July i, 1909.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



349 



only in the Amazon region. To my mind the British investor in 

 rubber labtirs under a great mistake in regard to Brazil, not un- 

 natural in view of the failure of London companies organized 

 to exploit forest rubber. But the managers sent out from Lon- 

 don have attempted to control the business on London ideas, 

 without recognizing the possibility of learning from the Bra- 

 zilian. In Ceylon the Britisher is at home, and his rule is 

 supreme ; he has no competitor there ; he produces rubber and 

 sells it at a profit. The wish being father to the thought, he 

 indulges in visions of the ignorant Brazilian native, with his 

 lack of system, gradually being forced out of the business of 

 producing ruliber, after which the Far East will have a monopoly. 

 "We can grow rubber at a shilling or less a pound in Ceylon," 

 they say; "can you beat that in Brazil"? 



iNo man to-day knows the cost of a pound of rubber in the 

 Amazon country, either on one scringal or in general. In a land 

 where no money circulates this man or that taps so many trees, 

 cures his rubber, and gets from the seringal store enough to 

 eat, some clothes and toliacco. The cost of rubber does not in- 

 terest him; its selling price is nothing. So with the proprietors: 

 the world needs rubber, and in a few years trading in it brings 

 him a fortune. 



Dr. Joao Coelho. 



[Inaugurated Governor of Para February 2, 1909.] 



But suppose rubber prices should drop in half — something of 

 which at present there is absolutely no indication. On the thou- 

 sands of carefully laid out scringaes of the Amazon are millions 

 and millions of mature and productive trees, yielding rubber 

 which has never been wholly equalled elsewhere in the world. 

 They are owned by people who have capital, and are skilled in 

 business and adaptable to circumstances. While temporarily 

 lower prices may disturb business conditions, a permanently lower 

 level would mean simply that the scringueiros, still in goods, 

 would be credited with, say, 2 milreis instead of 4 milreis per 

 kilogram on the books of the scringal; they might become less 

 extravagant, and the proprietor might lessen his rate of profit 

 on the goods dispensed; but so long as the trees are here and 

 the rubber workers on the ground, there will be capital available 

 whereby the natives will be able to sustain life by their labor, 

 the capitalists will profit, and the government will derive revenue 

 from the business. The consolidation of the business of aviador 

 and scringal owner is a step toward the possible new condition. 



.Another point is that the ability now of rubber producers to 

 store their product when prices are unfavorable, thus rendering 

 the market more stable, will lessen the risks involved in rul)l)er 

 trading, and the necessity for "long" profit on goods. But more 



than this : With such returns as have been obtainable from rub- 

 ber in the past, little thought has been given to other production. 

 Why trifle with growing food when it can be imported, with the 

 world eager to throw money at Brazil for rubber? All hands, 

 then, to collecting rubber, and when the rivers rise and stop 

 rubber work they can live from the store supplies until next crop 

 season. Already, however, on the better scringaes cattle ha^'e 

 been introduced for the supply of meat and crops are being culti- 

 vated to take the place, in part, of imported food. 



I have not figured out here the cost of a pound of forest 

 "Para" rubber ; the difficulty of doing this is, I think, plain. But 

 the reader who has entertained any idea of the disappearance of 

 rubber gathering from the Amazon country may find in my 

 article reason for less confidence on this score. 



GUSTAV HEINSOHN. 

 Para, May 19, 1909. 



PICTURES FROM THE RUBBER COUNTRY. 



ALBUM DO RIO ACRE. EMILIO FALCAO. EDITOR E PROPRIE- 

 tario. Para, Brazil. 1906-07. [Lisboa: Typ, "Annuario Commercial."] 

 tCIoth. 13" X 10". 127 full page photogravures, on separate leaves.] 



ALBUM DO ESTADO PARA. MANDADO ORGANISAR POR S. 

 Ex. o Snr. Dr. Augusto Montenegro, Governador do Estado. Oito annos 

 do Governo (1901 a 1909). Pans: Chaponet. [1909.] [Cloth. Large 



4to. Pp. 350.] 



""P HE remarks by our contributor this month on the extent to 

 •*• which the rubber trade in the Amazon regions has been re- 

 duced to system are supported by the two publications of which 

 the titles are given here. It still is customary to speak of the rubber 

 areas there as "remote" and difficult of access, and to an extent 

 they are. But it does not follow that they are outside of civiliza- 

 tion. The Acre district — formerly Bolivian and now owned by 

 Brazil — has been regarded as particularly wild. It does lie 

 further from New York or London than almost any other 

 Hcvca rubber territory, and it has been developed at all only 

 in recent years, and these facts render the more notable the 

 "Album do Rio Acre." 



Here we have a sumptuous volume illustrating the resources of 

 the Acre, with the aid of a great number of photographs on a 

 large scale. One seringal after another is shown — nearly a hun- 

 dred altogether — in pictures nearly as large as this page, not to 

 mention river views in general, steamers, cattle farms, villages 

 and the like. True, there is not much to show in a picture of' a 

 rubber camp; little money is devoted there to architectural' efTett 

 or to decoration of any kind. Still it is informing to see views of 

 rubber "farms," which have a definite place on the map, together 

 with names of their proprietors and details of their output. The 

 presence of cattle and goods warehouses points further to the 

 profitable nature of the business carried on. One of these views, 

 by the way, is that of a scringal far up the Acre, whench came a 

 large "ball" of rubber mentioned lately in The India Rubber 

 World as having been put on exhibition in a store window on 

 Broadway. In that report even the names of the workers who 

 prepared the rubber could be given. With such an "Album" at 

 hand the most remote rubber fields seem comparatively near. 



* * * 



The "Album do Estado do Para" is an even more superb pub- 

 lication. It is more comprehensive, too, being in a measure a 

 review of the eight years of administration of Dr. Montenegro, 

 whose service as governor of the State ended in February last. 

 It is a summary of conditions in the State and city of Para, 

 indicating the progress made during eight years. Besides views 

 of public and private buildings and portraits of eminent citizens, 

 there are several hundred illustrations designed to inform the 

 reader in regard to rubber gathering, grazing, and the agricultural 

 interests of the State. Many scringals are thus pictured, an 

 opportunity never being overlooked to put the cattle well to the 

 foreground, thus indicating a disposition on the part of the 

 proprietors to diversify their interests. 



The work dh Para embraces historical summaries, the state 



