THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[October i, 1908. 



late sovereign of the Congo domain it has not even 

 inquired into them. Our interest in the region began 

 with the declaration of Stanley, then an American, 

 after traversing the "Dark Continent," that it would 

 become "the rubber reservoir of the universe." As a 

 matter of trade news The India Rubber World 

 (December 15, 1892— pages 63-65) printed a lengthy 

 report, from a disinterested and authoritative source, 

 on the rubber resources of the Congo, with an original 

 map — the first generally circulated in America — giv- 

 ing the first official decree relating to rubber in that 

 region. Since the date referred to we have attempted 

 to keep the trade adequately informed in regard to 

 Congo rubber conditions. 



Now that the Congo State has been annexed to 

 Belgium, in accordance with the frequently expressed 

 ideas of Leopold II, we give space on another page 

 to a statement written at our request of the meaning 

 of the act, from an official source — from the pen of 

 the representative of the Free State in America, a 

 widely-known writer on legal and economic topics 

 who has represented the United States at several 

 international congresses. The views expressed there- 

 in may not meet with universal acceptance, but we 

 cannot help that; it is not our statement. It con- 

 cludes, however, for the present at least, our record 

 of Congo politics. 



The Congo rubber situation will continue to be of 

 importance. It is interesting to be assured that the 

 status of foreign concessionaire companies on the 

 Congo — two large ones are American — are not to be 

 disturbed. Whether the Congo rubber output will 

 be maintained remains to be seen. Under ordinary 

 circumstances we should expect the decline which 

 has been in progress for some years to continue. If 

 the change in regime should lessen the extent of 

 enforced labor it will decline more rapidly. We have 

 never felt the confidence in the outcome of rubber 

 culture in the Congo as in planting in some other 

 regions, though tdtimately the result may justify all 

 the hopes that have been entertained. As to planted 

 rubber, however, there is nothing to do just now but 

 wait; as for the much discussed "red rubber," will it 

 continue to be produced under the rule of Belgium, 

 as successor to the king-sovereign? 



"PARA" OR "HEVEA"? 



A S is natural where a new article of commerce is being intro- 

 **• duced, the desirability is expressed in Ceylon of having 

 a distinctive name for the plantation rubber produced there, 

 instead of referring to it as "Para" rubber. For many years 

 all Para rubber came from a limited district in Brazil, tak- 

 ing its name from the port whence it was shipped. When rubber 

 began to arrive from other countries — Central America, Assam, 

 and so on — the geographical system of designation was natural 

 and effective, since in each case it referred to a distinctive quality 

 of material. Later other classes of rubber found their way down 

 the Amazon, past the custom house at Para, but the name "Para" 

 was reserved for the quality first derived from that port, and 



other names — such as "caucho" — were given to the new rubbers. 

 Now other South American countries have joined Brazil in sup- 

 plying rubber of the original "Para" type, giving rise to terms 

 as "Bolivian Para," while rubbers from MoUendo, on the Pacific, 

 or from the Orinoco, in Venezuela, reach the manufacturer as 

 "Para." In other words, "Para" has ceased to be a mere geo- 

 graphical designation, but indicates a certain general type of 

 rubber, the product of the tree known to botanists as Hevea. 



The introduction of this tree into the old world was followed 

 by the description of its product there as "Para" rubber, to dis- 

 tinguish it from the product of the many other species, wild and 

 cultivated, with which it competed. Now has arisen some con- 

 fusion owing to the fact that from the commercial and also from 

 the industrial standpoint "Para" rubber grown in Ceylon differs 

 from the forest product so long known by that name, and great 

 pains is necessary satisfactorily to describe the various lots. The 

 Times of Ceylon invites the cooperation of The India Rubber 

 World in seeking the adoption of the term "Hevea" for planta- 

 tion rubber produced from the species which that name describes. 



The objection might be urged, from the scientific standpoint — 

 and all the rubber men seem in a fair way to become scientists — 

 that "Hevea" is not sufficiently distinctive; for is not the forest 

 rubber of a half-dozen countries equally the product of the Hevea 

 species? It may seem inconvenient now to describe a certain 

 rubber as "Ceylon Para." .Adopt the new suggestion, however, 

 and in time we probably shall be getting "Hevea" rubber from the 

 Amazon, when it would be necessary to write "Ceylon Hevea" to 

 let buyers know that it was not "Para Hevea," or "Bolivian 

 Hevea" — i. e., cultivated Hevea rubber from South America. 

 Where does the simplicity come in? 



Account must be taken of the inertia to be overcome in intro- 

 ducing changes in trade nomenclature. For a long time to come 

 the name "Para" is likely to persist in use in describing the rub- 

 ber which now holds first rank in the trade, and offerers of rubber 

 having any sort of relation to that type doubtless will find it 

 more convenient to add the term "Para" to their descriptions 

 than to attempt to introduce new names the pertinence of which 

 is not so clear to render them at once popular. 



We should be delighted and proud to assist in the laudable 

 work of reducing to a better system the classification and nam- 

 ing of rubber grades, but to get down to a single word the de- 

 scription of a particular lot of rubber is, at present at least, im- 

 possible. A single shipment of "fine Para" rubber from the 

 Amazon to-day must be described, for the purposes of seller and 

 buyer, sometimes under a score to a hundred headings. The 

 time is not yet ripe for one word — "Hevea," for e.xamgle — to des- 

 ignate the produce of planted Hevea Brasiliensis. And if it were, 

 how about the produce of H. lutea, H. discolor, H. Guayanens, 

 and twenty other species of Hevea ^ 



The commercial success of rubber culture in the Far East thus 

 far has been greatly enhanced, we take it, by the bringing to- 

 gether under the control of a few highly sj'stematized large com- 

 panies, well managed on a solid financial basis, of very many 

 small plantations. How does The Times of Ceylon know that, 

 within a comparatively few years, the whole rubber plantation 

 interest in Ceylon, for example, may not be brought under some 

 such central management as shall control the production of rub- 

 ber goods on a more scientific basis, so that the natural designa- 

 tion need not be "Para," or "Hevea," or "Ceylon," but two or 

 three trademark names which indicate to every intelligent manu- 

 facturer in the world just what quality of rubber is covered by 

 each? This would not involve necessarily the merger of all the 

 present companies into one, but a convenient "community of in- 

 terest," on a basis capable of application likewise to Malaya, 

 South India and the Dutch East Indies. 



It seems in order again to refer to the expansion of the 

 submarine cable interests of Germany, especially on account of 



