386 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[September i, 1902. 



AFFAIRS IN THE AMAZON RUBBER COMPANY. 



THE situation in respect to the Bolivian concession of 

 the Acre district to an American syndicate apparently 

 remains unchanged. The matter was referred to by 

 the Bolivian president in his message to Congress, on 

 the opening of the session at La Paz, on August 10. He de- 

 clared that the protests of Brazil were without basis, and that 

 his government were in the right, and intimated that there 

 was yet time enough for the organization of the projected 

 company to give effect to the concession. A writer in the 

 London Morfiing Post says that it is untrue, as reported from 

 Washington, that Brazil has threatened to break off diplomatic 

 relations with Bolivia, and equally untrue, as published in 

 Washington, that Bolivia has promised to revoke the conces- 

 sion. He quotes facts to show that Brazil, in the past, has 

 definitely acknowledged the Acre district to belong to Bolivia, 

 and says, " it is difficult to think otherwise than that Brazil is 

 wilfully and wantonly obstructing a useful enterprise projected 

 by a friendly state." The absence in Europe of the gentle- 

 men most intimately concerned in the affairs of the Bolivian 

 Syndicate prevents The India Rubber World at this time 

 from presenting any statement of the situation from their 



standpoint. 



* * * 



Our Mandos correspondent writes: " The Acre business is 

 getting very much mixed. The Amazonas state government 

 took it upon itself to consider the Acre as Brazilian territory 

 and levied an export duty on rubber shipped from there via 

 Manaos. As the rubber gatherers had already paid 15 percent. 

 ad valorem to Bolivia, they thought it extremely hard to have 

 to pay another 20 percent, at Mandos, and they have protested. 

 The federal government says nothing, but their custom house 

 still permits foreign goods to go through to the Acre without 

 paying duties to Brazil, and this country has not recalled its 

 consul from Puerto Acre, so that the federal authorities evi- 

 dently regard the Acre as belonging to Bolivia." Recently a 

 state gunboat went in pursuit of a launch which had left Man- 

 aos for the Acre, said to be loaded with Mauser rifles for Bo- 

 livians, though no rifles were found. There were two federal 

 gunboats at Mandos at the time, but they took no notice of 



the matter. 'LAX.e.x,\)a& Brazilian Review reports the recall 



of the Brazilian consul at Puerto Acre (called also Puerto 



Alonzo.) 



* » * 



The Amazon river cable between Pard and Mandos con- 

 tinues to work very unsatisfactorily. A Mandos correspond- 

 ent of The India Rubber World mentions a recent inter- 

 ruption to communication which lasted from June 25 to July 10 

 with a consequent paralysis to trade. " Some of the merchants 

 here," he writes, " think seriously of asking for government 

 assistance to build a land telegraph line from Mandos to 

 Georgetown (Demerara). If carried out, this plan would effec- 

 tually solve the cable question, as land lines are not liable to 

 the interminable interruptions which make the river line a 

 delusion and a snare. Considering the high rate charged by 

 the Amazon Telegraph Co. for messages — 50 cents a word — 

 there can be no doubt that a land line would pay its way, and 

 it would be by no means a bad investment if some millionaire 

 interested in rubber were to build it." 



Writing in The Electrical fi^or/rf (New York), Charles S. Sei- 

 bert says : " A cable ship, the Viking, of about 3000 tons, is 



constantly moving up and down the river, with a trained corps 

 of engineers aboard, proceeding instantly to the scene of a lo- 

 cated or expected trouble ; but in spite of this the cable is some- 

 times interrupted for twenty days at a time. The strong river 

 current, the shifting bed, immense water logged tree trunks 

 rolling along the bed of the river, and ships' anchors all com- 

 bine to break the cable, and a land line through the impenetra- 

 ble forest is a gigantic task. This, however, is being slowly 

 constructed, and is put to good use when a break in the sub- 

 marine line occurs, steam launches piecing out the parts of 

 the route which the lines do not cover." 

 * * » 



A report from a South American source indicating that the 

 state of Amazonas had succeeded in making a loan in New 

 York appeared in the last issue of this paper. Evidently it 

 was not well founded, since the governor of that state, on the 

 convening of the present congress at Manaos, made further 

 recommendations in regard to improving the public finances, 

 and a bill was introduced for a thirty year loan of ^1,500,000 

 for the redemption of the present currency debt and for taking 

 over the electric lighting plant, street railway, and water works. 

 A sinking fund is to be created by the deposit monthly of 10 

 per cent, of all duties collected, and matured coupons of the 

 new bonds will be received in payment of dues to the state. 

 It is reported that the government, displeased with the com- 

 ments of one Mandos newspaper on the recent failure to nego- 

 tiate a loan in New York, persuaded a creditor to proceed 

 against its owners, and the press and types were sold at 



auction. 



* « • 



In a recent report, the United States consul general at Rio 

 de Janeiro, Mr. Eugene Seeger, refers to the unfavorable 

 sanitary conditions of certain districts as a drawback to the 

 opening up of a large and rich section of South America to the 

 commerce of the world. The sanitary conditions of the Ama- 

 zon throughout Brazil and of the Madeira up to the falls he de- 

 scribes as being about the same as those of the lower Missis- 

 sippi in the United States during the summer season. The con- 

 ditions in the highlands of Bolivia and Peru are very favorable. 

 Continuing, Mr. Seeger reports : 



" The unhealthy region of that territory is in the vicinity of the 

 falls of the Madeira and Beniand on the lower Puriis and Acre, 

 where numerous basins exist which, during the rainy season, 

 are filled with water. This water has no outlet, and, exposed 

 to the rays of the tropical sun, soon becomes stagnant and 

 breeds the microbes of malaria and beriberi and swarms of 

 mosquitos, which introduce them into the human system. 



" The mortality among the rubber cutters of this region is 

 enormous; but it must be taken into consideration that the 

 majority of these people come from the regions of Ceara and 

 Maranhao, have very low vitality, are irregular in habits, pro- 

 foundly ignorant, and too poor to fortify themselves against 

 the climatic dangers to which they are exposed. Those who 

 control labor on a large scale in the lowlands of Brazil and 

 Bolivia could greatly reduce the mortality of their men by com- 

 plying with the following requirements : To provide for a good 

 commissary department, comprising, among other things, 

 plenty of preserved vegetables, tea or yerba mate (Paraguayan 

 tea) ; to furnish the men with good tents, mosquito bars, and 

 protection of hands and head against mosquito bites ; to let 



