August i, 1909.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



379 



Out of all this has grown the movement for a confer- 

 ence of Brazilian rubber producers, to take council how 

 they may not only protect their present position of su- 

 ]jremac}' in rubber, but, further, how so to systematize the 

 business as to enhance and make more secure their profits 

 from it. And the experimenters in rubber elsewhere — in 

 Ceylon, or whatever other country — who have called to 

 their assistance the whole realm of cultural science and 

 the highest financial skill, may rest assured that the 

 seringuciros and tn-iadorcs of the Amazon and its tribu- 

 taries will not be slow to avail themselves of every new 

 suggestion that may be a])plicable to the Amazon rubber 

 regions. 



From this new competition the wliole world will profit. 

 It is hardly imaginable that enough rubber can be planted 

 anj'where for decades to come to keep pace with the 

 growing demand for this material. Hence the pressing 

 need for the rubber planted by nature in South 

 America, and the best development of which in the 

 past has not come to pass because the demand was less 

 pressing than ntnv. 



We devoted no little space some years ago to the Acre 

 territory, when it was the subject of concessions held by 

 Sir Martin Conway and his associates in England and 

 America, who held the idea that a fortune awaited the 

 opening of that region along modern ideas. The natives 

 were alert enough, however, to hold the future of the 

 country in their own control, and so far as rubber is 

 concerned, at least, the development of which Sir Martin 

 dreamed seems near at hand. 



Our salutations to the Congresso Industrial Seringueiro 

 at Senna Madureira, in the Acre, August 8-22 ! 



ONLY A REFERENCE TO THE TARIFF. 



THE progress made at Washington in revising the 

 tariff schedules of 1897 is not yet sufficient to permit 

 a statement in this issue of the final shape of any section 

 of the new Act. There is no indication, however, of any 

 important changes of direct application to the india-rub- 

 ber industry. As has been surmised in these pages, noth- 

 ing will be found in the work of the Congress in contra- 

 vention of the theory of protection which so long has ob- 

 tained in America ; the questions in hand have been rather 

 how to provide sufficient revenue with the minimum pres- 

 sure of burden in any particular quarter. 



Into the details of .the debates we cannot enter here. 

 And when the result is finished it shall be within our 

 scope to analyze the schedules, rather than to comment 

 upon them. This may be left to the political journals. 



At the same time the question of protection z'. free trade 

 is brought up in connection with an interesting piece of 

 trade news in this issue. At least the reported intention 

 of an important British rubber manufacturing companv to 

 establish branch works in (jermany, in order to avoid the 

 import duties imposed in that country, is the text for 

 comments by a great London daily from which we quote, 

 that England has, under her present fiscal system, no such 



means for the protection of her own industries from com- 

 petition from the outside. 



It is not so long since two important rubber tire firms 

 abroad, whose products had gained a foothold in the 

 American trade, transported a portion of their plant 

 across the .Atlantic rather than pay duties, with the result 

 that the money disbursed for labor on these tires is now 

 expended on this side. It appears that examples of this 

 kind have the same ultimate effect u])on the people's rep- 

 resentatives at Washington, whatever may have been 

 their fiscal theories, personally, before coming to take an 

 active part in public affairs. 



We congratulate "The India-Rubber Journai." lx)th upon 

 the conipli'tion of its first quarter century of publication and 

 upon the high standard of excellence which it has attained. 



MUST HIGHER PRICES COME? 



[from the "gUMMI-ZEITUNG," BERLIN, JUNE 25-] 



A MERE perusal of the latest market reports concerning tlu* 

 rubber trade will lead to the conclusion that the qucsticin 

 which serves as a heading for this article is almost superfluous. 

 Other similar reports will undoubtedly follow, and the rubber 

 trade will have to prepare for a period of unrest ,marked by a 

 sharp struggle for the establishment of higher prices for rubber 

 goods. Such contests, moreover, will be unavoidable, since pres- 

 ent conditions leave no other available expedient to rubber manu- 

 facturers than that of adjusting their prices to the advance in 

 the cost of the crude material, unless they are satisfied to manu- 

 facture at a considerable loss, or are willing to make materially 

 inferior grades of goods.. Even those who in the earlier part of 

 the current year were in a position to fall back on a supply of 

 rubber purchased at lower prices are now compelled to follow 

 suit by advancing their prices, because all hope of seeing the 

 market decline below present figures has not only disappeared, 

 but there are even indications that further advances may be 

 expected. 



An event which was considered impossible even as late as the 

 end of last year — viz : a quotation of 6 shillings on fine Para — 

 has nevertheless become a fact, and prices are showing a tendency 

 to advance still further. The market labors throughout under 

 great excitement, manufacturers are not in a position to hold back 

 and wait, and there is a constant demand, since purchases for 

 several months past generally have been restricted to the covering 

 of immediate requirements. These conditions readily explain the 

 fact that the market for all medium grades was likewise much 

 stronger, and that present quotations on the same show even a 

 greater advance than those in the leading grades, good quality 

 .African lots having been sold at higher prices than ever before. 



In view of this enormous advance, the equal of which has been 

 witnessed in the rubber industry only once before, there is evi- 

 dently no other available expedient than that of adjusting the 

 prices of manufactured goods, at least to some extent, to prevail- 

 ing conditions. There is no other way out of the difficulty, and 

 although the managers of many manufacturing concerns may be 

 averse to such a measure, and dealers may find it difficult to be 

 certain that it is absolutely necessary, it is a fact that the prices 

 of rubber goods must be advanced by common consent. 



The advance in the rubber market has already continued for 

 more than six months, and every expectation that there would 

 be a break has been foiled. The cost of crude material was con- 

 stantly increased, and as early as December of last year an ad- 

 vance in prices of goods was unanimously decided on. but only 

 partially carried out, the belief in a weakening of the market 

 being too strong, at that time, .^t present, however, it would be 



