June i, 1909.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



31/ 



Development of the Chicle Trade. 



THAT tilings are not always so small as they seem is States, so that to-day the importers via Canada pay duty only on 



suggested by the chewing gum business, especially if refined material. 



one considers it only from the retail side— the. offering j,, ,1,^ tables accompanying this article it will be seen that since 



of small packages on every hand for a few pennies each. But 1897.98 the yearly imports of chicle gum into the United States 



as many littles make a mickle, the wholesale trade in this for consumption have increased from 1.029,957 pounds to 4070 - 



branch has become very extensive. And yet the American 779 pounds, and the amount of duties collected annually 'from 



people seem never to have bitten off more chicle than they could $102,996 to $407,078. These figures have been compiled from 



che"'- official records at Washington. The total imports have been 



Mr. Payne's congress committee, which framed the tariff bill larger, but the interchange of gum between the States and Canada 



now pending at Washington, gave a hearing to a representative leads to a wide margin between total imports and consumption- 



of the American Association of Chewing Gum iManufacturcrs, not to mention the stocks held, regarding which there are no 



who appeared to ask for a reduction of the import duty on chicle statistics. In the table showing the sources of the rubber im- 



gum, if not for its total abolition, and in a brief submitted by ported, British Honduras figures to an undue extent, since much 



this gentleman some interesting details arc given in regard to the of the chicle exported through that colony originates really in 



chewing gum trade. It should be mentioned that this associa- Yucatan (Mexico) and the neighboring Central American states. 



tion has no connection with the $9,000,000 American Chicle Co., wuWn , ,-t,.vio "fr„c»" •. „ 1 1 1 ■ • 



, . , ,, ^, , „ r-y ^ ■ ' ,1 • f • , \\ hile a chicle trust is popularly supposed to exist, it appears 



which Mr. Charles R. Flint was instrumental in forming ten ^, . ,, • , ,„„„„„„, r ., , ■ , t • , 



. ., , , 1 • 1 .1 TT •. 1 c. . ^"^' '■"^'^^ '^ "° ^^^^ monopoly of the material. In an article re- 



vears ago, on lines similar to those on which the United States „_„j„„„j :„ n-^^ t^.^, . d ait r-. t 



V. UL V /• J -ri ^ • r-u- 1 r- r i Proouced in I HE 1ndi.\ Rvbber World December i, 1907 (page 



Rubber Co. was formed. The American Chicle Co. for several ,_„-| :. „... „,.,,„j n,^. ,1,.. a, • ^, . , _ ., ■ , 



,..,,,,., J. 11 • J- -J 1 ^°°' " "^5 stated that the .'American Chicle Co. w^ill not at any 



years have distributed well nigh $1,000,000 annually in dividends, f„f,,_„ ,;,„. u„ r„,^„j ,„ • t ^i 1 , 



•',,., ,. ,. .. ,-, luture time be forced to come into the open market as buyers, 



and their shares during a year past have been quoted as high as ti,„:_ „,.,„ „i,:„i„ ■ t- \' . -, , ■ 



^ , r ^, ,. , ,. , '"'^"^ "^^" chicle concessions [in \ucatanl now producing an- 



par for the preference and 205 for the ordinary shares, which ,,,,„u.- ,„ii,-t, ,„^„-<. „,,,„ fi, »i ,11 



^ . . ,, .10. r .1 nualU much more gum than they can use annually in the same 



maximum prices would mean more than $12,000,000 for the com- r,„_:,,^ " -i-i,„ ,„^ „ j » r i ' ^ , 



. , T-, . , , .- , period. I he independent manufacturers, however, find no 



pany s shares. I he independent manulacturers, however, are as- ,_„„i,|„ ;„ u,„.;„„ i „^ ^i j ^ r , ^ ■ 



' , , r .1 • 1 . . . . T T trouble in bujing what they need, apart from the fact that prices 



serted bv one of their number, in a statement to Ihe Indi.^ ,-^r,t;r.„<. tr, ^a „ j i.u- 1 j ^ .1 •■ • f . 



„ -,,. , ., , ,r .1. u • continue to advance, and this leads to the consideration of sub- 



Rl'bber W orld, to produce more than half the chewing gum ^ut-.t-^ a ^^^^^^ -^ » r 11 



^ stitutes. A recent patent, for example, relates to the use of 



'"tu" A A • .• ( r, ■ r Af f , Pontianak in chewing gum. 



