April i, 1905.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



219 



TWO DOLLAR RUBBER. 



Published on the let of each Month bj 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING CO. 



No. 150 NASSAU ST.. NEW YOEK 



HENRY C. PEARSON, 



EDITOR. 



HAWTHORNE HILL, 



ASSOCIATE. 



VoL 32. 



APRIL 1, 1905. 



No. 1. 



80BSCBIPT10N8 : »3.00 per year, $1.75 for six months, postpaid, for the United 

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COPYRIGHT. 190s, BY 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING CO. 



Ent'^red at New York Post Office as mail matter of the second-class. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAOK. 



Kditorial: 



Two Dollar Rubber 219 



A Lord of the Rubber Forest 220 



The Great New L'-e of Rubber 220 



Literature of India-Enbber 222 



Nicolas Snarez, a South American Eubber Baron ChxxrUi Johnson Post 223 

 [Wilh a Portrait] 



The India-Kubber Trade in Great Britain. Our Regular Correspondent 225 

 [High Pressure Paclcines. Cable Comments from Within. Cheaper 

 Rubber Cables. Ana'ysls and Robber Coiks. Hyde Rubber Works. 

 The Late Bruce Warren. Manchester Cycle and Motor Shows.] 



Knbber Notes from Europe 227 



[Reports oi the Continental Caoutchouc. French and German Dunlop 

 Tire. Hen'ey's Telegraph, and Telegraph Construction and Mainte- 

 nance Companies. United States Rubber Co. in Europe. British 

 and German Notes.] 



The Enormoos Antomobile Industry 229 



[Imports and Exports oi Germany, the United States, Great Britain 

 and Belgium ] 

 Motor 'Buses for London Streets 230 



The Progress of Eubber Planting 231 



[Rubber in Reports of Ceylon Planters* Associations and Tea Com- 

 panies. Planting in the Federated Malay States. A Plantation in 

 Samca. Receiver for a Planta-.ion Company in Mexico.] 



Gathering "Castilloa" Eubber in Panama IT. it. Morte 233 



[With 4 Illustrations.] 



Western Trade in Eubber Footwear Our Ctiieago Com.i>pondtnt 234 



New Goods and Specialties in Eubber 235 



[Flexible Steam Armtred Hose. Siersdorfer Patent Automatic Syphon, 

 A Boon to the Bow-Legged. The ** Faultless' Pyrography Bulb. 

 Combined Water Belt and Fountain Syringe. Rubber Tire Invented 

 by a Brazilian . The Cable Trace.] 



[With lo Illustrations.] 



Beeent Eubber Patents 237 



[American. British. German, French.] 

 [With II Illustrations.] 



Obituary Becord of the Month 239 



[Wi-.h Portraits of J. P. Earle. E. F. Phillips, and J. B. Henderson.] 



United States Customs Decisions 242 



Miscellaneous : 



The I'.ubber Trade in Utopia 221 



Official Visit to Rubber Plf.utattons 221 



•■(iuAyule" Exploitation 221 



The C >ble Service on the Amazon 221 



India-Kubber Goods in Commerce 221 



LaborCondltionsln the .\cre 222 



The Chemists and Rubber Substllules 2.'4 



Repairing Rubber Boots 226 



Russian Mails Bai Celluloid 228 



Vain Search for Rubber Substitutes 23J 



British Opposition to the Meter 241 



Dlshlngot Rubber Tired Wheels 242 



The Manufacture of Cut Sheet 249 



New Trade Publications 250 



News of the American Eubber Trade. 243 



Bevisw of the Crude Eubber Market 251 



T F Pari rubber should reach $2 a pound, and other grades 

 •*■ should show a proportionate rise, what would happen 

 to the trade ? Taking it for granted that the increased 

 cost was due wholly to the operation of the laws of supply 

 and demand, and not in any sense to speculation, the sit- 

 uation would not be so complex. Certain it is that the 

 rubber manufacture would not cease. Back in 18S2, with 

 Para rubber at §1.25 — then an extremely high price — under 

 the manipulation of Vianna, certain of the large consumers, 

 notably those who made rubber footwear, shut down, but 

 the condition of extreme prices was only temporary, and 

 at the time there was not a pressure of orders for goods. 



But taken in the broad sense, India-rubber has become 

 one of the necessities of civilization, and rubber goods will 

 be in demand, no matter what the raw material may cost. 

 Suppose it should become necessary to add 10, 15, or even 

 20 cents to the first cost of a pair of rubber shoes, would 

 not most of us buy them in slushy weather just the same ? 

 If the cost of the automobile tire was advanced 20 per 

 cent, because of $2 rubber it would not go out of use — the 

 purchaser would growl more and pay more. 



To multiply such instances would be easy, but needless. 

 It is enough to say that the rubber business would go on, 

 and on a large scale. In certain cases, of course, there 

 would be substitution of other goods for those made of 

 or containing rubber, but that would affect only a small 

 proportion of the business. Rubber is used generally 

 where it is the best material for the purpose, and often 

 where it is the only material in existence that meets the 

 requirements. 



Certain of the manufacturers of rubber goods would un- 

 doubtedly suffer, during the period of adjustment of prices 

 to a $2 level. Some caught by contracts or speculating 

 on a sudden drop in price might be crowded to the wall, 

 but the great elastic trade would ultimately adjust itself to 

 the high level, just as it has adjusted itself gradually to 

 the successive increases in cost of Pard rubber from 25 

 cents a pound to the figures now prevailing. To some 

 people connected with the trade $2 rubber would even 

 prove a boon. The reclaimers, for example — how busy 

 they would be, and under the stimulus of greater demand, 

 what new grades of " pure gum " might they not turn out? 



Then what an impulse would be given to rubber plant- 

 ing. How long would it be before the 20,000,000 planted 

 Para rubber trees in the Far East would increase to 100,- 

 000,000 ? The destruction of the native rubber supplies, 

 already proceeding so rapidly in many districts, would 

 find a new excuse. In the face of $2 a pound at New 

 York, what governmental restriction, in sparsely settled 

 tropical countries, would long prove a barrier to reckless 

 robbery of the forests ? 



Such speculation may seem idle. Or is there a sugges- 

 tion in them that higher prices for manufactured goods 

 have got to come ? \Vhy not begin to work up toward 

 the $2 level and average up for the sacrifices that high rub- 

 ber, high cotton, and low prices for goods of the past year 

 have entailed. 



