Feuruarv 1, 1903.] 



1HE INDIA RUBBER Vv^ORLD 



147 



and industrial plants generally had to replenish their equip- 

 ment of rubber supplies, besides which manufacturers, an- 

 ticipating a marked improvement in business conditions, 

 set to work to create larger stocks for their selling depots. 

 During the second )-ear after the improvement in trade the 

 American consumption of rubber experienced a falling off, 

 but during 1902, as shown on another page of this paper, 

 the consumption reached practically as large a figure as in 

 the exceptional year referred to, and from present indica- 

 tions a still larger consumption may be expected during 

 the present year. 



The fact, however, that any one manufacturer or any 

 dozen may show a rapid growth in business, year after 

 year, does not prove that there is unlimited room for the 

 establishment of other plants, and we should deem it un- 

 wise for a journal representative of the trade to encourage 

 every man competent to establish a new factory to make 

 haste to do so, simply because the conditions of the trade 

 appear now to be unprecedently favorable. I'hose con- 

 cerns which have so largely extended their facilities dur- 

 ing the past two years have been building in part for the 

 future, and not because all the space in the new buildings 

 and all the capacity of their new machinery is actually 

 needed at this moment. 



But we fail to see why any of the above considerations 

 should necessarily presage failure for a rubber factory just 

 starting, or yet only under contemplation. The first rub- 

 ber factory ever established had a greater capacity than 

 was required by the then existing demand for rubber 

 goods, and there has been no time since when the com- 

 bined capacity of the rubber plants in this country, worked 

 constantly to the limit, could not have supplied largely 

 more goods than the people of the country were prepared 

 to buy at prices high enough to yield a profit. No such 

 consideration, however, deterred Mr. Converse from build- 

 ing up the Boston Rubber Shoe Co., or prevented the 

 establishment of the Hood Rubber Co., or The B. F. Good- 

 rich Co., or any number of other comparatively new con- 

 cerns in the various lines of the industry whose success is 

 universally admitted. There is always room in the rubber 

 industry for the best man, with the best manufacturing 

 and best selling methods, and an assured success for such 

 a man, just as there is always a competency in the legal 

 profession for exceptional ability, without regard to the 

 number of briefless lawyers. 



There are just as good chances in the rubber trade to- 

 day as ever existed, but they depend upon the caliber of 

 the man who essays to seize them, and not upon the num- 

 ber of people already in the field, or their capacity to make 

 goods if they only had the orders. 



A CENSUS OF RUBBER PLANTING. 



/^N another page will be found the first result of an in- 

 ^-^ quiry, begun by The India Rubber World, into 

 the extent of rubber planting. The details which appear 

 in this issue relate alone to planting in Mexico, and are 

 based upon details supplied to us in confidence over the 

 signatures of officials of twenty-six incorporated com- 



panies. Obviously we have not been in a position to ver- 

 ify the reports made to us, but as the companies referred 

 to get no advertising out of this showing, it cannot be seen 

 that they could have an object in making other than ac. 

 curate reports. It is none the less proper to say that The 

 India Rubber World accepts no responsibility for the 

 figures given. From informal reports which have reached 

 us, with regard both to other incorporated companies and 

 the numerous private planters on a small scale in Mexico, 

 it may be estimated that the extent of their planting has 

 been 25 per cent, or possibly 50 per cent, as great as that 

 of the companies reporting to us. 



These reports cover the whole experience of the several 

 companies making them, and it is evident, from the nature 

 of things, that mistakes must have been made and that not 

 all the planting that has been done will prove successful. 

 At the same time, all the planters in Mexico have had an 

 opportunity to benefit by the experience of the pioneers in 

 the field, and it is noteworthy that almost without exception 

 the companies upon which we report are making prepara- 

 tions for extending their work. For example, nineteen 

 companies report having in nurseries twice as many seed- 

 lings as the whole tvtenty-six companies embraced in our 

 summary have planted since going into business. 



The reader will be struck by the fact that so many trees 

 have been planted to the acre. It would seem that a per- 

 manent growth of more than 200 trees per acre would be 

 excessive, and yet the average planting last year was three 

 times this figure. When land has once been prepared, 

 however, the planting of trees is not expensive, and the 

 sooner the new rubber trees can be made to cover the 

 ground so closely as to discourage any other growth, the 

 sooner the planters will be relieved of any expense in 

 keeping the ground clean. Besides which, most of the 

 planters entertain the hope of being able by some means to 

 extract enough rubber from the surplus trees, when the 

 time comes for their removal, to offset to an important ex- 

 tent the cost of upkeep of the plantations to that time. 



We hope later to present a fuller summary of the pro- 

 gress made in planting in Mexico, as well as in other coun- 

 tries. While our present figures are lacking in complete- 

 ness, they doubtless will prove of interest in indicating that 

 rubber planting already has attained such important di- 

 mensions. Besides, the details given as to the relative 

 preferences for planting in sun or shade, and planting from 

 nursery or at stake, now made public for the first time, 

 should also be of interest. 



THE DISCOVERY OF VULCANIZATION. 



THE Lynn (Massachusetts) Item contributes to history one 

 more version of the discovery of vulcanization by Charles 

 Goodyear: "We have the story from an intimate friend of the 

 inventor that it was his custom to carry about with him a piece 

 of rubber that he had been experimenting with. He had it in 

 his hand one cold morning, when he visited the village store, 

 and to get some warmth he extended his hands to the stove, 

 when the piece of rubber touched the hot metal. This gave to 

 Goodyear the desired hint and he followed out the suggestion 

 and attained his end." 



