378 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[August i, igog. 



normal price of rubber is twice as high as twenty years 

 ago, in spite of the greatly increased production mean- 

 while. Surely this general and long sustained advance — 

 to say nothing of the earlier steady advance from 25 cents 

 I)er pound — cannot be attributed to any purely speculative 

 influences. The demand for rubber has grown steadily 

 from the date of its first utilization, and continues to 

 grow. Whatever may be the future capacity of the world 

 to produce rubber, it is now below the world's needs 

 for the material. 



The automobile situation in America alone points to a 

 vastly enlarged increase in the world's demand for rub- 

 ber. During the recent year of depressed business there 

 was no loss of activity in the automobile industry in the 

 United States, but each year showed a larger production 

 of vehicles. This year's output is larger than ever, while 

 every indication points to a still greater rate of increase 

 for 1910. The condition is near at hand when automobile 

 tires alone will call for as much rubber as was con- 

 sumed in the whole industry in the United States ten years 

 ago — the date of the introduction of the automobile. The 

 condition of the country as a whole is most satisfactory. 

 The period of depression referred to did not leave the 

 country poorer, but in many respects in a better condition, 

 and there is reason to expect a more notable era of 

 progress than has yet been witnessed. To note a single 

 feature, the normal condition of agriculture in America 

 is the ownership of the land by the men who till it — 

 every farmer his own landlord — with such results that the 

 farmers are becoming notably wealthy as a class. The 

 typical farmer to-day is an automobile owner. 



But the future of the rubber industry will not be con- 

 cerned with automobiles alone. The commercial truck 

 and the farmers' and villagers' buggy demand rubber 

 tires. And all the other branches of the rubber industry 

 show a steady rate of growth. While the sales of mechan- 

 ical goods, footwear, and the like during a year or so past 

 fell of? in volume, the profits reported by the large manu- 

 facturers were no less than in former years, and the con- 

 dition of the industry was never more promising than 

 now. It is such conditions of prosperity in America— to 

 say nothing of the rest of the world — that make rubber 

 cost more — not the manipulation of a few traders buying 

 and selling. They could not sell at current prices unless 

 the world wanted rubber goods in larger volume year 

 after year. Better consider, as affecting rubber prices, 

 such factors as the "record" American corn crop this 

 year, estimated at 3,000,000,000 bushels, and the sale of 

 which will help to swell so many farmers' bank accounts. 



A SUCCESSFUL RUBBER CLUB. 



TEN years ago the New England Rubber Club came 

 into being with about twenty members. Since that 

 time it has steadily grown until now its membership 

 amounts to about 250. The fact that the club has a large 

 membership outside of New England and that the old 

 name is no longer accurately descriptive led its executive 



committee to suggest in its stead the broader name. The 

 Rubber Club of America. At a recent business meeting 

 of the club this change was made. There is to-day, there- 

 fore, no New England Rubber Club ; or rather, the old 

 club lives, but under a new name that promises greater 

 growth and influence than has been possible hitherto. 



The club owes its existence specifically to the fact that 

 religion, politics, or "shop" are not discussed within it. 

 No. member tries to exploit it for his own company, or 

 firm. Trade differences are laid aside, and all meet as 

 friends. If it should happen that a "whisperer" began to 

 sow seeds of dissension, his diatribes would be ignored or 

 promptly laughed out of existence. Trade loyalty in its 

 broadest sense, and an appreciation of the leaders of the 

 industry, have from the beginning been deep rooted senti- 

 ments. With its horizon broadened and its aims un- 

 altered, there is no reason why another ten years may not 

 find it greater, and more prosjjerous — a potent and prac- 

 tical preserver of trade integrity and industrial peace. 



THE ACRE RUBBER CONGRESS. 



IT is probable that the Congresso Industrial Seringueiro- 

 to be held this month at Senna Madureira, at the initia- 

 tive of the Prefect of Alto Purus, in the Acre, is not likely 

 to suffer by comparison with any of the "rubber con- 

 gresses" held so far. The conference held in connection 

 with the Ceylon Rubber Exhibition of 1906 was notable 

 for its effect in focusing general attention upon the grow- 

 ing importance of the rubber industry, and the success 

 which had been attained in rubber planting — something^ 

 which had been talked about for decades, but still was 

 regarded by many people as somewhat mythical. The 

 Djember congress, in 1907, was rather local, having for 

 its purpose chiefly the intelligent stimulation of rubber 

 culture in the Dutch East Indies. The conferences at 

 the Olympia, London, in 1908, were more truly interna- 

 tional in character, and broader in scope, with a corre- 

 spondingly broader efifect — especially in respect of point- 

 ing to the importance of plantations in contributing to> 

 future supplies of rubber. 



An editorial article headed "A New Light on the 

 Amazon" in The India Rubber World, January 1, 1907 

 (page 104), reviewed certain official references to rubber 

 by the governors at Para and Manaos, clearly traceable 

 to the Ceylon exhibition and its results. They were among 

 the first direct evidences of the awakening of the giant 

 Amazon to the fact that in the rubber interest it might 

 actually have rivals. Long had the people of the "Para 

 rubber" country rested secure in the feeling that their 

 principal product for export could not be duplicated else- 

 where on the globe ; it gave them a title to distinction and 

 the basis of an enduring prosperity. But when the In- 

 ternational Rubber Exhibition of London was held the 

 Amazon rubber states were ably represented there, with 

 the aid of displays of products which challenged the atten- 

 tion and competition of the world. 



