92 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[December i, 1908. 



development that his keenness foresaw. Unfortunately for the 

 success of the project he was ahead of his time, his company 

 failed and he himself was forced to leave his native country, and 

 is said to be living in retirement, a broken old man, somewhere 

 in the Americas. The foundations that he laid, however, were 

 permanent, and the city took up the work and to-day owns all 

 the docks on that side of the river, and not only that but is 

 constantly opening new waterways and harbors, building new 

 piers for the crowding commerce that comes from all parts of 

 the world. The failure of poor Pincofif was perhaps a good thing 

 for Rotterdam and for the world. With its practically free 

 trade, its low docking fees, and its modern electrically operated 

 machinery for loading and unloading, in the hands of city 

 fathers who know no graft, the commerce not only has grown, 

 but will continue to grow, and Rotterdam's 400,000 inhabitants 

 will soon add up to a million. Nor need it stop there. 



We went very completely into the story of Rotterdam's pres- 

 ent greatness and her future. We walked her streets, ascended 

 to the tops of huge warehouses for better views of the harbors, 

 rode in the electric trams, and drove through the beautiful resi- 

 dence portions of the city. We visited fine churches, saw elegant 

 bank buildings, drove over the old Roman road that traverses 

 the top of a drive built 60 years b. c, and is still in excellent 

 condition. Indeed, we "did" the city, and ended by going through 

 the great zoological gardens that house as fine a collection of 

 birds, beasts and reptiles as any city in the world can boa=t. 



Aside from the impression of cleanliness and thrift that this 

 young giant among the commercial cities of the Continent shows, 

 one is impressed with the mixture of enterprise and conservatism 

 of the Dutch character. What has already been written 

 shows marvelous enterprise. Yet right in the heart of the city 

 is a tract of land of 15 or 20 acres upon which are no buildings, 

 and where its wealthy proprietor pastures a few sheep. On all 

 sides are elegant buildings. He refuses to sell or to build, as 

 he does not need the money and wants to leave the field intact 

 to his grandchildren. As taxes are assessed on rentals, this does 

 not cost as much as it would in some countries. 



Another thing that strikes one about the business man in 

 Rotterdam is that he actually considers business before pleasure. 

 He is thrifty and economical as far as his own personal ex- 

 penses go, but has lots of courage when it comes to big invest- 

 ments, and in his hospitality wants to buy everything in sight 

 for his guest. They live more or less as the English do, although 

 the breakfast is usually served cold and is preferably cheese, 

 •cakes and sausages, with tea, milk or coffee. The second meal, 

 koffiedrinken, is served between 12 and half-past, just before the 

 exchange opens. 



The Dutch money system is like that of the United States, in 

 that it is based on the decimal system, 100 cents making a guilder, 

 which is about 40 cents in United States money. The great canals 

 go through all parts of the city and are everj-where spanned by 

 bridges, all of which, or nearly all, are draw bridges, which 

 are operated very quickly, so that in spite of the constant passing 

 of shipping through the canals traffic is very little delayed. 



One of the most interesting happenings in Rotterdam is a fire. 

 The Rotterdam fire brigade is organized by men who are ap- 

 pointed by the town council and who have no fixed pay, but the 

 fireman who first turns on water at the fire gets a premium of 

 about $25; the second $15, and the third $10. The result is that 

 when the fire bell rings some real hustling is done to be first 

 on the spot. Incidentally, it might be well to remark that Rotter- 

 dam has had about as few fires as any one of the world's cities. 

 The river Maas, by the way, which flows through the city, is 

 really the continuation, or rather it is the confluence of the Rhine 

 and the Maas, and to show what an important waterway it is, 

 it is estimated that there are at least 30,000 of the huge Rhine 

 boats, some of them with a carrying capacity equal to the largest 

 freight steamers that are continually employed in plying up and 

 down the river. [To Be Continued.] 



THE CLASSIFICATION OF "PONTIANAK." 



■"PO THE Editor of the India Rubber World: Referring 

 to our correspondence - - - do you think that gutta- 

 joolatong, the import price of which is about 3 cents a 

 pound, should be classed with india-rubber? (See copy 

 of Schedule E. enclosed herewith.) It would appear from the 

 descriptions we have that the article is a gum, but being so 

 unlike the ordinary india-rubber of commerce in price, and prob- 

 ably in uses, it is a question with us whether it should be 

 classed with the imports of india-rubber and gutta-percha 

 of commerce. I shall be glad to have your views on this 

 subject. - - - Yours very truly, 



0. p. .\ustin. 



Chief of Bureau of Statistics, Deira-rtment of Commerce and Labor, 

 Washington, November 3, 1908. 



Chief of Bureau of Statistics, 



Department of Commerce and Labor, 

 Washington, D. C. 



Sir: Referring to your inquiry of November 3, as to whether 

 imports of gutta-joolatong should be classed with india-rubber 

 for customs purposes, we have to have say that whereas this 

 gum is a product of the coagulation of a latex very much as 

 india-rubber is produced, and its sole commercial and indus- 

 trial use is in connection with india-rubber, and for certain rea- 

 sons must figure in the world's production and consumption of 

 india-rubber, we should prefer not to see it classed with india- 

 rubber in the customs statistics for the reason that it would 

 give a wrong impression to the trade to have it so classed at 

 this time, when such has not been done in the past. The basis 

 of our suggestion is the fact that all statistics have their value, 

 in our idea, for comparative purposes, and if the United States 

 government in 1906-07 reported a total of imports of crude 

 india-rubber of 76,963,838 pounds and 28,437,660 pounds of gutta- 

 jootalong, it would introduce a confusing element if in future 

 these large totals should be combined as imports of india-rubber, 

 and an attempt should be made to compare the same with earlier 

 statistics. 



Not so many years ago all United States imports in this class 

 were included under the general head "India-rubber and Gutta- 

 percha." In the interest of the trade we took the liberty of sug- 

 gesting that a sub-classification would be desirable, with the 

 idea that American imports of gutta-percha and india-rubber 

 would better be noted separately in order that we might more 

 satisfactorily compare the figures with the imports of these ma- 

 terials into Great Britain and elsewhere. We were pleased to 

 see that the Department agreed with our idea, and the result 

 undoubtedly has been of benefit to the trade. To-day, when 

 most of the gutta-joolatong is consumed in the United States, 

 it would interfere with a proper comparison of rubber imports 

 in the United States and other countries to class this cheap gum 

 with india-rubber and gutta-percha when no similar material is 

 included in the statistics of European countries. 



We are convinced that a marked service would be rendered to 

 commerce by the fullest sub-classification of rubber import sta- 

 tistics possible under the circumstances — india-rubber, gutta- 

 percha, gutta-jootalong, balata, and so on. It would even be de- 

 sirable to have the guayule gum produced in Mexico referred to 

 separately, for reasons suggested above. 



We hope ultimately to have the statistics of European coun- 

 tries conform more nearly to the ideas of the American trade. 

 Here we have to-day imports of scrap rubber separated from 

 india-rubber proper, whereas in England and Continental coun- 

 tries in many cases scrap or worn out rubbers are included 

 in crude rubber, often confusing the study of rubber statistics. 



Respectfully, 



THE INDI.\ RUBBER WORLD. 



New York, November 11, 1908. 



