278 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[May 



1905. 



various largely capitalized companies formed in Europe to ex- 

 ploit rubber in the Amazon valley, we might refer to the Rub- 

 ber Estates of Para, Limited, formed in 1898, with a capital of 

 £350,000, which during their first year handled only 8X tons 

 of rubber and in the second year 58 tons, with the efl'ect of so 

 impairing their capital that they reorganized with only £2,7. S°o 

 capital, and leased their holdings to a native firm. Last year 

 the company were pleased to be able to report a net profit of 

 ;£ioo, as marking the turning point from a career of continual 

 losses. Of course this, and the experience of a number of 

 other companies, does not prove that large native rubber pro- 

 ducing areas will not ultimately be brought under the control 

 of ample foreign capital, under intelligent and profitable man- 

 agement, but such development must be of very slow growth, 



instead of yielding " 75 per cent, dividends per month for life " 

 — practically from the beginning — as advertised by your com- 

 pany in the Chicago Record Herald ol March 26, 1905. From 

 detailed reports which have reached us from sources believed 

 to be trustworthy, we should consider a new company fortu- 

 nate which, starting with a good organization, should be able 

 to market rubber from a newly developed property within a 

 year. 



This may not be exactly the reply which your letter was in- 

 tended to elicit ; in any event we are quite willing to have you 

 submit it for corroboration to any important rubber importing 

 house in New York or Europe. Yours very truly, 



THE INDIA RUBBER VV-ORLD. 

 New York, AprI) ii, 1905. Henry C. Pharson. 



TROUBLES OF THE UBERO PLANTATION COMPANIES. 



THE afTairs ol the Ubero group of rubber planting compa- 

 nies, with headquarters in Boston and formed to oper- 

 ate in Mexico, have been the subject of much unen- 

 viable comment during the past month. Following 

 charges made by dissatisfied shareholders, the postal authori- 

 ties issued a " fraud order," prohibiting the delivery of mail 

 to two ol the companies, and both are now in the hands of 

 receivers appointed by the Federal courts. The concerns are 

 the Ubero Plantation Co. of Boston and the Consolidated Ubero 

 Plantations Co., both incorporated under the laws of Maine. 

 Thus far no criminal charge has been preferred, but only that 

 the condition of the plantation properties has been misrepre- 

 sented, and that much of the investors' money has been wasted 

 in extravagant commissions to agents and administration ex- 

 penses. 



The Ubero enterprises had their inception at Indianapolis, 

 at the hands of William D. Owen, an influential citizen who, 

 after being twice elected secretary of state for Indiana, served 

 three terms as a member of Congress. He was the author of 

 the present national immigration law and later, as United States 

 commissioner of immigration, secured the designation of Ellis 

 Island, New York, as a landing station for immigrants. In Wash- 

 ington Mr. Owen became acquainted with the late Senor Don 

 Matias Romero, minister (later ambassador) from Mexico, who 

 was ever active in promoting investments of foreign capital in 

 his country, and especially in plantations. Mr. Owen, be- 

 coming much interested, visited Mexico, in company with sev- 

 eral other men of prominence in Indiana, including the chief 

 justice and other state officials, bank presidents, and so on. As 

 a result, a company was formed, land purchased, and the plant- 

 ing of rubber and other crops begun — this being one of the 

 earliest undertakings of the kind financed in the United States. 

 Cordial relations existed between the members of the company 

 and President Porfirio Diaz, and a Mexican senator, Sefior 

 Tomas Moran, later became a director in the Owen enterprises. 

 First, 5000 acres of forest land were secured on the line of 

 the National Tehuantepec railway, including the site of the 

 present Ubero station, by purchase from the Real Estate Co. of 

 Mexico, which held title from the government. Possession of 

 this land was taken by the Mexican Coffee and Rubber Co., in- 

 corporated under Indiana laws in 1S98 by Mr. Owen and his 

 associates, with $75,000 capital authorized, in $25 shares. On 

 May 16. 1898, a young man named Frank L. Torres arrived at 

 Ubero, as manager of the .\fexican Coffee and Rubber Co., and 

 within a week had a clearing under way. The idea was to sell 

 this land in small lots, to be developed for purchasers by the 



company for a consideration, but this plan not proving popular, 

 Mr. Owen and the same associates had incorporared in Indiana, 

 in 189S, a second company, the Ubero Plantation Co., with $200,- 

 000 in shares, to which was assigned looo acres. The capital 

 of the original company had been supplied by Mr. Owen and 

 his friends; to secure funds for the second — the plantation 

 company — the public was appealed to, and it was as agent for 

 securing stock subscriptions that Ferdinand E. Borges first ap- 

 peared on the scene. 



Interest in " Ubero " was confined at first to Indiana, but the 

 center of financial operations was gradually transferred to Bos- 

 ton, whither Mr. Borges went, to seek subscriptions of New 

 England capital. Meanwhile more corporations had been 

 formed, affording larger issues of shares for sale, and prospec- 

 tuses described new plantations to be opened. The Ubero Plan- 

 tation Co. of Boston was incorporated August 10, 1900, under 

 the laws of Maine, with $1,000,000 capital, in §150 shares. Mr. 

 Owen was on the board, and the Hon. E. H. Nebeker, a reputed 

 wealthy citizen of Indiana, who had been United States treas- 

 urer, was advertised as the treasurer of the new company. The 

 interest of important members of the rubbertrade in New Eng- 

 land was also enlisted. The prospectus stated that this com- 

 pany's tract adjoined that of the Indianapolis Ubero property, 

 " and as it is under the same management it may be considered 

 a part of Plantation Ubero." The Indianapolis company was 

 now paying dividends — admittedly not from the rubber just 

 planted, but from the sale of " short crops " — and this facilitat- 

 ed the sale of shares in the new company. 



By 1902 the name " Ubero " was so widely known that the 

 Boston Herald, on May 18 of that year, gave prominence to the 

 following item of local news, accompanied by portraits : 



Among the most distinguished of recent visitors are Mr. and Mrs. F. L. 

 Torres, of Ubero, Mexico, who are visiting Mr. and Mrs.F. E. Borges, of 

 Brookline. Mr. Torres is a prominent business man, being manager of 

 the Ubero Plantation Co., of the city bearing the name. Mrs. Torres is 

 the daughter of E. H. Nebeker, ex- United States treasurer. Aside from 

 a renewal of their old acquaintance, their visit has a significance. Mr. 

 Torres is at the present lime conferring with Mr. Borges, who is per- 

 fecting plans for financing an enterprise involving the consolidation of 

 18 of the leading Mexican companies engaged in tropical agriculture. 



On May 2, 1902, there had been incorporated, under the laws 

 of Maine, the Consolidated Ubero Plantations Co., with $2,500- 

 000 in shares and the authority to issue $2,500,000 in bonds. 

 The company was organized at Kittery, Maine, with a board 

 composed of local lawyers, but after the conference referred to 

 in the Herald ihty retired, and a new list of directors and ofR- 



