418 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[September i, 1905. 



PRESIDENT DIAZ ON RUBBER PLANTING. 



HENRY S riEARDSLEY IN " LESLIE'S WEEKLY." 



I < I* r HAT," I asked, "is the altitude of the Mexican gov- 

 VV ernnient toward the American people? " 



The reply the President made, comingfrom the head of the 

 country of American opportunity, and from the man whose 

 force, intelligence, and patriotism have raised Mexico to its 

 present level, who now controls that republic, and who has laid 

 down the course of its future, is, I believe, one of the most 

 significant that has ever been presented to the attention of the 

 people of the United States. 



" We are two sister republics, next door to one another," 

 said the President; "the United States has the wealth and 

 the intelligence. Mexico has the undeveloped resources ; and 

 Mexico is glad to welcome and cooperate with Americans and 

 to encourage the investment of American capital." 



This, added the President, should not be understood to sug- 

 gest the exclusion of the men or means of any other foreign na- 

 tion, for Mexico intends to be impartial and just. Then he 

 amplified. The development of the natural resources of the 

 country meant the increased prosperity of the Mexican people. 

 American capital and intelligence must both be employed to 

 this end. The Mexican government, he said, welcomes the 

 foreigners. In railroads and other industries American enter- 

 prise in Mexico is growing. " I sign many mining titles," said 

 the President, " and 50 per cent, of them are for Americans." 



And there is no mistaking the sincerity of the Mexican gov- 

 ernment and the foremost citizens of Mexico in this. The 

 broad men of Mexico appreciate that the invasion of American 

 capital in Mexico, which is only just beginning, will no more 

 tend toward the absorption of the Mexican territory by the 

 United States than has the development by English capital in 

 America made us the vassal of the older country. 



" Do you consider railroad building the most important ele- 

 ment in the development of Mexico?" I asked. 



The President replied emphatically in the affirmative. Only 

 a few men, he said, could be the owners of mines or engaged 

 in other large enterprises; but railroads distribute the popu- 

 lation and furnish opportunities to persons of small means in 

 agriculture and other fields. And in this connection the Pres- 

 ident spoke of a recent visit to Vera Cruz and the plantation 

 district in that region. He had observed the progress of the 

 rubber industry and sugar cane and coffee. 



"Some Americans," said General Diaz, " are expending too 

 much money in the cultivation of rubber, because in many 

 cases they have cleared the ground entirely to plant the young 

 trees. It would be more economical if they would clear only 

 strips in the forest. The young trees would then receive the 

 protection of the older forest trees and yield more liquid. In 

 general," added President Diaz, " Americans are not econom- 

 ical enough in their plantations. They overcharge the pro- 

 duction with expenses. You see a contrast in the tropical re- 

 gion between the American and the Mexican planters. From 

 the appearance of the latter you would imagine that they are 

 penniless, yet many such are the owners of big plantations, and 

 are prosperous because they have practiced the proper econ- 

 omy." 



THE UNITED STATES AND ENGLAND IN MEXICO. 



The New York //eralti []iine 14] contains a despatch from 

 Mexico City, stating that Great Britain will no longer main- 

 tain a consulate there, and that the consular business of that 

 district will be combined with the office at Vera Cruz. Re- 

 garding the reasons for this change the Herald quotes Mr. 

 Lucien j. lerome, the consul at Mexico City, as follows: 



" The investment of additional British capital in Mexico will 

 not be encouraged. England feels that the United States has 

 a preferred claim to Mexico's trade and to the opportunities 

 for industrial development in this republic. No campaign will 

 be made by British interest to wrest Mexican trade from the 

 United Slates and no eflorts will be put forth by the British 

 consular service to encouragethe investment of English capital 

 in Mexico. The United States is right at Mexico's door and 

 it is reasonable that it should obtain the bulk of Mexico's 

 trade. England is interested in Argentina and Chili, but out- 

 side of those countries there is no Latin-American country 

 that we care much about." 



The Herald's report mentions that a great deal of English 

 capital was invested in Mexico formerly, but " after the fall of 

 the Maximilian empire the interests of the Britons dwindled 

 rapidly and British firms were one after another liquidated or 

 withdrawn until only a few survivors remained. Despite the 

 desertion of the British capitalist and business man, British in- 

 terests remained in control of the Banco de Londres until last 

 month, when the institution passed into French hands and the 

 capital was largely increased. This was what might be termed 

 the death blow to British commercial and financial power in 

 Mexico." 



"AN AMERICAN ANALOGY." 



UNDER theabovc heading The Times of Ceylon, in a review 

 of some remarks by the Editor of The India Rubber 

 World before the Mechanical Rubber Manufacturers' Associa- 

 tion of the United States, says : 



" That recognized authority on rubber, Mr. Henry C. Pear- 

 son, of New York, carried away from Ceylon, after his visit of 

 two years ago, a high estimate of the enterprise of the Ceylon 

 planter. And he not only remembered the raison d'etre in a 

 speech at a recent gathering of rubber manufacturers, but built 

 up an analogy between tea and rubber, and suggested that this 

 island could parallel in rubber what it had accomplished in tea. 

 Our present staple is turned out, at a general average, at just 

 below 400 pounds of made tea per acre ; and our rubber supply 

 will average the same from all suitable land, well planted. But 

 are there 400,000 acres in Ceylon suitable for rubber ? There 

 was a time when the estimate was 100,000 acres; but this can 

 now be doubled, for we see no reason why irrigated alluvial land 

 should not be counted. We believe some of it will be brought 

 into use for rubber as yielding a greater profit than paddy [rice], 

 and much land not yet regularly cultivated is equally good, but 

 too remote from constant European supervision. This is where 

 the government scheme for leasing land would have come in 

 well, had the authorities been prepared, for one thing, to fore- 

 go the water rate of 2 rupees per acre for the first five years, or 

 until the success of experimental rubber cultivation by irriga- 

 tion by pioneers in this direction had been established. The 

 high water rate— i rupee per acre would, perhaps, have been ac- 

 cepted—has prevented one attempt in the southern part of the 

 island; and either those who were inclined to take it up have 

 saved their money or the development of that part of the island 

 has been considerably suffered." 



Rubber Stamps Barred. — The controller of the city of 

 Pittsburgh, Pa., recently declined to approve a number of bills 

 signed by the head of one of the city departments with a rub- 

 ber stamp made in facsimile of his autograph. The commis- 

 sioner in question was absent on a vacation at the time and 

 arranged for having the bills signed as stated above, and their 

 payment was " held up." 



