DEf;EMBER I, 1^04] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



69 



Fublished on the Ist of each Month b; 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING CO. 



No. 150 NASSAU ST.. NEW YORK 



Wf^' 



HENRY C. PEARSON, 



EDITOR. 



HAWTHORNE HILL, 



ASSOCIATE. 



Vol. 31. 



DECEMBER 1, 1904. 



No. 3. 



COPYRIGHT, 1904. BY 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING CO. 



gntered at New York Post onii'i- :4M iiKiil mnitir of the second-class. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



1 



Editorial: 



The Price of Crude Rubber 



Hoston and Par;l 



UeKUlation of Selliug Prices 



Minor KiUtorial 



Making Black Substitute J.W.C. 



New Trade Publications 



Exploring for "Castilloa" in Panama— I T/ie Editor 



[To Panama in the Rainy Season. Fortune Island. Colon. Along: 

 the Panama Canal. Panama City. The AUnirante. Toboga 

 Island. Queer Fish. Sleeping in the Rain. The Quebro Outlaws. 

 El Ca^itan's Fears. Almost Wrecked. !n the Lee'of Gubernador. 

 The *' Pioneer " Comes Aboard. Ashore at Last.] 

 [With 10 Illustrations.] 



New Features in Tire Construction 



[The Republic Rubber Co.'s New Tire. The G Kt J Thread Fabric 

 Tire, Swinehart's New Solid Tire.] 



[With 7 Illustrations.] 



The Automobile Tire of the Future 



Literature of India-Rubber 



The India-Rubber Trade in Great Britain . Our Regular Corregpondent 

 [The Waterproof Trade. Tire Interests. The Gutta-Percha Manu- 

 facture. The Shoe and Leather Fair. Golf Balls. Rubber in Metal 

 Mining. New Capital Issue.] 



Some Robber Interests in Europe 



[Rcpurt of the Harburg-Vienna Company. Rubber Goods at the 

 Nijni-Novgorod Fair. The Grammont Factories, in France, Auto- 

 mobile Shows in Germany and France. Manufacture of Rubber 

 Footwear in Belgmm. Notes.] 



New Ooods and Specialties in Rubber 



[" Woven Wire Rubber." New Idea in Rubber Belting. Molded 

 Fountain Syringe. Automobile Fabric Supplies. Novel Nursing 

 Appliance. The Goodrich Wire Wrap. "'Diamond" Soft Cover 

 Battery Jar. St. John Non Puncturable Automobile Tire. Novelty 

 in Rubbr.-r Mats] 



[With II Illustrations.! 



Recent Rubber Patents 



[American. British. German. French.] 



Rubber Planting and Exploitation 



[Extent of Rubber Planting in Ceylon. Notes on Planting Companies 

 in Mexico. Nicaragua, and Selangor.] 



Petersen's Reclaiming Process ( Illustrated) 



The "Sweating" of Congo Rubbers A.D. Thornton 



Recent Rubber Statistics 



[Rubber Production of West African Colonies. A Handy Book of 

 Rubber Figures J 



Canada's Oldest Rubber Factory 



[Sketch of the Canadian Rubber Co. of Montreal. Portrait of Gen- 

 eral Manager McGibbon.] 



Miscellaneous : 



Mr.Cudaby's Company Out of Doors 



Some Wauts of the Kubber Trade 



Prices of Rubber Footwear 



A Yachting Cruise up the Amazon 



Mauufacture of I'.ubber Nipples {Illustrated) 



LiiiiillDg .Jobbers' Selling Prices 



A .Model Molded G ods Department (illustrated) 



The Neglect of Bicycle Tires 



Iiidia-Kubber Goods in Commerce 



Rubber Transport In French Sudan 



A Card from Messrs. Pirelli & Co 



An Old Comb Factory Closed; 



A Quart of Rubber Syrup 



A New England Rubber Club "Smoke Talk" 



News of the American Rubber Trade 



Review of the Crude Rubber Trade 



09 

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71 

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72 

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100 



THE PRICE OF CRUDE RUBBER. 



'INHERE is no occasion for surprise in the present con- 

 *• dition of the crude rubber market. It would be 

 surprising if prices were lower. Nor are the present high 

 prices to be regarded as merely ephemeral ; so long as the 

 present active condition of the industry continues, mate- 

 rially lower prices are out of the question. For years The 

 India Rubber World has maintained persistently that the 

 prices quoted by manufacturers for their products often 

 were relatively too low, and that a policy ought to be 

 adopted tliat would render them constantly prepared for 

 an increasing cost of raw materials. 



In one sense, the natural supply is as definely limited as 

 the fortune of an individual ; so long as the demands upon 

 that fortune are confined to the income which it produces, 

 its owner may be comfortable, but so soon as larger de- 

 mands are made upon it, disaster is invited. The natural 

 supply of rubber is never increased, whereas the demand 

 for rubber has increased constantly since Charles Good- 

 year's discovery first rendered the material of practical use 

 to mankind. The result is that the available natural sup- 

 ply of rubber is smaller to-day than ever before, and it 

 must always grow less. 



Twenty-five years ago Mr. John H. Cheever, one of the 

 most successful rubber manufacturers the world has known, 

 bought raw rubber as low as the prices appended, in com- 

 parison with which we note the highest New York quota- 

 tions for corresponding grades within the current year : 



1879. i<)04. 



Fine Para 50 1.33 



Coarse Para 34 97 



Assam 34 .gi 



African 24 1.04 



Borneo 47^ .41 



Mozambique 35 .g7 



It is not meant by what has been said above that less 

 rubber is produced than formerly ; the point to be made 

 that the consumption has increased at a more rapid rate 

 than production, and this has forced up prices. The out- 

 put of raw rubber from the Amazon valley increased 

 from lyi million pounds in 1879 to 67 millions in the last 

 crop year, and meanwhile the increase in the African out- 

 put probably has been as great. But now the limit seems 

 to have been reached in rubber production in many re- 

 gions, and it is no longer so easy as it once was to find 

 new sources of supplies to take the place of exhausted 

 ones. The e.xtraordinary prices of rubber which have pre- 

 vailed for some time past have not had the effeet of stimu- 

 lating a larger production on either the Amazon or the 

 Congo, which is the best possible reason for believing that 

 the world's productive capacity in the way of native rub- 

 ber has been reached. 



The demand for rubber, however, never ceases nor be- 

 comes diminished ; it promises to continue to grow in 

 years to come as it has done in all the years since the first 

 rubber goods were vulcanized. The problem of how best 

 to meet the conditions above outlined, and which must be- 

 come more acute with the progress of time, is one which 

 calls for managerial ability of the highest order in connec- 

 tion with our rubber factories. 



