J'lv I. 190/-.I THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



305 



Plantation Versus Amazon Rubber Prices. 



IT is impossible to state with any (Jefiiiiteness the lu-t cost of 

 placing rubber in the ports of Brazil, accordinK to Mr. 

 Reginald \V. Wickham, who recently visited the Amazon 

 region, writing in The Times of Ceylon. "There is no such 

 thing as an average cost," he says, "as no man working rubber 

 on the Amazon has the vaguest idea what it does cost." The 

 proprietor of a senngal (rubber camp) i.s a merchant who sup- 

 plies the goods needed by the workers who gather the rubber; 

 he credits each worker with approximately the market price of 

 the rubber which he collects, minus a percentage to cover ship- 

 ping costs and the like. "The profit is made in the supplying of 

 goods to the workmen. Having the monopoly of supplying per- 

 haps several hundred men with all they require — necessities, 

 comforts, and lu.xurics — and the men being able to earn (on 

 paper) £1 to £2 a day, and therefore being rich and extravagant, 

 the merchant-proprietor is able to charge what he likes for the 

 goods, and thus the profits of a rubber concern are shown as 

 'trading,' and not rubber. In fact, it is really a question of ex- 

 change and barter, the goods being exchanged at the owner's 

 price, for rubber at somew-here near the market price at 

 Manaos." Yet if the proprietor charges too much he is liable 

 to lose his labor. 



Mr. Wickham thinks that if the price of rubber should fall 

 to any great extent, the Amazon region can never compete with 

 the Far East. Manaos is to-day about the most expensive place 

 in the world to live in. Goods cannot be supplied to the rubber 

 workers cheaply enough to enable Brazilian rubber to compete 

 with that from the East, when enough of the latter comes into 

 the market to intiuencc the price. "Meanwhile, the .Amazon 

 rubber is the bird in the hand, while Ceylon and Malay rubber 

 is the bird in the bush." 



The -Amazon forest region is so large, says Mr. Wickham, 

 that one man could hardly become qualified to make definite 

 statements in regard to it, but he is certain that no population 

 in North Brazil can ever work out the rubber on the .A.mazon 

 and its tributaries. "The reason rubber men are going farther 

 and farther away for their rubber is not so much that the nearer 

 tracts are being worked out, as to get farther away from com- 

 petition, and obtain better control of n monopoly in supplying 

 goods. -At times drastic measures have to be taken to keep out 

 competition; on a river, just beyond where I was, three Jews, 

 who were trying to buy direct from the workmen rubber that 

 was already hypothecated to the proprietor, were simply shot. 

 The only remark made was 'Serves them right ; they had no 

 right to be there.' " 



Mr. Wickham is reported to have visited Brazil for the pur- 

 pose of selecting rubber areas for investment by an English 

 syndicate, and The Times of Ceylon's London correspondent 

 hears that some prominent Ceylon people may become interested. 

 * * * 



The Times of Ceylon regards Mr. Wickhani's views as cau- 

 tious. The editor docs not think that Eastern rubber planters 

 should stake their all on the idea that at 3 shillings [=about 75 

 cents, gold] they will cease to have to compete with wild rubber. 

 ''In the event of a heavy fall in rubber prices," says the Times, 

 "of course the rubber forest proprietor's trading profits will fall 

 heavily from their present position, and there will be a great 

 many economies forced on all concerned. But the main source 

 of the world's supply was where it is now in the days of rubber 

 at 3s. 6d. ; and while the rubber is there for the gathering, most 

 of the collectors will continue their work down to no profit 

 worth speaking of rather than turn to some other occupation, 

 probably quite as arduous and with no greater promise. Xatur- 

 allv there will be less collected at 3s. than now, and this will 



tend to raise prices again, when collectors will resume mak- 

 ing money, having in the meantime learned a number of 

 econonties." 



♦ » • 



Theke is no reason for alarm among the rubber producers of 

 the Amazon region on account of whatever result may be at- 

 tained from rubber culture in the Far East, according to Mr. 

 Ashmore Russan, chairman of the Brazilian Rubber Trust, 

 Limited (London). Mr. Russan has been interested in British 

 companies exploiting rubber in South America for many years. 

 "Brazilian collectors," he says, "are paid by piecework — so much 

 a kilogram. As the piecework price paid to the collectors on 

 the estates falls and rises with the market or exporters' price 

 in Para and Manaos, which in its turn is ruled by prices in 

 Europe and the United States, the producer's profit, in the event 

 of an unexpected fall, would be practically the same as when 

 high prices ruled. The profit per kilogram would be about the 

 same, but the cash turnover smaller." 



Mr. Russan estimated the world's production at 70,000 tons a 

 year, of which Brazil yields nearly 60 per cent. — all forest 

 rubber. The output of plantation rubber does not exceed i,ocw 

 tons, or about iJ4 per cent, of the whole. So continuous is the 

 growth of demand for rubber, Mr. Russan does not feel that 

 when the yield of plantation rubber has reached 20,oco tons 

 yearly the cost to manufacturers will be materially less than now. 

 He considers that all the rubber available from whatever source 

 for many years to come will be required. 



It may be noticed that Mr. Russan's account of how the 

 seriugal proprietors deal with their labor differs somewhat from 

 that of Mr. Wickham, but the rubber region is so vast that 

 doubtless a wide range of practice exists. 



* * * 



.As having a bearing upon a proper comparison of Amazon 

 forest and Ceylon plantation conditions, in affecting the cost of 

 rubber production, the illustration accompanying this article may 

 prove informing. It is from a photograph of a typical rubber 

 station on the river Jurua, an affluent of the upper Amazon, 

 which runs through what is considered one of the richest rubber 

 producing areas in the whole .Amazon region. Such a house as 

 is shown in the photograph represents very fairly the kind of 

 construction employed in the great majority of rubber stations 

 on the upper Amazon. These houses, known as barracoes, are 

 used as a place of residence by the ow'ner of the seringal (rubber 

 camp) and his assistants, as well as a store house for supplies 

 and deposit of rubber. The houses are built upon piles, so as to 

 be out of reach of the water during the annual flood time, when 

 the whole country is inundated and work suspended. 



The group of scringuciros (rubber workers) is also typical. 

 They are principally natives of Ceara and Maranhao. going up 

 river each year to gather rubber, with a few Indians and half- 

 breeds belonging to the locality. The men are shown with the 

 various implements used in their work. The scringuciros do 

 not live in the barracao, but construct rude huts in the forests 

 near by, as convenient as possible to the cstradas which they 

 may be working. River steamers call periodically at such a 

 station, to discharge supplies and take on rubber. 



Such a rubber estate as the illustration relates to is not only 

 located at the edge of a primitive tropical forest, with its rubber 

 trees scattered at a rate of only a few to the acre at best, but it 

 is subject to floods, and the workers, mostly unaccliniated. to the 

 deadly fevers and the ill effects of insufficient or improper food. 

 The Jurua river itself is nearly 2,000 miles from the seaboard, 

 with practically only one civilized center (the city of Manaos) 

 between it and the ocean. Communication is infrequent and 



