May I, 1907.1 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



233 



Wi^' 



Published on the 1st of each Uonth by 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING GO- 



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HENRY C. PEARSON, 

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Vol. 36. 



MAY 1. 1907. 



HAWTHORNE HILL, 

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No 2. 



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TABLE OF CONTENTS ON LAST PAGE READING MATTER. 

 WALL STREET AND BUSINESS. 



Tl IK exports of American inamifactures, so long rela- 

 tively insignificant, have of late grown to a volume 

 which places the United States in the front rank among 

 exporting nations. .\ recent official report from Wash- 

 ington, analyzing these exports, shows a steady expan- 

 sion of shii)mcnts of a great variety of goods, to all the 

 principal markets, to a degree that cannot be regarded as 

 due to accidental or sporadic intluences. The foreign 

 trade of the country evidently is built upon a sound basis 

 and built to last. This is encouraging, if for no other 

 reason, because the productive classes here, no longer re- 

 stricted to a home market, are thus better safeguarded 

 against future periods of idleness due to any local busi- 

 ness depression. 



Another set of figures which testify to the great pros- 

 perity of the nation is contained in the government's re- 

 port on railway incomes — altogether the most stupendous 

 figures afforded by any business interest in the country. 

 CD The constant increase, year by year, in railway earnings 

 ' — is a striking measure of industrial and commercial 

 ' growth. The general study of these figures, together 



with the export statistics already referred to, would 

 greatly lessen the number of pessimists. 



The statistics with which the average newspaper reader 

 l)robably is more familiar, however, are the stock ex- 

 change quotations. For some time past quotations for 

 .\merican securities, if taken alone, woul<l have indicated 

 a depressed condition of business and a general decline of LH*R ' 

 prosperity. While factories were busy and every class NEW 

 of labor employed and consumption of goods active, rail-"'*^* 

 way and other corporation shares were lately selling at ^^'^' 

 a heavy fall in prices. The exact cause of this latest per- 

 turbation "on the Street" we shall leave to the financial 

 experts to explain. The stock exchange reports do give 

 the exact sdliiii; price of securities, and in the long run 

 do register the country's prosperity as no other agency 

 does, but they do not necessarily give the true values at 

 any given date of the properties or business represented. 

 Prices mav go too high some times, in an era of pros- 

 perity, and in endeavoring to find their level may fall tfio 

 low. Or when people feel like buying, shares of a cor- 

 poration may rise, and rice z'ersa, regardless of the con- 

 dition of the company. 



It happens now that the people are concerned with the 

 question of corporation control, and while this question is 

 being settled, the railway companies may naturally halt 

 the work of expansion that is always going on, and in- 

 vestors may be cautious about buying their shares, caus- 

 ing prices to drop. And the business man who owns 

 such shares will count himself poorer for the time and 

 perhaps postpone certain ])lans. causing a temporar}- 

 check to trade. Such a condition we referred to briefly 

 last month as a probable cause of the lessened pressure to 

 buy crude rubber, and the consequent fall in prices. But 

 Wall street apparently has recovered from its scare, as 

 always happens, and the effect on business is likely to be 

 soon forgotten. 



THE SELECTION OF COTTON FIBERS. 



THI" last Sea Island cotton crop, whatever may have 

 been the cause, was less than half as large as the 

 average for several years past, and the planters of this 

 grade are now organized for the purpose of restricting 

 production and maintaining prices. The importation into 

 the United States of long staple cotton (mostly Egyptian) 

 increased from 17,000 bales in 1890 to 133,000 bales last 

 vear. But the production of cotton in Eg\pt is not com- 

 mensurate with the demand, and cannot be depended 

 upon to supply the needs of the trade in long staple 

 fibers. 



It is interesting to note in The Cotton foitnial a letter 

 from a planter, calling attention to varieties of American 

 cotton with staple intermediate between the ordinary 

 upland and the Sea Island. Growers generally, he says, 

 have not been aware of the extra value of some of their 

 product, though the buyers have appreciated it. and 

 pocketed a handsome profit through charging the spin- 



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