September j, igog.]' 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



413 



conditiun — that of Cdntinual improveiiiciu, keeping pace 

 witli the e<in>iant i;r<i\\tli of a population that has a 

 buying' ca])acity not equaled in any otlier country, in any 

 age. It was a scare, not a "panic." that hajipened less 

 than two years ago. A few individuals having tnulue 

 influence with a smaller number of banks which before 

 were of giKjd repute, used their power to private advan- 

 tage and against the general good, with tlu- result that 

 some honest institutions were forced temporarily to close 

 their doors. The effect upon the general financial public 

 was not of fear for the future, or even of immediate dis- 

 trust, but merely of caution. Hut this caution was so 

 widesi)read and so ramified that many branches of trade 

 felt it. For example, if steel manufacturers curtailed 

 their outpi/i, the railways, having therefore less traffic, 

 bought fefrscr supplies, and this meant smaller demands 

 upon certain rubber factories, and the importation of 

 crude rubber declined — with the result of lowering the 

 quotations for rubber everywhere. The whole "financial 

 depression" of 1907 may be summed up in few words — 

 in so far as it may be considered apart from worldwide 

 financial conditions — too much business had been at- 

 tempted for the capital emjjloyed ; some people had 

 attempted to get rich "too quick." The hanking world 

 called upon business men to call a halt, and for a while 

 the I'nited .Stales rested. But there was no loss of 

 real wealth, though there may have been a readjust- 

 ment of ow^nership, due to the impatience of this class, 

 or the want of preparedness of another class for any 

 sudden and unexpected crisis. The net result is the 

 lessening of certain bad features in banking — the vital 

 center of the modern business world — and that people 

 in industry and trade are profiting by lessons of 

 caution. 



The country is prosperous again. The country has 

 been prosperous for a long time. This country cannot 

 be otherwise than prosperous, with so many millions 

 of honest and intelligent peo]ile working constantly 

 to improve their condition — materially and morally. 

 Would it not be a great blow to civilization if such 

 concentrated effort by so many millions did not yield 

 favorable results? 



This is our introduction to a very few remarks on 

 the new Tariff act which has been signed by the Presi- 

 dent of the L'nited States since our last issue. W'e do 

 not doubt that many millions of ca|)ital in this country 

 have been less active during the special session of the 

 Congress called in March to deal with the tariiT. I'ut 

 the fact that business suddenly begins to improve is 

 not due alone to any feature of the new law ; the sud- 

 den renewal of activity only is coincident with other 

 business features already pointed out in this article, 

 encouraged slightly by the cessation of tariff "tinker- 

 ing" at Washington. 



In another department of Tm-; Ini)[.\ Rumiser World 

 the relation of the new tariff, as compared with former 

 schedules, to the rubber and allied industries, is dealt 



with in some detail. We consider it our duty as pur- 

 veyors of news to the rubber trade by common con- 

 sent to ])rint such information. 



\\'e wish to venture one concluding remark, how-- 

 ever: 'I'he change of the color of the cover of this 

 journal — say from blue to red — w-ould as seriously 

 aiTect the trade, one way or the other, as any change 

 of tarilY schedules that ever happened at the hands of 

 the Congress at Washington. We hope, then, that 

 the tarift' will be forgotten soon, in the devotion of 

 our rubber men to their usual business details. 



X. 15.— It is hard to ignore the ojiportunity to sug- 

 gest how speedily the new tarit? act was dealt with at 

 Washington, as compared with proposed tarilT changes 

 or new re\enue laws in some other countries. 



THE BRITISH RUBBER FEVER. 



furor do plantio en Ceylao continua na Sua febre ascensional. (Tlic 

 plantatiun frenzy in Ceylon continues with growing intensity.) — .1 

 Maiidos nctvspapcr. 



THE American word "boom" accurately describes 

 the activity of European — and especially British 

 — investors in subscribing to the capital of planting 

 companies in the Far East since rubber reached the 

 unprecedented $2 mark. Thk India Riuhkk World 

 already has chronicled the payment of dixidends of 

 rubber planting companies, in figures as high as 80 

 per cent. With "consols" at only 2^2 per cent., it is 

 not surj^rising that conijiany promoters should take 

 advantage of the recent successes of some planting 

 companies to part the ISritish fool from his money with 

 rubber as a lure. Hrt every "l.oom" is followed by a 

 "fizzle." and it is to l;e feared tint the latter term must 

 be api)lied ere lor.g to some of the recently lloated 

 undertakings in rubber planting. 



Till-: I. Mil A Rl-i;i;i;r WHki-d has a list of rubber cul- 

 ture com] allies reg'stcred in London during the month 

 of July, which, while r.ot complete, embraces twenty- 

 four new corporations, with an aggregate nominal 

 capitalization of £1,317,040 [=$f>,40<^,375]. Now this 

 is a great deal of money, and there is reason to believe 

 that a large part of it actually has been paid over. 

 The new enterprises referred to are planned to do busi- 

 ness in nine different countries and colonies: it appears 

 immaterial to the investors where a new ct)nii)aiiy 

 proposes to operate, so long as rubber is mentionetl 

 in its pros])ectus. .\t the same time, so-called rub- 

 ber planting companies have been brought out in sev- 

 eral other Furopean countries, and in Malaysia. Cey- 

 lon, and so on. 



Now the large dixidends of certain w (.■ll-established 

 rubber plantation com])anies in the F'ar East un-. 

 ilcjubtedly have been honestly earned. Most of the 

 di\-idends reported uj) to date were declared and jiaid 

 before the late extraordinary rise in the price of rub- 

 ber; the latter, in fact, not only must be regarded as 

 temporary, but it had nothing to do with the divi- 



