THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[October i, 1905. 



the best development of the new interest through a free 

 exchange of views and experiences. Real profits already 

 realized are reported ; not estimates of future possibilities. 

 All this is as it should be, and it is the best earnest of a 

 firm foundation for rubber culture as a lasting and profit- 

 able business. 



There is no other part of the world where rubber figures 

 so largely in the real news of the day — in the printed news, 

 we mean — as in the colonies above named, and doubtless 

 the people there would be surprised to know that there are 

 some folks elsewhere who suppose the result of all rubber 

 planting to date to be summed up in one word — failure. 



A COMING GREAT USE OF RUBBER HOSE. 



/^F the newer applications of India-rubber, one which 

 ^-^ seems especially practical and destined to come into 

 wide use is in the form of hose for the compressed-air and 

 vacuum systems of house cleaning, in regard to which some 

 details are given elsewhere in this paper. Medical science 

 long has taught the importance of cleanliness as a means 

 to health, but it has remained for twentieth century invent- 

 ors to show the world what a really clean house is like. 

 And self respecting and intelligent people, once having 

 their eyes opened, will not be content with the old stand- 

 ards of cleanliness. 



It is not too much to give the new house cleaning meth- 

 ods a place with the most notable discoveries in the history 

 of sanitation. These words, by the way, are not written 

 in the interest of any one of the several somewhat different 

 house cleaning systems now offered for public support, for 

 The India Rubber World is not in a position to insti- 

 tute any comparison among them, but we are willing to be 

 quoted freely in advocacy of the general principles in- 

 volved. 



The reason for introducing the subject here is to note the 

 importance of the new demand for raw rubber which un- 

 doubtedly will follow the more general public appreciation 

 of the new era of cleanliness which the pneumatic system 

 is ushering in. Apart from the sanitary aspect — which 

 appeals to all good people — this new use of flexible hose 

 cannot fail to be a matter of great importance to the rub- 

 ber industry and likewise to the producers of raw rubber. 



Mr. Blanchard's contribution to this subject, by the way, 

 relates mainly to the cleaning of private and public build- 

 ings — to premises occupied by people as residences or for 

 office and other similar purposes. But an English inventor 

 has opened a new line of development which widens the field 

 enormously. His suggestion relates to ridding coal mines 

 of the dust which is now a fruitful cause of explosions, to 

 say nothing of the injurious effect upon the health of the 

 miners. If this pneumatic cleaning proves practical in 

 collieries, there is scarcely a form of industry to which the 

 same principle may not be applied ultimately, with the re- 

 sult of making the work more healthful in general, even if 

 it does not always, as in the case of coal mining, remove a 

 distinct menace to life. 



We shall expect to see a great increase in the use of rub- 

 ber hose, due to the new era of cleanliness. 



The continued high price of rubber is convincirg 

 evidence of the active demand for rubber goods. 



If the horse should be annihilated by the automobile. 

 may we expect to see the race tracks given over to the rubber 

 tired red devils and blue devils and yellow devils, with crowds 

 betting on contests of speed ? ' 



Alaska appears destined to become of great importance 

 to American commerce. It is only a straw which points the di- 

 rection of the wind, but it may be worth mentioning that the 

 shipment of American rubber footwear to that territory during 

 the last fiscal year amounted in value to $166,644, or more than 

 23 per cent, on the $7,200,000 which the United States paid to 

 Russia for Alaska. 



The rubber kings of the Amazon doubtless feel little re- 

 spect for the trivial shipments of real Paia rubber from the 

 other side of the globe. One steamer from the Amazon carries 

 more rubber than has been shipped from all the plantations in 

 the East within a year. But the output over there is growing 

 in extent rapidly, while in Brazil it is at a standstill. And the 

 difference between the production of the two centers will not 

 long remain so marked as now. 



The unprecedented crops this year emphasize the great 

 part which agriculture plays in the prosperity of the United 

 States, and every increase in the power of our people to spend 

 money helps trade in all the rest of the world. So far as the 

 rubber industry is concerned, the home demand for its products 

 is likely to prevent any great increase for awhile in the export 

 of American rubber goods. In fact, while the rubber mills here 

 are crowded with work, the imports of rubber goods into the 

 United States are larger now than ever before. 



The wealth of rubber in the Acre district prob- 

 ably has never been exaggerated, but the establishment of 

 peace there — as between Brazil and Bolivia — has not been fol- 

 lowed by the hoped for settlement of the territory and the 

 opening of new rubber camps. Even Brazilians will be found 

 to complain, as will be seen on another page of this paper, of 

 the govermental policy which is blind to every consideration 

 but the personal advantage of the office holders. What is need- 

 ed for the development of the Acre and its rubber resources isa 

 more liberal policy toward the foreigner with capital to invest 

 there, as well as toward the native Brazilian, whether capitalist 

 or laborer. 



THE UBERO PLANTING COMPANIES. 



THE receivers for the Ubero Plantation Co. of Boston ap- 

 peared before the United States circuit court in Boston 

 on September 2o,with a petition 10 be allowed to sell the assets 

 in their charge and divide the proceeds among the investors. 

 Counsel representing a reorganization committee desired to file 

 a petition for the discharge of the receivers and for the property 

 of the company to be turned over to a new corporation to 

 be formed under the reorganization plans. [See The India 

 Rubber World, September i, 1905— page 402J. It was stated 

 that a substantial amount had been subscribed by the investors 

 for the reorganization, but this plan was opposed by counsel 

 who appeared for another group of investors. The court de- 

 ferred action to give the receivers an opportunity to communi- 

 cate with all the shareholders to ascertain their wishes in regard 

 to a reorganization. 



