August i, 1909] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



377 



Published on the Ist of each Month by 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING GO., 



No. 395 BROADWAY. NEW YORK. 

 CABLE ADDRESS: IRWORLD. NEW YORK. 



HENRY C. PEARSON, 



EDITOR. 



HAWTHORNE HILL, 



ASSOCIATE. 



Vol. 40. 



AUGUST I. 1909. 



No. 5. 



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COPTRIOHT. 1909, BT 



THE INDIA ROBBER PVBLISBINO CO. 



Entered at New York postofflce as mall matter of the second class. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS ON LAST PAGE READING MATTER. 



RUBBER GOODS SUBSTITUTES. 



IT is often remarked that rubber is one of the necessities 

 of the present day — that no matter what its cost, it 

 must be used. The fact is, however, that there are very 

 few goods made of rubber to-day that could not be sup- 

 planted by very excellent makeshifts. Just as soon as the 

 price of crude rubber becomes too high, the rubber goods 

 substitutes come to the front and gain ground that they 

 never lose. In footwear and in belting, leather treated 

 to make it waterproof, often fills the bill. In clothing, 

 rainproofs and slickers are bought. Instead of hard 

 rubber, cellulose, galalith and various compositions find 

 greater use. Elastic bands are replaced by twine and 

 metallic fasteners ; rubber packings by treated fiber and 

 metal ; rubber matting by lineoleum, fiber, or wood and 

 metal ; rubber carriage cloth by artificial leathers ; rubber 

 cements by other adhesives ; and hosts of minor articles by 

 a variety of proxies of which the substitution of the soap- 

 stone for the hotwater bottle is a good illustration. In 

 other words, rubber is rarely a necessity. Perhaps the 

 most notable case of absolute dependence upon it is in- 

 stanced by the automobile, which would not be possible 

 to-day without the rubber pneumatic tire. It is certain, 

 however, that if every trace of rubber manufactured and 

 unmanufactured disappeared from the face of the earth 



to-day, business would go on, industries would adapt 

 themselves to other materials, and the world's progress 

 would not be appreciably stayed. This is why too high 

 a price for crude rubber is dangerous. With 50 cent 

 rubber assured the business of the world could be doubled 

 in two years ; with $2 rubber the present volume would 

 drop oflf more than half. 



THE PRICE OF RUBBER GOODS. 



HIGHER prices for manufactured rubber goods all 

 along the line have come and are coming. For 

 once in the history of the trade manufacturers are not 

 stopping to consider what the others are doing, but 

 are changing their quotations as the crude material 

 advances. This is just as it should be. There is not 

 the slightest danger that prices will go too high. The 

 competition of the man who is held by contract, who 

 does not know his costs, or who is extremely specula- 

 tive, will regulate that. A very encouraging feature 

 of the situation is the fact that the large wholesalers 

 and buyers seem to feel the stress under which the 

 manufacturers are laboring, and if they are not ad- 

 vising advances in prices, they at least do not view 

 them with distrust. 



PROSPERITY AND DEAR RUBBER. 



OUR regular British correspondent on another page 

 voices a suggestion which is apt to be heard 

 whenever crude rubber prices are on a rising plane — 

 that it may be due to "manipulation." This is an euphoni- 

 ous word, and its use is safe because the assertion in- 

 volved cannot readily be proved or disproved. Besides, 

 while the charge of "manipulation" may be meant to 

 be uncomplimentary to somebody, it neither carries a 

 criminal imputation nor is aimed at any one in particu- 

 lar. It is, therefore, harmless. 



Usually a rise in rubber prices is attributed in Europe 

 to influences on this side the Atlantic, and vice versa. 

 But just where or how rubber prices are fixed has not yet 

 become a simple question. Assuming that advances in 

 rubber are due to speculative manipulation, how about the 

 fall in prices which generally follows ? 



All buying and selling of commodities is more or less 

 speculative, but what js criticized is the alleged control 

 of the market by other influences than mere supply and 

 demand. It is certain that much trading in crude rubber 

 is of the class known as "short" sales, which involves an 

 effort to depress prices. Most purely speculative effort 

 in the rubber market is of this kind, instead of creating a 

 "corner" in the supply and forcing consumers to pay 

 exorbitant prices. Most attempts to corner rubber have 

 resulted disastrously to the promoters, and if high prices 

 have resulted a speedy "slump" has followed. 



Whatever the cause of fluctuations in rubber, how- 

 ever, each succeeding slump has stopped a higher point 

 than the one before, until it would now appear that the 



