June i, 1909.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



309 



RECLAIMED RUBBER AND THE TARIFF. 



n'OLLOWING a decision of the United States customs ap- 

 *■ . praisers at New York, admitting imports of reclaimed rub- 

 ber free of duty [see The India Rubber World, May I, 1909 — 

 page 28s], the treasury department at Washington has issued an 

 order to the collector at New York, the full text of which fol- 

 lows. It will be seen that such material will ni w be duti;;ble 

 at 20 per cent : 



(T. D. 29.731. 

 Recovered Rubber — Le.\ther Strips, Etc. 



Rubber recovered from old scrap, boots and shoes, etc., dutiable as 

 non-enumerated manufactured article, under section 6. tariff act of 1897. 



Treasury Department, May 6, 1909. 

 Collector of Customs. New York: 



Sir: The Board of United States General Appraisers in a 

 decision dated the 8th ultimo, Abstract 21,030 (T. D. 29,690), held 

 that certain reclaimed or recovered rubber from old scrap, boots 

 and shoes and automobile tires, was entitled to admission free 

 of duty under paragraph 579 of the tariff act, relating to crude 

 rubber, scrap rubber, etc., the merchandise having been assessed 

 with duty at the rate of 30 per cent, ad valorem as manufacturers 

 of rubber under paragraph 449 of the said act. 



.\fter a careful consideration of this question, the Depart- 

 ment is of the opinion that the merchandise is a non-enumerated 

 manufactured article, and you are accordingly directed to classify 

 future importations thereof under section 6 of the tarifl act at 

 the rate of 20 per cent, ad falorcm. Respectfully, . 



J.\MES B. REYNOLDS, .■\ssistant Secretary. 

 An amendment has been prepared to the tariff bill now pend- 

 ing at Washington specifying reclaimed rubber among dutiable 

 imports, and fixing a rate therefor. This matter will be treated 

 more fully when the congress has finished its work and the 

 new schedules become law. 



NEW AMAZON BANKING CONDITIONS. 



I T may be of interest in connection with the proposals in 

 * Brazil for the valorization of rubber [see The Indi.'^ Rubber 

 World, May i, 1909 — page 281] to note here an extract from 

 the annual report of the Banco do Brazil, presented at the annual 

 meeting of shareholders in April, for a translation of which from 

 the Portuguese we are indebted to The Brazilian Rez-inv : 



"The establishment of the Para agency has regulated exchange 

 operations in Manaos and Para, between which markets bills 

 used to be constantly offering, with the result that speculation 

 was ever present, a state of affairs which was most prejudicial 

 to the interest of this rich and fertile region. 



"The rise in rubber, after the crisis which had completely dis- 

 organized trade, gave a great impulse to business in the .Amazon 

 valley. The price of rubber indeed rose to 60 per cent, as com- 

 pared with the ruling during the last crop. 



'"How much help the bank gave by establishing these agencies 

 is recognized by all those interested, for it relieved holders of 

 rubber from the prejudicial system of dependence on exporters 

 for cash advances and the supply of plant. 



"The high rate of interest and discounts at Manaos is caused 

 by heavy local expenditure and by greater risk in business trans- 

 actions ; in the meantime the agency is working under much 

 better conditions than those offered by capitalists and exporters, 

 who exact as much as 24 per cent, on loans, a fact which is 

 proved by the registers of business done and of mortgages and 

 loans." 



It is evident from these paragraphs that, whatever may be 

 the ultimate effect upon the Amazon rubber markets, advances 

 are being made by the bank mentioned through its agencies 

 established recently at Para and Manaos. upon locally held 

 stocks of rubber to an extent hitherto unknown in the trade. 

 The net profits of the Manaos branch during the second half of 



the fiscal year were 265,212 milreis; the Para profits were 

 smaller, but the central management of the bank are hopeful as 

 to later results. 



COTTON PRODUCTION IN AFRICA. 



■"THE sixtli annual convention of the International Federation 

 *■ of Master Cotton Spinners and Manufacturers' Association 

 was held during the past month in Milan, Italy, with an attend- 

 ance of nearly 400 delegates, representing virtually all cotton- 

 growing or cotton-using countries. The conference closed on 

 May 19. Much attention was given to a discussion of methods 

 and suggestions of increasing the production of cotton, the 

 supply of which is regarded as insufficient. It is calculated that 

 the cotton industry of the w-orld is developing at the rate of 2}^ 

 per cent, per year, and with the expected recovery from the 

 business depression which has prevailed so widely during the 

 past year or two it is expected that more rapid development will 

 take place. This would give a further stimulus to the growing 

 of cotton in the various countries other than the United States in 

 which attempts in this direction are already making. 



The British Cotton Growing Association was reported to have 

 had a setback first in consequence of an unusual drought 

 throughout West Africa, and the financial crisis in the United 

 States. But it is believed that when trade revives there will 

 arise an enormously increased demand for cotton. It has been 

 proved that large quantities of cotton can be produced in the 

 British empire, and all that remains to bring this about is time, 

 perseverance and the necessary capital. The total production 

 under the auspices of this association during the last year was 

 23,000 bales of the value of £360,000. 



Cotton growing in the French colonies, according to a report 

 of the .\ssociation-Cotonniere-Colonial, has not shown satis- 

 factory progress. The report of the Kolonial-Wirtschaftlichen 

 Komitee on the state of cotton cultivation in the German 

 colonies says that favorable development has been made in Togo, 

 where the output last year was 1,691 bales against 1.205 bales in 

 the preceding year. The secretary of the cotton committee of 

 the Moscow- Exchange made a favorable report on cotton grow- 

 ing in Russian Central Asia. 



It would appear, however, from the study of all reports pre- 

 sented, that the United States will long continue to be the chief 

 source of cotton supplies. Another matter discussed was the 

 desirability of reserves of cotton being created for the purpose 

 of arriving at more steady prices and discouraging speculation 

 in the raw material, though no agreement was reached as to a 

 satisfactory method of bringing about such reserve. 



A RUBBER TRUST WITH WINGS. 



AT .1 dinner of the .Academy of Political Science ni New York, 

 Mi>s Ida M. Tarbell, the widely known writer on" "trusts," 

 in discussing the pending Payne tariff bill, said : 



"Mr. Payne has done nothing to clip the wings of the rubber 

 shoe trust." 



Considering how seldom Miss Tarbell has anything favorable 

 to say about the trusts, it is interesting to learn that she has 

 found one with angelic attributes. 



A VERY successful agricultural show was held recently at 

 Coomassie in the British protectorate of .Ashanti, West Africa, 

 at which several silver cups were offered as prizes by Sir .Alfred 

 Jones, of England. The cup offered for the best display of 

 rubber was won by a native for samples prepared from the 

 Funtumia clastica, both with the juice of the Batinia veticulata 

 and by a steam process. 



At the recent Uganda Exhibition in British East Africa, a 

 leading feature was the display of rubber and other native 

 products, made by the Mabira Forest (Uganda) Rubber Co. 



