18 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[October i, 1904. 



points to the day wanted, as shown in the illustration. This 

 stamp has the Buck pneumatic cushion under the entire die. 

 [T. S. Buck Manufacturing Co., No. 221 Canal street, New 

 York.] 



PRUSSIAN RUBBER SPONGES. 

 The Hanover Rubber Co., Limited (Hanover-Limmer, Ger- 

 many), after several years' experimenting, are manufacturing 

 an article which they call " The Prussian Pure Rubber Sponge, 

 ■ Gloria ' ". These sponges are reported to have met with great 

 success in Europe, on account of their softness and fine tex- 

 ture, while the cost is reasonable. George Borgfeldt & Co. 

 (New York) are sole agents for the Hanover company, in the 

 United States and Canada. 



THK AMAZON RUBBER PROSPECT. 



HY AN OCCASIONAL CONTRIllUTOK. 



LOWER rubber prices in the not distant future are to be 

 expected, in the very nature of things ; already the high 

 prices of the past year have had the effect of curtailing produc- 

 tion, and their long continuance would drive many manufac- 

 turers from business. But present prospects justify an expec- 

 tation of liberal supplies of rubber during the present crop 

 year, which will have the effect of lowering prices somewhat, 

 even with a well sustained consumption. The past twelve 

 months have witnessed an increased production of "medium " 

 sorts, after a tendency to decline for two or three years, and 

 there is no reason to suppose that the present rate of output 

 of these sorts will not continue, at least as long as a high price 

 level prevails. 



Preparations have been made for getting out a large crop of 

 Para rubber, judging from the movement of laborers and pro- 

 visions toward the upper Amazon regions. The high prices 

 prevailing at the commencement of the crop season were fa- 

 vorable for such a movement, besides which an especially se- 

 vere drought exists in Ceara, a state which, under such circum- 

 stances, always supplies a large force of rubber gatherers, who 

 otherwise would remain at home and work their farms. 



Conditions in the Acre district are more favorable for a large 

 output of rubber than for a long time past. That probably is 

 the richest rubber region in the whole Amazon system, but its 

 production has been hampered by various political and other 

 troubles, which seem now about at an end. After the Brazilian 

 treaty with Bolivia, some friction arose with Peru, but that 

 now is a matter of the past. To-day there is a question of 

 authority between the state government of Amazonas and the 

 government at Rio, which insists upon administering the Acre 

 as a Federal district, but this is not likely to interfere with the 

 working of the rubber camps. 



Nothing can ever be predicted with certainty in regard to 

 the extent of the rubber crop, but it seems reasonable to expect, 

 in view of favorable conditions in the rubber producing coun- 

 tries, and the stimulus afforded by higher prices than ever be- 

 fore prevailed for such a great length of time, an increase this 

 year in the margin between the production and consumption 

 of rubber. The natural effect would be somewhat lower prices, 

 though a largely increased production in any given year is an 

 impossibility, owing to the slow rate of progress in the tropics 

 which must always be taken into account. 



Progress has been especially slow in the development of the 

 Acre district, due in part to causes which have not disappeared 

 with the ending of the political troubles there. The expendi- 

 ture of a millioo dollars for improving the waterways in that 

 region would work a wonderful improvement in navigation 

 and do much to stimulate the business of gathering rubber. 



But where is the money to come from, and who would under- 

 take the work? There is no private interest prepared for it, 

 and government undertakings in the Brazilian states require 

 an immense amount of time for results, if any are ever reached. 

 During some months of each year the Acre itself is a very nar- 

 row and shallow stream. It could still be navigated by steam 

 launches, however, but for the many trees which fall into it and 

 which it is nobody's business in particular to remove. Yet the 

 total cost of removing such obstacles, and of dredging here a 

 bit and blasting there a bit, would not be great, in view of the 

 benefit to be derived, and the stream could be made navigable 

 all the year and for larger vessels than can now pass through it 

 during low water. 



At present communication with the rubber districts on the 

 Acre is practically cut off for months at a time. Not only does 

 no rubber come out, but the settlers there have no means of 

 obtaining supplies. All their food is imported, and at times 

 their condition becomes one of real hardship from the lack of 

 food, resulting in weakness and inability to resist the fevers so 

 prevalent there. The keeping open of the Acre alone would 

 work a great change in the rubber business of the Amazon 

 valley. 



But the governments concern themselves more with the 

 highest rate of export duty that the rubber will stand, and with 

 who shall collect the tax, and with such schemes as that in 

 which a private corporation at Mandos has been authorized by 

 the congress to levy an extra tax upon all rubber exported from 

 the state, to provide capital for a bank. While the avowed ob- 

 ject is to provide an accumulation of capital, available for the 

 rubber merchants in financing shipments, the only apparent re- 

 sult to date is that the promoters of the bank have been afford- 

 ed an easy means of making a living. 



MUTUAL FACTORY INSURANCE. 



AT a recent meeting of the Furniture Association of Amer- 

 ica. Mr. Benjamin Taft, secretary of the Rubber Manu- 

 facturers' Mutual Insurance Co., read a paper on " Why Mutual 

 Fire Insurance is Feasible, and Why." Among other things 

 he said : 



" In many ways it is quite feasible to form a furniture manu- 

 facturers' mutual insurance company. The plan of the different 

 trades or manufacturers insuring each other is not a new one. 

 In 1888 the cotton manufacturers organized a mutual, and their 

 success is too well known to need any remarks. In 1863 the 

 millers started their mutual to insure flour mills. In 1895 the 

 Lumbermen's Mutual came into the field, and in 1884 the Rub- 

 ber Manufacturers' Mutual commenced business, and here is 

 an example that you might well follow. 



" The rates on rubber factories when that company was 

 formed were so high that many of them could not afford to 

 carry any insurances, and when the company was organized 

 with rubber men making rules for the guidance of rubber men 

 the business commenced to look up, and to-day the despised 

 rubber factory of 1884 can get a $1000 policy for $1.50, while in 

 1S84 it had to pay $30 for the same identical $1000 policy. 

 You can very readily see from this that one trade making rules 

 for itself to follow and having a company of its own to carry 

 them out, the company is practically assured of success at the 

 start. Now, what was done by the cotton manufacturers in 

 1888 and the rubber manufacturers in 1884, certainly seems to 

 me can be done by the furniture manufacturers in 1905, as 

 there is no man who is willing to admit that the cotton manu- 

 facturers or the rubber manufacturers are any smartei" than the 

 furniture manufacturer." 



