THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[OcTdliliR 1, 1912. 



this Xew York exhibition. They have contributed with a 

 lavish hand. Take l^razil. for instance, which is repre- 

 sented by half a luiiulreil commissioners, counting those 

 from the national government and from various com- 

 mercial bodies ; wliilc the material display takes the colos- 

 sal form of nearl\- a hundred tons of the choicest rubber 

 of that great rubber country. The ])lantation companies 

 of the Far East — considering their remoteness from Xew 

 York and the distance which it was necessary for them 

 to cover in sending their exhibits — have not been far lie- 

 hind. This exhibition has not only brought together the 

 most wonderful collection of crude rublier ever seen in 

 this countr\-. but it is doubtful if another such collection 

 will be displayed again here for many years. 



THE AWAKENING OF BRAZIL. 



TM 1^ Ministry of Agriculture of I'.razil has recently 

 published in pamphlet form in I'.nglish the decrees 

 and regulations passed by the National Congress and 

 approved by the President, looking to the encourage- 

 ment of rubber production in that country. This action 

 on the part of the great rubber republic is incomparably 

 the mo^t important step ever taken in that country to pro- 

 tect its leadership in rul)ber production. 



Brazil is at last awake to the prololem that confronts 

 her, if she is to maintain her premiership in the world's 

 rubber market. It would have been better if this awaken- 

 ing had come earlier, but the lost time can be made u]) by 

 a vigorous ])rosecution of the campaign that has been 

 marked out. 



These decree^ and regulation> are carefullv thought 

 out and comprehensive, and should do much to stimulate 

 a wide activity in rublier production in the Amazon 

 country. A careful translation of the decrees was made, 

 and presented in considerable detail in our June issue, but 

 now that they have been further exploited by the Govern- 

 ment fur the benefit of Plnglish-speaking jieople. it may 

 not be out of place briefly to review their general scope. 

 They cover the following points : — The exemption from 

 duties of all utensils and materials intended to be used 

 in the culture of various rubber trees named in the decree, 

 and in the harvesting and pre])aration of rubl)er extracted 

 from those trees ; the granting of liberal bonuses ranging 

 from S280 to $S00 to those who shall start new planta- 

 tions and carry them to successful production ; the 

 establishment by the governmeiu of experiment and 

 demonstration stations at convenient places in the dif- 

 ferent states lying within the rubber territory ; the build- 

 ing of houses where immigrants brought into the rubber 

 countrv mav receive proper shelter and sanitarv habita- 



tion, and the building of hospitals where they may be 

 given, free of charge, any necessary medical treatment ; 

 the construction of narrow gau^e and other railways in 

 various sections of the rubber country, including a rail- 

 way from some convenient place on the Madeira-Mamore 

 railway to the frontier of Peru; the execution of work 

 that shall make navigable for the shallow rubber boats 

 various rivers where it is impossible now for these boats 

 to operate: the promotion of many centres of food pro- 

 duction for the maintenance of the rubber gatherers ; 

 the holding of trienni:d rubber exhibitions at Rio de 

 Janeiro, intended for the instruction and encourage- 

 ment of rubber growers ; and other measures tending to 

 stimulate the production of rubber and materially assist 

 in the opening up of the rubber country. 



Prazil is at last aroused to the necessity of the proper 

 development of her vast and wonderful natural resources. 

 She is profoundly to be congratulated on this awakened 

 spirit. If she shall carrv ont with determination and 

 energy the wise measures which her legislators have 

 enacted, great will be her rewartl. 



TWO GREAT SYNTHESISTS IN OUR MIDST. 



DLRlXti the ijast few dax s wc ha\e had two great 

 champions of the new synthetic rubb.er in our 

 midst or — as the purists would prefer to have us say 

 — in the midst of us: Professor William 1-'. Perkin. 

 spokesman of the English group of rubber makers, and 

 Dr. Carl Duisberg. director general of the Farbenfabriken 

 of l{lherfeld, (lerman_\-. leader of the German pro- 

 ducers of artificial rubber. Both delivered able and 

 exceedingly instructive addresses before the Congress 

 of Applied Chemistrv that held its sessions in New 

 "^'ork during the first half of September. Both had 

 much to say of deep interest, not only to the science 

 of chemistry, but to the rubber industry. Both cour- 

 teouslv received a representative of The India Rub- 

 ber World and further elucidated the views presented 

 in their lectures. 



( )n another page will be found highly interesting 

 interviews with both of these distinguished scientists, 

 as well as other matters of importance relating to the 

 absorbing synthetic problem. It is a matter of regret 

 that the great allotment of space necessarily devoted 

 in this issue to the Rubber Exposition, together with 

 pressure of other matters, makes it impossible in this 

 number to report Dr. Duisberg and Professor Perkin 

 in full. 



