have been, his Majesty admits, cases of 

 "mi.sjudgment" on the part of the state's agents, white and 

 black, but instead of attacking him, he feels that other powers 

 would be "more philanthropic" in giving their support to his 

 measures "for the benefit of civilization." 



What will cause most surprise in the royal interview is the 

 statement : "I am the ruler of the Congo, but the prosperity of 

 the country no more aflfects me financially than the prosperity of 

 the United States increases the private means of President 

 Roosevelt. I have not a penny invested in Congo industries. I 

 have received no salary for the work I have done, as the Congo 

 executive during the past 22 years, and in no shape or form have 

 I ever bettered myself in money through my relationship with 

 the Congo Free State. On the contrary, I have spent large 

 sums of my own in developing the country, sums that amount in 

 the aggregate to millions of dollars." 



The King says further that he has suflicient money for his 

 wants, and cannot take money out of the world. "I am not a 

 business man," he concludes. 



Whether these very definite assertions will be accepted as a 

 complete answer to the charges made against the Congo ad- 

 ministration time will tell. P>ut the interview doubtless will ap- 

 pear to some persons incoirplete in that it tails to say who has 

 pocketed the large profits made on rubber and other products 

 of the Congo. 



News or the rece.vt he.^vv snowf.\lls in the United States 

 cannot fail to be welcome on the .Amazon. Not that any use 

 for snow e.xists so near the equator, but the more snow up 

 here, the more rubber shoes are worn, and the better the de- 

 mand for the .-Xmazon's great export staple. 



The rubber situation at Manaos and its eflfect upon the 

 market in London on the same date, reported by cable in a Cey- 

 lon newspaper of the following morning, is displayed as im- 

 portant news. If is at least interesting as showing how near 

 together the different parts of the rubber world are being 

 brought. 



strikes us as being worthy of general adoption, as more appro- 

 priate than "rubber substitutes." One reason is that it is more 

 accurate, there being, as a matter of fact, no such thing as a 

 rubber "substitute." 



The .m.wuu hf New York, in a recent address at a great uni- 

 versity, illustrated the idea of elasticity by a mention of "gutta- 

 percha." We were about to comment on the popular idea of 

 the identity of gutta-percha and india-rubber, when a United 

 States court judge decided, in a customs case, that "india- 

 rubber" includes "balata," which other official decisions have 

 practically made out to lie gutta-percha. It may be just as well 

 to defer further comment until all the public authorities have 

 spoken. 



The uefin'itiln of "india-rubber, crude," by Judge Hough 

 which admits balata free of customs dues, would apply, so far 

 as we can see, to chicle gum — particularly if it should be intended 

 for use in the manufacture of "rubber goods." 



OBITUARY. 



IN the death of Jean Vii.iiouchevitch, in Paris, on January 27, 

 ■'• the cause of scientific agriculture, not only in France and her 

 colonies, but generally, and in the tropics in particular, suflFers a 

 distinct loss. Monsieur Vilbouchevitch for a number of years 

 had devoted special attention to the development of the rubber 

 culture, both in the pages of the admirable Journal d' Agriculture 

 TroficaL', which he founded in 1901, and through personal rela- 

 tions with many leaders in the planting interest. .'Xn important 

 work was his translation and enlargement of Dr. Warburg's 

 "Die Kautschukpflanzen und Ihre Kultur." Monsieur Vilbouch- 

 evitch was born June 24, 1866, at Bielostok, Russia, and was 

 educated in his native country and at Paris. He began early the 

 study of scientific agriculture, and became attached to the Russian 

 ministry of agriculture. Since 1895 lie had resided in Paris. It 

 is gratifying to know that the Journal d' Agriculture Tropicale is 

 to be continued. 



RUBBER SMUGGLING IN BRAZIL. 



' I ' HE falling off in the revenues of the state of ,\mazonas 

 ■^ since 1904 is explained by Governor Nery, in his last annual 

 message to the legislature at Manaos as being due to an or- 

 ganized system of smuggling, by which a gn'cat amount of rub- 

 ber produced in the state escapes the payment of export duties. 

 In May, 1905. the federal government of Brazil, having assumed 

 control of the Acre district, installed three prefectures there, 

 with a new fiscal system. The export duty levied on rubber 

 being much lower than in .'Xmazonas — in which state the .\cre 

 rubber formerly was taxed — it is asserted by Governor Nery that 

 much rubber now produced in Amazonas is taken up the Purus 

 and Jurua rivers into the federal district and sent to market as 

 Acre rubber. 



In the first year of the new Acre regime, according to the 

 oflficial figures, the rubber shipments amounted to 2,260,000 kilo- 

 grams, and last year to 8,266,987 kilograms. The collection of 

 the latter amount. Governor Nerj' says, would have been impos- 

 sible, with the limited population of the Acre, and the figures 

 are given as conclusive evidence of smuggling, together with the 

 fact that the amount of rubber taxes at Manaos has been fall- 

 ing off. 



The term "crude rubber displ.\cers," lately introduced into 

 the trade by an enterprising British firm in their advertisements, 



The will of the late Baren de Marajo, a distinguished citizen 

 of Para, whose death has been reported in The India Rubber 

 World, disposes of an estate valued at 600,000 milreis (=: $206,- 

 826.25), among seven heirs. 



