274 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[May I, igog. 



to appeal strongly to the consuming markets in the 

 matter of guaranteeing prices for longer periods than 

 have ever been known in the trade before, and we 

 shall be surprised if this does not strengthen the de- 

 mand for their product. 



STILL WAITING FOR THE NEW TARIFF. 



THE consideration of the tarift at Washington con- 

 tinues to receive attention in these pages for the 

 reason that, whether or not such things should be, 

 business of all kinds seems to become less active when- 

 ever the nation's legislators happen to be dealing with 

 the rates of duties on imports. Specifically, the duties 

 on imported manufactures of india-rubber do not 

 seem likely to be changed much, if at all, but there 

 are other branches of trade which may be affected to a 

 greater extent, and the rubber industry is so closely 

 dependent upon some of these that its leaders are wait- 

 ing, with everybody else, for the announcement of the 

 new farifif schedules before a resumption of business 

 activity on normal lines. 



Without doubt the pending tariff bill will become 

 law very shortly, with net results differing slightly 

 from the results from the existing law, under which 

 the United States have enjoyed unexampled prosper- 

 ity. Meanwhile the farmers are planting large crops, 

 manufacturers are in readiness to produce wares of 

 many kinds, and merchants are selling goods. Every- 

 thing is in readiness for business on a large scale, but for 

 the tariff bugaboo, which with the progress of time be- 

 comes less terrible, as the expansion of the country's mani- 

 fold interests leads the people less and less to single 

 out the tariff for consideration as a public question. 

 To-day nearly half of the imports into the United 

 States are entered free, and the duties on the remain- 

 der are imposed with a view to the most equitable dis- 

 Iribution of burdens upon the taxpayers. But in the 

 nature of things there can never be general agreement 

 as to how duties should be assessed, what with im- 

 porters and domestic producers to be considered, 

 writers and speakers of every class, from the practical 

 business man to the doctrinaire (not to say crank), 

 and 483 members of the Congress, representing so 

 many and such diverse constituencies. The same diffi- 

 culty has been experienced for 120 years, however — 

 since the date of the first American tariff law; yet 

 the Congress has always managed to frame up a 

 tariff bill under which the nation prospered, and, after 

 all, each succeeding new schedule has differed from its 

 predecessors much less than is generally supposed. 



For several years past the income from the customs 

 has averaged about $284,000,000, and the average in- 

 ternal revenue of the federal government is $245,000,- 

 000. The total volume of imports is small as compared 

 with the amount of domestic production and consump- 

 tion, and it is with the latter which the average citizen 



mostly has to do. For the greater part, the india-rub- 

 lier trade is little concerned, except the representatives 

 in America of foreign manufacturers. Since 1846 the 

 duty of imported rubber goods has been 30 per cent 

 or thereabouts, but this does not wholly check the 

 buying here of foreign goods. At the same time, if 

 there were no duties we don't believe that American 

 rubber manufacturers would go out of business. More- 

 over, we don't believe that a single consumer can 

 figure out how much, or whether at all, the prices of 

 his purchases of rubber are affected by the tariff. 



We shall be pleased when the tariff talk is ended 

 and people begin to devote their attention to more im- 

 portant matters. 



INDUSTRIAL SLANG. 



<<npO rubber," "gum shoeing."' "rubber necks" — are 

 1 slang words and phrases still potent and amus- 

 ing to the masses, but a bit of a bore to members of the 

 great industry from which they were cribbed. Their 

 permanence, particularly "Rubber," meaning to turn 

 and stare after some passing object, illustrates the 

 {)Ower that slang has in language building. Of the 

 thousands of slang words coined, most perish after a time, 

 but others are so apt and vital that they become an 

 integral part of the written language to which they 

 attach themselves. The slang word "rubber" appears 

 to be permanent, more's the pity. It is therefore for- 

 tunate that the dignified and euphonic term "India- 

 rubber," to which the litcrateurs and the scholars of 

 the world have been for years committed, is not 

 adapted to the use of the iconoclastic slang-founder. 

 Perhaps as a name for the most remarkable of nature's 

 products it is not quite ideal. If La Condamine, or 

 any one of the earlier investigators had called it "Re- 

 .•-ilion" or "Multigum," or had coined some other de- 

 scriptive name that would be acceptable to all lan- 

 guages, it would have been well. At the same time, 

 India-rubber, with its suggestion of the aboriginal dis- 

 coverers in the Americas, as well as its first industrial 

 use in Europe, is more than usually apt and satis- 

 factory. 



INDIA-RUBBER GOODS IN COMMERCE. 



EXPORTS FHOM THE nflTED STATES. 



/^FFICIAL statement of values of exports of manufactures 

 ^^ of india-rubber and gutta-percha for the month of Feb- 

 ruary, 1909, and of the first eight months of five fiscal years, 

 beginning July I : 



Belting, Boots .Ml 



Months. Packing and Other Total. 



and Hose. Shoes. Rubber. 



February, 1909 . . . $93.29.=; $54,873 $3''i6.iS3 $514,331 



July-January 803,067 958,671 2,088,524 3,850,262 



Total $896,362 $1,013,544 $2,454,707 $4,364,613 



Total, IQ07-08... 924,585 i,.305,352 2,485,307 4,715,244 



Total, 1906-07. 801,238 918.569 2,321,211 4,041,018 



Total, 1905-06. 834,5.54 1,303,164 1,836,312 3,974,030 



Total, 1904-05. 591,309 i,ot8,i22 1,541,217 3,150,648 



