Jink i, 1907. 1 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



267 



chiefly at times when prices are at the top notch? If the afore- 

 said speculators can, by merely willing it, materially increase the 

 cost of rubber to consumers, why have they now let prices drop 

 to the lowest figures for three years past? While these ques- 

 tions appear to be in order, it does not seem to be out of 

 place to remark that the present market situation in raw rubber 

 ividtnlly is a direct result of conditions of supply and de- 

 mand. It might be added that the true speculator can work 

 when prices are falling as well as when they are on the rise, 

 and we have no guarantee that prices may not go still lower 

 to furtlur iho interest of some selfish secret factor in the 

 trade. 



TiiEY WE.VR GALOSHES NOW TN JERUSALEM ; in fact, there are 

 not many places outside the tropics where rubber footwear has 

 not found its way. But in spite of the steady growth in the 

 consumption of such goods, the exports of the American product 

 show no increase, though other American rubber goods go 

 abroad in larger volume all the time. A consul writing from 

 the Levant intimates that while American "rubbers" attract at 

 first by their lightness .and neat appearance, they do not last 

 as long as the heavier makes of some other countries. Who- 

 ever can produce an overshoe that is at one and the same time 

 lighter, stronger, and lower priced than any other can hope for 

 a wide market in tlu' E.-i-t. 



Forty thousand automobiles i.v Nicw York do not call forth 

 nearly so much comment as 10,000 rubber-tired, horse-drawn 

 cabs in London a few years ago, as affording an important outlet 

 for the rubber factories. The rubber vehicle tire has become 

 too commonplace to attract any such popular attention as for- 

 merly. All the same it seems worth while to note that a single 

 firm is under contract to supply 20,000 motor cabs for London 

 streets, all to be equipped with rubber tires. And ten years 

 hence no doubt to-day's figures of rubber tire production will be 

 tliought as insignificant as those prior to the date of- Dunlop's 

 first patent now seem. 



The latest "rubber king" is Menelik, king of kings and em- 

 peror of Ethiopia, or Abyssinia, as we call it. His country, 

 of no mean extent, appears to be rich in rubber of good quality, 

 and its exploitation has been begun on .in important scale. 

 Menelik differs from the other native rulers in the African rub- 

 ber belt in that he is still "boss" in his own country, with the 

 power to grant concessions without outside control or interfer- 

 ence, and it will be interesting to watch the development of the 

 new rubber interest in his dominions, it being taken for granted 

 that having seen it once started, he will desire to see as large 

 an (lutput as possible. 



We have much pleasure in welcoming to the field of techni- 

 cal journalism Mr. Herbert Wright, who lately resigned his post 

 as controller of the experiment station in Ceylon, after much 

 creditable work in connection with rubber culture, to return to 

 England, and whose appointment as editor of our London con- 

 temporary. The Iiidia-Rubber Journal, is now announced. 



A NEW CROP OF ARTIFICIAL RUBBERS comes with every year, 

 many of them the subject of patents, but as yet none seems to 

 have been developed by a practical rubber man. Evidently the 

 less one knows about rubber the more apt he is to attempt to 

 supply the "long-felt want" for a rubber "substitute." 



What has become of the "rubber trust" that all the news- 

 papers used to feel obliged to attack so vehemently every few 



THE RUBBER INDUSTRY IN JAPAN. 



'T'O the Editor of The India Rubber World: Since the 

 ~ close of our war with Russia the industries of Japan have 

 been increasing at an unprecedented rate. More than 200 new 

 industrial enterprises have been incorporated, with an aggregate 

 capital stated at about 150,000,000 yen [=$75,000,000], and the con- 

 struction of new factories is proceeding actively in consecjuence. 

 Five new concerns have been incorporated in the india-rubber 

 and insulated wire branches as follows: 



Tokyo Gomu Kabushiki Kaisha (Tokio Rubber Co., Limited) ; 

 capital, 1,000,000 yen. They are now in position to manufac- 

 ture mechanical rubber goods. One of the incorporators is C. 

 Ogiwara. who was the founder of the Oriental Rubber Co., of 

 Tokio, though he had not been with the latter company for 

 some years. [For an account of the latter see The Inuia Rub- 

 ber World July i, 1900 — page 279.) 



Nippon Dcnscn Kaisha (Japan Electrical Wire Co., Limited), 

 at Tokio; capital, i,ooo,coo yen. 



Tokyo Densen Kaisha (Tokio Electrical Wire Co., Limited), 

 at Tokio; capital, 1,000,000 yen. 



Nippon Densen Seizo Kaisha (Japan Electrical Wire Manu- 

 facturing Co.. Limited), at Osaka; capital, 1.000,000 yen. 



Teikoku Densen Kaisha (Imperial Electrical Wire Co., Lim- 

 ited), at Osaka; capital, 2,000,000 yen. 



The last four companies will make insulated wires, as their 

 names indicate, and some of them have started work, but chiefly 

 on weatherproof wire. 



The Tsuda Rubber Works, at Kyoto, owned formerly by an 

 individual, have become incorporated as Tsuda & Co. They 

 manufacture electric wires only, but are enlarging their plant. 



The Yokohama Electrical Wire Co., Limited, have increased 

 their capital to 1,200,000 yen, and are enlarging their factory. 



The Fujikura Insulated Wire and Rubber Co., manufacturers 

 of insulated wires and mackintoshes, at Tokio, continue to ex- 

 pand, both in the extent of their building and their capacity for 

 production. 



The Tokio Industrial Exposition opened in Uyeno Park on 

 the 20th instant and is to continue until July i. It is not yet 

 complete, but doubtless will contain not a few exhibits illustrat- 

 ing the progress of the rubber and allied industries in this 

 country. K. okada. 



'I'okio, J-ipan. .M.ircli 23. 1907. 



[Details regarding the older rubber factories in Japan ap- 

 peared in The Imm.\ Rubber World .\ugust i. 1905 — page 370.] 



GUAVULE INTERESTS. 



At what price level do manufacturers buv crude rubber most 

 freelv? 



A X act of the Texas legislature, to become effective on July 

 •'' II, authorizes the commissioner of the general land office 

 in that state, with the approval of the governor and attorney 

 general, to sell the guayule shrubs found on any school lands 

 in Texas. "The sales may be upon such terms, conditions and 

 limitations as they may deem most advantageous, having in 

 view the best interests of the school fund and the state." 



A guayule rubber factory now being erected at Ciudad Juarez, 

 Mexico, is the first in the state of Chihuahua. The location 

 is just across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, and the 

 capital is supplied by citizens of the latter place, headed by 

 Frank Kirk, who is general manager. Machinery is being made 

 at El Paso for a plant capable of treating 15 tons of shrub 

 daily. The object of building across the river is to avoid paying 

 an export duty on the guayule shrub ($15 Mex. per ton), while 

 the manufactured product can be brought into the United States 

 duty free. The enterprise is to be operated as the Royal Rub- 

 ber Co., a corporation registered April 10, 1906, under the laws 

 of Oklahoma. The process to be used, which is mechanical, 

 without employing any chemicals, is covered by a Mexican 

 patent granted to Seth Kirk, May 24, 1906. 



