204 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[March i, 1905. 



are almost as familiar as Washington and his hatchet. Resulting 

 from Goodyear's experiments, however, grew the mighty industry 

 in which rubber importers and manufacturers are now engaged. 



As an illustration of the growth of the industry let me refer to 

 the career of a highly honored citizen of Massachusetts, the late 

 Elisha S. Converse. Deacon Converse, as licensee under the 

 Goodyear patents, started in 1S53 the Boston Rubber Shoe Co. in a 

 small wooden factory, with a capacity of a few hundred pairs of 

 boots and shoes per day, and then looked forward, as he after- 

 wards told me, to the time when he could reach a product of a 

 thousand pairs per day ; and yet he lived to see his grfat factories 

 at Maiden and Melrose manufacture 55.000 pairs of rubber boots 

 and shoes per day. What better illustration can be given than this 

 of the growth of the rubber industry in the past 50 years ? 



The futuresupply of "Caoutchouc," or "Crude Rubber," which 

 is popularly supposed to rntrr somewhat into the products we man- 

 ufacture or deal in, presents a most interesting and vital prob- 

 lem. 



Representing, as you do, the rubber interests of Xew England in 

 all its varied lines, it is not inappropriate at this time to call your 

 attention to this subject, since, in my opinion the future prosperity 

 of the rubber business, if not its very e.vistence, hinges upon the 

 satisfactory solution of the problem of obtaining in the future suffi- 

 cient quantities of crude rubber for the world's requirements. 



The consumption of rubber has e.xtended to many new fields. 

 In the electrical and other industrial arts, its use on an extensive 

 scale has become indispensable. But more important than these 

 material interests, the comfort and health of the great mass of our 

 people are dependent upon the requisite supply of rubber pro- 

 ducts. 



It follows that the failure of the rubber supply at the present 

 time would fall little short of a national calamity, and that even a 

 further substantial advance in price, owing to scarcity of produc- 

 tion, is fraught with many evil results, not only to our business 

 interests, but also to the well being of the millions of consumers 

 of our goods. 



This simple statement is enough to show that the present situa- 

 tion calls for our unite 1 and earnest efforts, to prevent, if possible, 

 any falling off in the supply of this most important and necessary 

 article. 



From the figures just announced by the Department of Com- 

 merce and Labor, we find that in the past 20 years, or from 1S84 

 to 1904, the imports of crude rubber into this country have in- 

 creased from 24,000,000 pounds to 62,000,000 pounds per annum, 

 and the annual value from $10,000,000 to $44, 000,000. 



The largest portion of this India-rubber comes from Brazil. 

 That country furnished us last year 34.500.000 pounds, or more 

 than half the entire importations, while Africa supplied most of 

 the remainder. Comparatively small quantities were shipped 

 from the Central American states and Mexico 



These rapidly increasing imports, together with the great ad- 

 vance in price, demonstrate that the present demand for crude rub- 

 ber is greater than the normal supply. With our growing popula- 

 tion, and the manifold and ever extending uses of this gum, there 

 is no reason why the past ratio ol increased demand should not con- 

 tinue for the next 20 years. 



The question now arises, How are we to meet this situation ? Can 

 it be done by husbanding the supply through a more economical 

 use? This is not practicable unless we reduce the quality of our 

 product, an alternative which it would be most disastrous to adopt . 

 Can we find some substitute? The outlook in this direction is not 

 encouraging. 



The range of substitutes is very narrow. In the few instances 

 in which a substance resembling rubber has been discovered, the 

 article has been so inferior, the cost of production has been so high, 

 or the quantity produced so small, as to afford little prospect of re- 

 lief from this source. The cultivation of the rubber tree, which 

 has been undertaken in Mexico, Central America, Ceylon, and 



other countries, although so far not a factor, may in time yield re- 

 sults. 



It is evident that neither immediate nor permanent relief lies in 

 these directions. Such relief must be looked for in increased pro- 

 duction of rubber in those vast regions which are watered by the 

 Amazon and the Congo. The growth of rubber trees extending 

 inland from the banks of these rivers and their tributaries is sim- 

 ply inexhaustible. The material is all there in sufficient quantities 

 to supply our wants for a hundred years. It only awaits the hand 

 of man to gather it. It does not lie hidden in the bowels of the 

 earth. It is visible to the eye, and covers regions thousands of 

 miles in extent. 



When we read of the present crude mode of obtaining the milk 

 from the tree, and the slow and primitive way of curing it, it would 

 seem as if a little Yankee ingenuity could readily increase the pro- 

 duction sufficient to meet our requirements. The recent trip of 

 Commodore Benedict up the Amazon only confirms the reports of 

 other travelers that the rubber is now gathered in a most crude and 

 unsystematic manner. 



Statistics show that during the past twenty years even under 

 existing conditions the production of rubber has largely increased, 

 although during the past three years the product of Par;i grades 

 has remained substantially stationary. 



While the Par;'i, or Htvsa rubber, constitutes the permanent and 

 reliable sources of supply, the augmented demand of recent years 

 has been met by two other kinds of gum, known as the " Caucho" 

 of the Amazon, and the products of the Congo, or African rubber. 

 These latter gums are obtained by cutting down and destroying 

 the trees and vines. This system of gathering rubber can only 

 en i in the final exhaustion of the supply. Caucho is found only in 

 the interior, and on lands which are not inundated, and it is gath- 

 ered almost exclusively by Indian labor. Although showing con- 

 siderable increase of late years, these sources of supply are quite 

 uncertain, and, apparently, not lasting. 



It is to the Pari of the mighty Amazon valley that we must look 

 for the permanent solution of the crude rubber problem. That 

 valley is capable of yielding quantities of the best gum in the v. orld 

 for the next fifty years, equal to two or three times the present de- 

 mandi if the labor can be had, and improved methods devised, to 

 obtain it. 



" Par.i " is the only species of rubber that can be economically 

 and successfully gathered by tapping the trees without injuring 

 their vitality and productiveness. For the past 50 years this rub- 

 ber has been taken by this process from the same trees on the 

 banks and inlands of the Amazon. 



As an occupation for industrious natives and acclimated foreign- 

 ers, it his been truly said that this field offers a higher remunera- 

 tion for unskilled labor than any other industry in the world. This 

 rubber tree always grows in groups. The labor involved in tap- 

 ping 150 to 200 trees a day is less than the work of cutting down 

 and extracting the milk from a single tree. Again, these trees 

 grow near the banks of navigable streams, thereby affording eco- 

 nomical and convenient facilities for transportation. Further, they 

 can be tapped almost daily and continuously from year to year. 



It would seem as though we must look to Para rubber as the ulti- 

 mate source of the world's supply. Within a period of twenty 

 years it has grown from an output of Sooo tons to 30,000 tons. 

 Para rubber \i adapted to sustain almost any demand, if the vast 

 forests in which these trees abound are opened up, taken care of, 

 .and properly Worked. 



By systematic development and effort the production of Para 

 rubber can be established upon a permanent basis, which will give 

 it a position among raw materials practically as reliable as cotton 

 or corn. 



The prodigality of nature has stored away under the burning 

 sun of the equator an abundant supply of crude rubber. The in- 

 accessibility of the country, the intense heat, the quality of labor, 

 the questions of supplies and transportation, are the obstacles 



