l04 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[April i, 1902. 



rics good or evil in his roving mission depends wholly upon 

 the way in which the dominant figures in the trade carry 

 themselves and administer their affairs. Not in the least 

 enviable is his life. Nor will it ever bring wealth or res- 

 pect, but he is as necessary in the great industrial economy 

 as is he who lives and dies in his native factory village. 

 He will always be the rover. He cannot reform or be re- 

 formed. 



Employ him, therefore, for charity's sake, if you can, 

 and do not forget that as he tells you in confidence of an- 

 other's compounds and processes so will he impart yours 

 to another. 



his blondness. facial angle, and the cut of his beard as a deli- 

 cate compliment to The INDIA RUBBER World, and to the 

 American people as a whole. 



FACTS ON BOTH SIDES. 



T^HE advices from Accra (West Africa), printed in an- 

 ^ other column, show a decline in the production of 

 rubber in the Gold Coast colony, from the highest figures, 

 reached a few years ago, amounting to 75 per cent. A 

 similar decline has occurred in various other regions of 

 Africa. On another page, however, a letter from Manaos 

 predicts an important addition to the supply of " Para " 

 rubber from certain tributaries of the upper Amazon that 

 have never yet been " worked," and a map is shown em- 

 bracing perhaps the richest rubber section on the globe, 

 the development of which seems likely to be promoted 

 under the auspices of the Bolivian Syndicate. Thus is 

 rubber exhaustion on one hemisphere offset by the reveal- 

 ing of new supplies on another. But not all the new 

 sources are to be counted on as permanent. Some of the 

 fields referred to, on the Amazon and in adjacent re- 

 gions, yield the rubber known to the trade as " Caucho," 

 and when these new supplies are attacked, the same result 

 will follow as where " Caucho " has been gathered hither- 

 to — the trees will be exterminated. But there is another 

 side to this question. On more than one page of this issue 

 are notes on rubber cultivation, the most extensive work in 

 which relates to the propagation of the Castilloa elastica — 

 the species which yields "Caucho." Thus in a single issue 

 of our paper will be found facts to support either side of 

 the question whether ultimately rubber will become a 

 scarce article. It all depends upon whether the reader is 

 an optimist or a pessimist. For the time being, at any rate, 

 there is no reason for alarm ; the shortage in the Para crop 

 for this season which was predicted by some members of 

 the trade has not yet become a fact, and the output from 

 the Congo country so far this year again breaks all records, 

 although at the end of 1901, the opinion prevailed at Ant- 

 werp that probably the limit of production in that region 

 had been reached. Which would indicate that the crude 

 rubber trade is still a speculative one. 



The marked facial resemblance between Prince Henry 

 of Prussia and the Editor of The India Rubber World. 

 noted by many in the trade, in spite of grave fears to the con- 

 trary, worked no ill either to the paper or its publisher. A 

 rigid examination of the territory over wliich the Prince hur- 

 ried while in the United States, fails to unearth any attempt on 

 his part to collect a single dollar, either of subscription or ad- 

 vertising money, due us. We are bound, therefore, to consider 



Thkre has been a further postponement, until 1905, of 

 the selection of names to occupy the panels in the " Hall of 

 Fame " at the New York University, which have remained va- 

 cant since the first election, two years ago. This will afford a 

 better opportunity for those who desire to secure the inclu- 

 sion of Charles Goodyear in this list of distinguished Ameri- 

 cans. 



HAMBURG'S CRUDE RUBBER ASSOCIATION. 



HAMBURG, which is rapidly forging ahead as a Euro- 

 pean rubber market, has just scored another point by 

 establishing, under the name of Hamburger Kautschuk Verein 

 what is believed to be the first properly constituted associa- 

 tion of rubber merchants and importers existing anywhere. 

 According to the rules, adopted by a recent largely attended 

 meeting, the aims of the new association include, among others, 

 the furtherance of anything tending to increase the impor- 

 tance of Hamburg as a center for the import and distribution 

 of raw India-rubber, and the establishment of suitable and 

 generally recognized market terms and customs; the forma- 

 tion of courts of arbitration for the prompt and friendly set- 

 tlement of disputes between members, and the periodical is- 

 sue of local rubber statistics. Provision is also made for co- 

 operation with other German or foreign associations pursuing 

 similar objects, as well as for the admittance of manufacturers 

 should they desire to join. 



The first president is Mr. Albert Weber, of Messrs. Weber & 

 Schaer, a gentleman well known in German as well as British 

 and American rubber circles. The council consists further of 

 Mr. Albert Winkelmann (vice-president), Mr. Gustav F. 

 HUbener (honorary treasurer), Mr. Felix Dorn (honorary sec- 

 retary), Messrs. Otto Marcus, C. H. Liissmann, and J. Wilmer. 

 Over twenty firms have already joined, including practically 

 the whole of the leading firms of rubber merchants in the place, 

 and the association, whose motto is, " Unity is strength," 

 promises to become an important factor in the growth and de- 

 velopment of Hamburg as a rubber market. 



The credit for the formation of the new Asscciation is largely 

 due to Mr. Felix Dorn, junior partner of the well known firm 

 of Hecht, Levis & Kahn, of London and Liverpool, who, for 

 the last six months or so, has been engaged in organizing the 

 new branch of that firm in Hamburg, and during that time has 

 been frequently and forcibly struck by the entire absence of 

 cooperation between the different factors constituting the 

 market and the consequent want of generally recognized rules 

 as to arbitration, market customs, and the like. It is hoped 

 that all this will now be altered by the establishment of the 

 above named association. 



Messrs. Gustav F. Hiibener and C. H. Liissmann are both old 

 established well known rubber brokers ; Messrs. Winkelman 

 and Wilmer are important importers; and Mr. Otto Marcus 

 has been for many years a partner in and is now the sole pro- 

 prietor of the very old and highly respected firm of Herman 

 Marcus, merchants and importers. Mr. Dorn has been con- 

 nected with Hecht, Levis & Kahn since 1886, after having ac- 

 quired a valuable commercial experience both on the continent 

 and in Great Britain. 



The capital stock of the Joseph Banigan Rubber Co 

 (Providence, R. 1.) has been increased from $1,000,000 to 



$1 500,000. 



