December i, 1905.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



71 



tion Then the Hevea species — the " Pani " rubber tree- 

 was not drawn ui)on at all, and yet this tree has been found 

 to exist in ('olonibia over an area measured not by acres 

 or hectares, but by degrees of latitude 



How soon the Hevea rubber resources of the country 

 may be rendered of service to the world depends upon the 

 degree of intelligence with which the government may deal 

 with the question of encouraging their exploitation. But 

 at least the government has placed no obstacles in the way 

 of cultivation in the districts long ago denuded of the nat- 

 ural growths of Castilloa — and perhaps Sapitim — and from 

 details printed elsewhere in this Journal, it appears that 

 planting of these species, here and there on a compara- 

 tively small scale, has been in progress long enough to 

 demonstrate that, if there were no other field open for 

 rubber planting, Colombia has the capacity in time to pro- 

 duce, under cultivation, enough to supply the world's de- 

 mands for this invaluable material. 



THE AUTOMOBILE ERA. 



"T* HE Olympia automobile show in London, in the month 

 •*• just closed, attracted an unprecedented amount of 

 attention in the British metropolis for an occurrence of 

 this sort, just as the Paris Automobile Salon this month is 

 likely to do in France, despite the many notable exhibi- 

 tions of the kind in the latter country. Similarly the ex- 

 hibitions of the same character scheduled for the leading 

 American cities within the next two months may be ex- 

 pected to prove a greater popular attraction than anything 

 in the same line in the past. Already all the available spaces 

 in the New York and Chicago show buildings have been 

 preem.pted, and many would be exhibitors will be without 

 an opportunity to show their products. And the week 

 limit adopted in each of the cities will be too brief by 

 far to permit all who would attend to have an opportu- 

 nity to see the marvelously interesting exhibits. 



The public interest in the new means of transportation 

 is no mere passing curiosity, such as attracted crowds to 

 see the first elephant ever exhibited in London. The au- 

 tomobile shows are intended to be, and are recognized by 

 their patrons as being, means for the education of the 

 public in the details of a new and great utility of universal 

 and lasting importance. When the luxurious ox carts in 

 which royalty in the middle ages was conveyed through 

 the streets of Paris were supplanted by even more luxuri- 

 ous coaches drawn by horses, at a faster gait, the transi- 

 tion was so gradual as not to appeal greatly at any time to 

 the public interest. Stephenson's perfection of the loco- 

 motive, far reaching in importance as was his invention, 

 was slow in coming into universal appreciation, because 

 railways could not be constructed quickly over long dis- 

 tances. And even now, with the hundreds of thousands of 

 miles of railways on the globe, most living men have never 

 seen a locomotive. 



But the automobile is an even more spectacular object 

 than the locomotive, and it runs where it will, without the 

 aid of a steel roadway. And its development has been so 

 rapid that even most children now alive antedate it in 



years. In India, across the Sahara, in South American 

 regions where the locomotive is yet a stranger, automo- 

 biles have been seen and more will be seen before any 

 other means of locomotion faster than horse drawn vehi- 

 cles will ever appear. Not as freaks or mere curiosities, 

 but as vehicles having manifold practical advantages — not 

 temporarily, but through so much of the future that no- 

 body now living can foresee their end by the substitution 

 of something even more practical. 



The coming New York automobile show is only the 

 sixth ; twelve years ago the word "automobile" was un- 

 known ; twelve years hence doubtless a horse drawn vehi- 

 cle on New York streets will not be seen except in the way 

 of a " fad ", driven by some wealthy man of leisure deter- 

 mined to possess a novelty, at whatever cost. For the 

 horseless vehicle is destined to prevail, not only for pur- 

 poses of pleasure, but in the shape of commercial wagons, 

 in which shape, as The India Rubber World for some 

 time has contended, the world's greatest use of the motor 

 car is bound to be demonstrated. 



Time was when the manufacturer of rubber goods had 

 no special reason to be interested in any form of the 

 world's progress beyond the fact that rubber — in whicn 

 comparatively few people had any interest— could be made 

 of use for a few purposes. Nowadays, the leaders of the 

 rubber industry must take account of progress in many di- 

 rections — in transportation, for example, as now being revo- 

 lutionized by the use of vehicles for which rubber is in- 

 dispensable. And we may refer to a news item on another 

 page, reporting a reciuirement by the United States govern- 

 ment of more air brake hose in railways, not to mention 

 the increasing use of rubber for this purpose in many other 

 countries. And this is only the beginning of a catalogue 

 of modern uses of rubber, yet in their infancy, which open 

 new opportunities for the rubber manufacturer, and for the 

 scientific cultivator of rubber as well. 



Where is the " rubber trust " nowadays .' If the daily 

 papers remain quiet about the old octopus much longer, the 

 people are in danger of forgetting that it exists. 



ADVANCE IN LEATHER BELTING. 



THE nineteenth annual convention of the Leather Belting 

 Manufacturers' Association was held In New York No- 

 vember 16. The meeting was well attended and 7 additional 

 firms of manufacturers were admitted to membership. The 

 question of an advance in the price of leather belting having 

 been thoroughly discussed, it was decided to make an advance 

 of 10 per cent, over prices prevailing hitherto — this advance to 

 be effected by changing the discount and to take place at once, 

 but without any change in the price list, which has been in force 

 since 1901. Edward P. Alexander of Philadelphia was reelected 

 president and George H. Blake, No. 28 Ferry street, New York, 

 secretary and treasurer. F. H. Croul of Detroit, Michigan, was 

 elected vice president. -—-"The United States consul general at 

 Frankfort o/M., Germany, reports a meeting of leather belt 

 manufacturers of the Rhineland and Westphalia, at which it 

 was resolved to issue a circular announcing an increase in the 

 price of leather belting due to the meat famine throughout 

 Germany and the resulting decrease in slaughtering. 



