THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[October i, 1904. 



M. van den Kerckhove, who has lately returned from 

 Africa, favors The India Rubber World this month with 

 a report on the methods of rubber coagulation employed 

 in the Congo region, from which it is plain that the char- 

 acter of the product must be sensibly affected by the 

 process employed, as well as by proper care or the lack 

 of it. The Congo rubbers are derived from several dif- 

 ferent trees and vines, with different inherent qualities, 

 and not all susceptible to the same treatment. In the 

 evolution of an article of rubber manufacture, therefore, 

 the employment of right processes is no less essential in 

 the African forest than in the factory at Montreal. And 

 we believe that the next important development in con- 

 nection with rubber will be in the preparation of the raw 

 material — a work which will be greatly stimulated by the 

 experiments now under way on plantations in Ceylon and 

 elsewhere, which afford so much greater facilities for 

 scientific study than any rubber camps now existent in 

 tropical forests. 



Meanwhile there is a profitable field for study in the 

 factory laboratory, in comparing the behavior of rubber 

 of differing conditions, as well as rubbers of different 

 natural quality, under the same treatment, both for the 

 present good of the manufacturer, and in order that the 

 scientific culturist — and, later, the intelligent supervisor 

 of forest rubber extraction — may be guided in produc- 

 ing just the grades of rubber required. 



A "TIMOROUS" ASSOCIATION. 



move, lest some of his customers be driven away, to be 

 captured by a competitor who adheres to the old price 

 scale. And if, in spite of the manifold difficulties involved, 

 a general agreement among competitors to advance prices 

 should be reached, it is absolutely impossible for concerns 

 of varying financial strength, and doing business under 

 widely varying conditions, to long adhere strictly to the 

 terms of the agreement. Suppose that " penalties " be m- 

 flicted upon the price cutters — -that does not cover the 

 whole ground. Who shall compensate a manufacturer, 

 not financially strong, whose loss^of trade by adhering to 

 a rigid price agreement brings him to bankruptcy ? This 

 is the crucial test of every price agreement thai ever was 

 made. 



But isn't it a little hard on the India-Rubber Manufac- 

 turers' Association to tax it with not working for the ben- 

 efit of the outside competitors with its members ? If they 

 want prices advanced, and don't feel able to do it alone, 

 it is open to them to join the Association, which then 

 doubtless would feel in a stronger position, and more dis- 

 posed to act. As matters stand, however, for the Associa- 

 tion members to take the initiative in raising prices, with 

 no obligation imposed on the outsiders, would be to create 

 the situation known in the United States as " holding the 

 umbrella over the other fellow ; " the outsider would be 

 able to do more trade, perhaps at better rates, while incur- 

 ring no risk and none of the unpopularity that comes from 

 putting up the prices of goods. 



\ X rRITING of the India-rubber Manufacturers' Asso- 

 elation of Great Britain, The India-Rubber Journal 

 remarks: "The Association has splendid work before it, 

 but this we are afraid it will never accomplish until it has 

 freed itself from the somewhat timorous spirit which seems 

 to afflict its actions." 



What is the matter with the Association ? Our contem- 

 porary's indictment charges it with failing to recommend 

 an advance in the selling prices of rubber goods " when- 

 ever necessary," or, when such recommendation is made, 

 with not inflicting penalties on " any small minority of its 

 members " who may fail to respect it. In regard to the 

 present situation the Journal remarks : " This delay on 

 the part of the Association in recommending an increase 

 has further aggravated the state of affairs in the rubber 

 trade, for most of the trade outside of the Association were 

 waiting for them to move before following their example." 



But before making these assertions it happens that our 

 contemporary, in the same article, feels called upon to state 

 that "it has also been shown that the manufacturer who is 

 last to increase the price of his manufactured rubber goods 

 always does extra trade," and we infer from the context 

 that every individual manufacturer must be the judge for 

 himself whether this extra trade is likely to prove profitable 

 or otherwise. 



The same conditions obtain in England as elsewhere : 

 Everybody in a given trade may feel that prices of goods 

 are too low to yield adequate profits and ought to be ad- 

 vanced, but each manufacturer hesitates to make the first 



AN ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLE ON RUBBER. 



IT is doubtful whether very many persons will buy the seven- 

 teen sumptuous volumes comprised in " The New Interna- 

 tional Encyclopedia " (New York : Dodd, Mead & Co., 1904) on 

 account of its article on " Rubber," to which 2 pages are de- 

 voted, as against 7 pages to butterflies, 2% to sharks, 8 to silk, 

 5 to shorthand, and 3 to " Unemployment." Yet these two 

 pages will not fail to interest such persons as may desire to re- 

 fresh their memories in regard to what they don't know about 

 rubber. First, the derivation of the title word is interesting — 

 thus : 



Rubber (from tub ; perhaps connected Gael. >u!>, Welsh rhiibio, 



to rub ; If. ruboir, Gael, rhbaer, a rubber), I.VDIA Rubbkr or 



Caoutchouc 



Now you know how this important article of commerce got 

 its name. Rubber is referred to as being obtained from several 

 species of trees, but no mention is made of rubber vines. 

 These trees, it seems, are tapped, with the result that a peculiar 

 sap flows out into small cups placed in position for the purpose. 

 The material thus accumulated in these cups is 

 emptied daily into a large vessel, in which it is allowed to smolder over 

 a slow fire until the water is evaporated and the rubber shaped into 

 cakes is ready for export. 



This should prove interesting on the Amazon, particularly. 

 Next attention is given to the subject of Vulcanization, of 

 which we read : 



Its effect is to render rubber elastic, impervious, and unchangeable in 

 texture under all ordinary conditions. 



In regard to the commercial use of rubber, it appears that — 



In 1852 a Boston sea captain imported into America 500 pairs of rub- 

 ber boots which had been made by the natives of Brazil. These were 

 readily sold for from $3 to $5 per pair, and a great demand for them 



