414 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[September i, 1909. 



dends of 50 to 80 per cent, already referred to. But 

 it is a mistake to suppose that, because certain planta- 

 tions have been successful in producing rubber, every 

 plantation — without regard to soil, altitude or sun 

 exposure — will yield equally good results. There must 

 be much land planted to rubber to-day which ultim- 

 ately will be cleared off for another crop to which it 

 is better adapted. 



The chief reason for warning, however, relates to 

 the question of profits. Take the Vallambrosa Rub- 

 ber Co., Limited, for example. There is a company 

 formed without the agency of the promoter. The own- 

 ers of three plantations already in existence five years 

 ago "pooled" their interests and formed a limited com- 

 pany, dividing among themselves a certain number of 

 shares, and admitting a few personal friends, with a 

 view to gaining a little needed additional working 

 capital. The total share issue to date is i50,000 

 [=$243,325]. The Vallambrosa company were able 

 in their first year to market rubber, and during four 

 years they have sold 694,078 pounds, for enough to 

 return to the owners £95,000 in dividends, besides 

 which they have the plantation. Being organizeed 

 solely as a rubber planting company, all their energies 

 have been devoted to this one object, and each year 

 has shown progress in the direction of economy in the 

 production of rubber, as well as an improvement in 

 its quality. 



A dividend of 80 per cent, sounds large ; no doubt 

 this year still larger dividends will be recorded. But 

 it must be kept in mind that the only 80 per cent, com- 

 pany to date is practically a private company, capital- 

 ized by its actual owners on a conservative valuation 

 of their properties before their yielding capacity was 

 known or suspected. In other words, the "Vallam- 

 brosa" enterprise was capitalized practically at cost, 

 by cautious Scotch business men dealing with their 

 own property. How about the newest companies? 

 Have the twenty-four July corporations, with an aver- 

 age capitalization of £54,877, any basic properties com- 

 parable with those which were at the bottom of the 

 Vallambrosa enterprise? Some of them even have no 

 rubber planted yet. Suppose that, some day, they 

 should be equally successful in growing rubber, what 

 assurance have the public — the owners of the new 

 companies — of 80 per cent, dividends, or 10 per cent., 

 or any dividends at all? 



Account must be taken, in this connection, of the 

 promoters — a class of gentlemen who do not appear 

 to have figured in the Vallambrosa organization, but 

 who must, wherever they do appear, be compensated 

 before the public gets a sight of the profits. The Ama- 

 zonian newspaper we quote is right in describing the 

 English attitude toward rubber just now as a "fever." 

 The same view evidently is taken by the London 

 Financial News, which, while warmly commending 

 rubber culture in general, says in a recent issue that 



if rubber were to have a sharp fall, many of those who 

 have been so eager to invest in planting companies 

 "would madly rush into the market and sell their 

 shares," without stopping to find out whether they 

 were really worth holding. 



The dormant synthetic rubber germ was sure to be started 

 to life by the high price of rubber, but that it should break out 

 in cold and conservative Boston almost passes belief. There 

 it is, however, with all of its familiar symptons — laboratory 

 samples, resilient, elastic, plastic — company capitalized for mil- 

 lions — secrecy for fear the "trust" will gobble it — "no real rubber 

 in it" — a profit of $1,250 per ton — and, at last, a willingness to 

 sell the secret "to let the other man have a chance." Just who 

 is doing the fooling and who of the syndicate of respectable 

 promoters who are fooled it is difficult to say. They certainly 

 are showing rubber, but it is not synthetic. It is an extract 

 from a resin carrying bastard gum, and a rather poor product 

 at that. 



THE NEW WASHING MACHINE. 



■"PO THE Editor of The_ India Rubber World: We much ap-. 

 •*■ predate the article regarding our "Universal" washing 

 machine, in your .'\ugust issue (page 381), which will no doubt 

 be very interesting to all concerned. However, we are sorry to 

 see that you make mention that only a few of these machines 

 have been sold, in view of the fact that we have now placed 

 from 25 to 30, and seeing that they are able to treat so very 

 much more material than the old type of washer this figure is 

 most gratifying. 



In the case of low-grade rubber the "Universal" will wash any- 

 thing from ID to 20 times the quantity in a given period, and 

 therefore we think we are right in considering that we have 

 sold the equivalent of 150 to 200 ordinary washers. We arj 

 keeping this latter figure low, as some of the machines have been 

 sold for washing Para and Para kinds, and in such cases so 

 large a saving in time is not shown, although the saving in 

 labor and the superior quality of the washed rubber are very 

 important points in favor of the machine. 



WERNER, PFI-EIDERER & PERKINS, LIMITED. 

 Petersboroiigh, England, August 17, 1909. 



ESCAPE FROM A SUNKEN "SUBMARINE." 



NOT the least interesting feature of the daily news of the past 

 month has been that relating to the experience of Ensign 

 Kenneth Whiting, of the United States navy, in making his 

 escape from a sunken "submarine" through a torpedo tube. The 

 merit of his achievement is illustrated by the fact that these 

 new engines of naval warfare are sometimes lost to control, and 

 that the lives of those manning them are endangered. Ensign 

 Whiting, in a boat not in danger, but which had been sunk to the 

 bottom for the purpose of the experiment, made his exit through 

 the torpedo tube to the surface in safety. If one man can do this, 

 it is assumable that the members of the service generally can do 

 the same, except that the last man in each boat may not be able 

 to escape, for the reason that under existing conditions such a 

 feat as that of Ensign Whiting would be possible only with the 

 assistance of some one left behind to control the opening of the 

 torpedo tube in some way to prevent the ingress of sea water. 

 Naval authorities are now studying the possibility of modifying 

 the construction of the submarines to an extent which will allow 

 the last man on board to escape in case of disaster. But whether 

 it is desirable for one man or the whole crew to escape, it is 

 likely that some special costume for the purpose will be devised — 

 more or less waterproof, and calling for the use of india-rubber. 