The .American Association of Chewing Gum Manufacturers, ^ u 1 ■ 



according to its secretary, "embraces the biggest and littlest inde- -,"°''' ~ chewing gum is used it would be impossible to say. 



pendent manufacturers in the United States," seventeen of whom , °' more than one-lialf the weight in any case is chicle, and per- 



are named in his argument before the Payne committee. The 'l*''' one-hfth is nearer the average. A million pounds of crude 



same gentleman, when the existing tariff law was being framed, '■'"'f'^' '"^''efore, losing 30 per cent, in shrinkage and cleaning 



in 1897. appeared for the Chewing Gum Trade Committee, repre- V^^ ""'^'' ^'"^ ^°"'" *™«5 "^ weight in sugar and other ingre- 



smting eleven independent manufacturers, protesting against the '^"'"^^' '''°"''^ '^^"'"'^ '" 3-500,000 pounds of chewing gum. The 



imposition of the import dutv of 10 cents per pound which was "''""mpt'on >s still conhned chiefly within the States and Canada, 



provided for in the law of that year and has been collected regu- ^ '^ American exports in a single year have not exceeded 



larly since. This year the chewing gum people said: '"We are not ^''■■°°°' "'"^ '^'■*^"' ^"'°""' S°'"S '° ^^^ Philippines, Canada and 

 here to claim that we are making no money — we are not here to 



claim that this tax is drawing us out of business; we simply ^'"^ """'"•''' consumption of chicle in the United States in eleven 



statid bv the truth that we are carrying entirely too heavy a ^''''" '''" ''"" '="'^'-"'' "'='" ""''"ted in our table of "imports for 



burden in this tax." It is pointed out that the sugar used also is consumption, by reason of the exceptionally large imports hur- 



subject to an import duty— about 60 per cent, ad valorem. "^^. '"'° ""^ country free of duty just prior to the passage of the 



The protest of the consumers of chicle against the import duty ^'^' °^ '^9"- ^"["^S twelve months of that year no less 



of 10 cents a pound is based not alone upon the apparent rate, (.Continued on Kcxt Page.) 



but upon the fact that the crude material is subject to so high a tt c t 



degree of shrinkage-averaging, perhaps, 30 per cent. Not only ^''"'''' ^^•'"' ^•"™'*" ™'' Coxsu.mption. 



moisture, but bark, sand, and the like, must be eliminated before vVf.^'' Imports for Average Duties Rate 



the gum is available in the factory. It is due to this fact that the ,897-98 .... x,02t9:7To:::;ds ^^i. ^tyo ;Z% 



Canadian trade m chicle has attained such proportions. More 1898-99 .... 1,163.573 pounds 14,9 cents $116,35730 6714% 



than half the chicle imported into the United States is credited to 1899-1900 .. 2,274,254 pounds 14.4 cents $227^425.40 69123% 



Canada, but this is gum produced in Mexico and Central '900-01 .... 1,756,057 pounds 21.7 cents $175,605.68 46.16% 



An^ja. The first shiimients by w.ay of Canada were for the S^C^:^!: ! ! ! 1;^ -d: ^g ^^^ ^^^ 4i 99% 



purpose of drying it out during the long sea trip, and thereby 1903-04 .... 3,282.804 pounds 23.7 cents $328,280.35 4213% 



reducing the weight liable to duty. Later the Canadian factories 1904-05 3,4.^8.839 pounds 29.4 cents $345,883.92 33.97% 



both of the chewing gum "trust" and of independent concerns, '905-06 .... 3.847.893 pounds 30.2 cents $384,789.30 33-12% 



began cleaning the gum for the parent concerns in the Unite.l Jp^-'ol W.. to'^^!^^^ |,^°unds .tsce^ntl f^,%W^ t%l 



IMPORTS OF CHICLE INTO THE UNITED STATES (IN POUNDS). 



AW^^r -,'*.??^'q; 1899-I0OO. 190001 igoi.o;. igo^-oj. 1903-04. 1904-OS- 1903-06. 1907-08. 1907-08. 



^^^'^° 2.100.879 2,197,864 2,074,228 2,774,532 1,995,611 2,260,599 2,244.115 1,941.679 2,771,630 2,123,039 



Honduras.. ... 94 9,270 9,446 .... 2,079 17,84s io.377 40,. 01 35673 30561 



Other Cen. .'\inerica .... 994 .... .... oj, /o 2^46 



British Honduras.. 286,060 89.754 '86.765 165,285 366,277 635',3i6 696.842 i,i2V,;20 658.903 622;8t6 



Canada .... 907,171 i,634,200 1,872,585 2,170,820 2,108.461 2.533.608 3,266,251 3,307,850 



Other Countries .. 58,028 no 63,158 588 4S.69S .... 371 3,000 1I4 3.075 



■^otal 2,44S,o6i 2,297,992 3,140,768 4.574.605 4,282,247 5.084.580 5-060.166 5.641,508 6,732.581 6„o89,6o7 



