January i, ipog. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



Hunting Rubber in Holland — H, 



/>y llu- I'.ditor of "The India Rubber ll'orld." 



I HAD heard much of TIic Hague — as who has not — but 

 it had not occurred to me that it was a most beautiful 

 city of more than 300.000 inhabitants, fashionable, rich, 

 and the home of the royal family. I was more than g'^d t" 

 visit it. particularly as my invitation came from Dr. .■\. G. N. 

 Swart. .-Vs president of the Netherlands Commission in Lon- 

 don, he did brilliant work and when he invited me to come 

 to The Hague and be dined I promptly accepted. It is only about 

 20 minutes from Rotterdam, and one can go over the new 

 magnificent ele<:tric road which for equipment and service equals 

 anything anywhere in the world. 



At the dinner were Dr. and Mrs. Swart; Dr. J. Th. Viehoff, ad- 

 ministrator of the colonial olifice ; Dr. J. C, A. Everwyn, referendar 

 of the department of agriculture, commerce and industry; Dr. W. 

 R. Tromp de Haas, chief of the agricultural and chemical labora- 

 tories at Buitenzorg, Java; Mr. Jac. Musly, senior partner of 

 Weise & Co., and Mr. J. G. Von Hemert, of Amsterdam. The 

 dinner was all that hospitality and good taste could suggest. The 

 most remarVcable thing to me was that all of the conversation, 

 stories, jokes and speeches were in English. Imagine a party of cul- 

 tured .Americans giving a dinner to a visiting Hollander, and talk- 

 ing only Dutch I It made me a bit ashamed of the linguistic 

 <leliciencies of myself and my countrymen. 



I did not get much chance to "do" The Hague, nor did I have a 

 good look at the great seaside resort "Scheveningen," situated 

 close to The Hague, and in summer the most famous and fash- 

 ionable watering place in tin- world. Still I was there to study 

 rubber and to meet those whose interests centered about it, so 

 perhaps I was living up to my opportunities after all. 



I knew that Riddcrkerk was quite close to Rotterdam, but the 

 effort to find out just how one gets there was rendered unneces- 

 sary by my friend Mr. Musly, who looked me up one morning, led 

 me to a fine river craft and we steamed up the Maas for a 30 min- 

 ute run to Ridderkerk village. We went through the flax country 

 and passed many quaint Dutch villages, each of which had some 

 specific industry, such as the building of river craft, for example, 

 lines of business that are handed down from father to son and em- 

 ploy families that live in a sort of feudal slate, thrifty, conserva- 

 tive, wealthy. Incidentally, I got a new reason for wearing wood- 

 en shoes. Of course, only the working class use them, and they 

 tell me that the willow wood of which they are made is a specific 

 for rheumatism. How true this is, I do not know, but personally 

 I should have to get very acute twinges before adopting them. 



Landing at Ridderkerk we took a carriage and drove along the 

 top of a dike, by dog teams, and horse teams, numing, as I 



thought, perilously close to the unprotected edge, but arriving 

 safely. The factory which we visited bears the title "Neder- 

 landsche Caoutchouc en Gutta Percha Fabrick "St. Joris', Bakker 

 & Zoon." The buildings are of brick, the floors of cement, and the 

 whole equi|)mcnt excellent. The washers, refiners, mixers, tubing 

 machines, vulcanizcrs and presses are of the character found in 

 most of the mechanical goods factories. Much of the machinery 

 was made in a large machine shop quite near there, owned by a 

 brother of the rubber tiianufacturer. 



On entering the office I was introduced to Mr. Bakker, and as he 

 left us alone for a moment I said to Mr. Musly: 



"Where is Zoon?" 



"That is he," was the reply, "whom I just introduced you to." 



"I thought you said his name was Bakker?" 



"It is," said Mr. Musly, light breaking over his countenance. 

 "Zoon means son. The original firm was Bakker & Son ; the sen- 

 ior is dead and Mr. Bakker, Jr., owns the business." 



The company was started in 1879, and has a reputation for fine 

 goods. The Bakker bicycle tires, for example, are noted for their 

 lasting qualities — indeed soine of them seem never to wear out. 

 In addition to tires the company makes horseshoe pads, mats and 

 treads, billiard cushions, a line of asbestos packings and solid tires. 



Amsterdam is noted as being the richest, most exclusive, and 

 so say its citizens, the cleanest and altogether the most beautiful 

 of the cities in Holland. From a rubber standpoint it is interesting 

 as being the location of the .'\msterdam Caoutchouc-Fabriek V/h 

 Poinpe & Co. Their factory is situated on the water front and 

 dates back to 1886 when it was started by Dr. D. de Bau, Mr. H. 

 L. Bynink, and Mr. J. Pompe. These gentlemen were respectively 

 a lawyer, a teacher, and a civil engineer. The first of the three 

 died in 1902, the second now lives in Zeist and occupies himself 

 chiefly with the administration of certain public works, while Mr. 

 Pompe, although still much interested in the company, is a resident 

 of Belgium. 



The works have been enlarged a number of times and are now 

 exceedingly well equipped for the manufacture of general mechan- 

 ical goods, particularly a new type of floor tiling of their own in- 

 vention. They make a specialty also of revolving rubber heels 

 for such markets as Belgium, and regular heels for consumption 

 in their country. 



Those who deal in balata will recognize the name of 

 Mr. J. G. Von Hemert, who has large interests in Dutch 

 Guiana and handles much balata. It is also gossiped that when 

 in the Guianas he acquired some exceedingly valuable gold proper- 

 tics which have been a constant source of revenue. 



tit\)^VHt.u, 



ScllEVKXINGEN 0-\ NoUTIl Sl..\. .\l-..\k I'llE H.M-.LE. 



Coi.o.N'iAi, Museum at Haarlem. 



