January i, 1903.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER 'iVORLD 



123 



that it was made for Mr. Stayton or that Mr. Stayton had ap- 

 peared as the representative of anybody but himself. More- 

 over, that test was a failure. 



Mr. Freeman, in talking with The India Rubber World 

 representative, denied any knowledge of the American Crude 

 Rubber Co., incorporated August 22, 1902, under New Jersey 

 laws, with an authorized capital of $2,000,000, for "the manu- 

 facture of and sale of rubber and rubber products and the 

 cleansing of such products; the manufacture, purchase, and 

 sale of chemicals, and chemical products ; " etc. The incorpor- 

 ation papers were signed by Owen E. Abraham, John W. Mc- 

 Connochie, and Kenneth K. McLaren. The first two are con- 

 nected with the ofRce in New York of a gentleman widely 

 known, who invested a considerable sum with the idea that it 

 was to be devoted to the erection of a factory at Rutherford, 

 New Jersey, for the manufacture of a substance which would 

 take the place of rubber, and be saleable to manufacturers at 70 

 or 80 cents a pound, and the American Crude Rubber Co. was 

 incorporated at his instance to control the business. Losing 

 confidence in the rubber product, he stopped investing his 

 money in the business. A block of stock was allotted to Mr. 

 Stayton, whose letter appears above, and he was called upon for 

 an assessment, which he declined to pay without seeing a test 

 of the process, and the result of such test is recorded in his 

 letter. The India Rubber World, after several attempts, 

 has failed to get any information regarding the affairs of the 

 American Crude Rubber Co. from persons authorized to speak 

 for it. An interesting feature in its incorporation papers is the 

 enumeration, among its " objects " of the following : 



To borrow or raise money without limit as to amount by the issue of 

 or upon the warrants, bonds, debentures and other negotiable or trans- 

 ferable instruments, or otherwise. 



It would appear that up to date this is the chief object of the 

 corporation to which effect has been given. 



Although Mr. Freeman asserted to the representative of The 

 India Rubber World that he lacked facilities for the proper 

 development of his process. The India Rubber World is as- 

 sured that a large rubber manufacturing company near New 

 York has more than once offered to give Freeman the exclus- 

 ive use of its laboratory and apparatus lor experimental pur- 

 poses, and has also offered to supply all of the money sug- 

 gested by Freeman in negotiating with certain other parties, 

 namely, $250,000, on the terms mentioned by him in a contract 

 with those parties, if he would make a test of his process satis- 

 factory to any representative of the manufacturing company. 



THE RUBBER WAR ON THE ACRE. - 



COMMENTING upon recent hostilities in the Acre district, 

 The Brazilian Review (Rio de Janeiro) says " all the ele- 

 ments are ready for a struggle as barbarous and savage as any 

 that have disgraced the history of civilization." The Review 

 does not doubt that Brazil is sincerely desirous of maintaining 

 peace with Bolivia, but there may be " circumstances that even 

 the Bolivian government could not resist that may in the long 

 run drive this country into war with Bolivia, just as Great Brit- 

 ain was drawn into the struggle with the South African repub- 

 lics against her will." 



The Acre was, according to our contemporary, discovered 

 and developed exclusively by Brazilian enterprise and Brazil- 

 ian capital. The district is as rich in rubber as the Trans- 

 vaal is in gold, and is practically unworkable except by Bra- 

 zilians. The only industry in the district is rubber gathering, 

 which is carried on by some 18,000 persons, nearly all Brazil- 

 ians. With regard to the feeling in Brazil, the Review says : 



" The relation between the Acre pioneers and their friends 

 and relatives at Para and Manaos who have assisted and 

 financed them from the first are naturally close and as inti- 

 mate as they could possibly be. These settlers and backers be- 

 lieve that it would be to their interest for the Acre to be under 

 the Brazilian rather than the Bolivian flag. Whether they are 

 right or wrong we will not discuss, but when, in a district 

 where life is almost impossible for outsiders, nine-tenths of the 

 local population declare for any particular policy and are in- 

 clined to back it up by action, resistance in the long run must 

 cave in at the Acre as it has done in South Africa." 



The London Morning Post, which has given no small atten- 

 tion to the whole subject, advises the Acre concessionaires to 

 restrict their claims and pretensions to purely commercial in- 

 terests and to abandon those of a semi-political nature. It 

 considers that on the action of the Foreign offices of the 

 United States and Great Britain, and the encouragement given 

 by the press and public of these countries, probably in reality 

 depend the chances of war or peace. 



The commission despatched by the Bolivian syndicate to in- 

 augurate preliminary work on their concession in the Acre 

 district had not, at last accounts, proceeded beyond Manaos, 

 on account of the unsettled condition of affairs on the Acre 

 river. The president of the commission is William Lee, an 

 American. The other members are James Pitt, second director. 

 Dr. David Edet, the physician of the party— both Englishmen 

 — and Sefior Li Fontaine, of Argentina, the technical manager. 



On August 6 Colonel Placido de Castro, commander in chief 

 of the forces in revolution on the Acre— settlers from Brazil — 

 deposed the Bolivian authorities at Xapury, and on the follow- 

 ing day proclaimed the independence of the territory and de- 

 clared war on Bolivia. Leaving a garrison at Xapury, the revolu- 

 tionists descended the Acre, touching at several points at which 

 Bolivian troops were stationed, all of whom were overcome, be- 

 sides which large quantities of provisions and cattle were 

 secured. The Bolivian congress has authorized the emission 

 of 1,000000 bolivianos [=$193,000] in paper money to defray 

 the cost of sending 1000 men to quiet the disturbance on the 

 Acre, and also authorized the banks to make extraordinary is- 

 sues of bills. It was reported that President Pando might head 

 the expedition, which would require perhaps four months, trav- 

 eling overland, to reach the Acre. 



CABLES AND WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY. 



T^HE German postoffice department has made a liberal 

 *■ grant ol funds for an investigation of the Gutta-percha 

 resources of New Guinea, in view of the recent discovery of 

 Gjtta-percha species there by Herr Rudolf Schlechter. Evi- 

 dently the secretary of the German imperial posts — who has 

 the supervision of various submarine cable lines — does not re- 

 gird wireless telegraphy as sufficiently developed yet to render 

 it unnecessary for him longer to be concerned about supplies 

 of insulating materials. ==The Canadian government cable 

 steamer Tyrian lately completed the laying of 114 miles of 

 submarine cable in the gulf of St. Lawrence. At the same time 

 the announcement was made that all the government signal 

 stations on the gulf would soon be equipped with wireless tele- 

 graph apparatus, the experimental stations first erected having 

 worked successfully. 



Daring December Signor Marconi was creditably reported 

 to have sent wireless messages across the Atlantic, but the 

 opinion remains that the new invention can never supersede 

 submarine cabling. 



