November 1, 1912.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



97 



humility. We came here expecting to teach America, but \vc 

 have found that there was much more for us to learn. We came 

 to teach the Ainerican manufacturer to try our plantation rubber, 

 and here discover that out of 10,000 tons shipped this year 6.500 

 tons came to New York. I find an idea in America that all plan- 

 tation rubber is 'Highlands and Lowlands.' I assure you that 

 while 'Highlands and Lowlands' rubber is of excellent quality. 

 it is not quite so elastic as that. Our plantation rubber coiues 

 from 600 estates. It is very desirable for you to induce the 

 growers to brand their rubber. The American manufacturer 

 should insist on receiving rubber in the cases in which it is 

 sbijiped. There are some dealers in London and Liverpool — 

 or let us say of the Old World — who do not respect brands 

 and do not forward rubber in the cases in which it is received. 

 Americans should import their rubber direct from the East." 

 Mr. Baxcndalc laid considerable emphasis on this point. 



"In conclusion I would like to express the sense of the 

 obligation felt by the whole industry to Mr. Manders, who 

 has been so active in interesting the various powers in this ex- 

 hibition, and for the very successful result he has achieved, 

 with the assistance of his indefatigable and ever charming sec- 

 retary, Miss Fulton, and finally 1 wish, in behalf of the rubber 

 planters, to thank you for the great kindness which you have 

 shown the 'stranger within your gates.' " 



The President: "Mr. Baxendale anticipated me in wliat lie 

 said about Mr. Manders. I was and am going to call upon Mr. 

 Manders to tell us something about this Exposition, and about 

 the prospects of another." 



Mr. Manders: "We have heard a good deal this evening 

 about the hospitality of this country. I endorse it all — for 

 yesterday it presented me with a first-class cold — as you will 

 observe — rendering it impossible for me to make any detailed 

 remarks. I wish simply to express my thanks and the thanks 

 of Miss Fulton to all those friends here and abroad who helped 

 us to bring this Exposition about — to the Governments that have 

 sent their exhibits and their representatives here, that have 

 sent to New York such fine specimens of rubber from every 

 rubber producing country on the globe. I shall not speak of the 

 tremendous amount of labor that has been involved in bringing 

 this Exposition to pass — nor shall I undertake to speak regard- 

 ing another Exposition here, but as you doubtless all know, there 

 will be another in London in 1914, where I sincerely hope to 

 meet my inany friends from this and other lands. Because of 

 this atrocious cold I will have to ask you to excuse me from 

 further remark^." 



Ch.\irm.\n : "We have with us tonight a friend from Dutch 

 Guiana, who enjoys a wide reputation for his gift of oratory^ 

 Mr. O'Connor." 



Mr. J. L. O'Connor: "After listening to all these words of 

 eloquence I am more than ever impressed with the art of the 

 after-dinner speaker. The first duty of the after-dinner speaker 

 is to be surprised." Mr. O'Connor went on in an amusing vein 

 to depict the science of after-dinner oratory, and the best 

 methods of preparing an eloquent after-dinner efifort. He cited 

 an instance in his own career where he attended a Venezuelan 

 dinner, and had made more or less elaborate preparation for 

 the oration which he knew would be expected. To his great 

 consternation, the speaker who immediately preceded him de- 

 livered his own address verbatim — having bethought himself 

 of the same source of supply — the Encyclopedia Britannica. He 

 told a story of a farmer in Ohio who had read some of Mr. 

 Pearson's writings on the West Indies, and w-as quite im- 

 pressed with the possibilities of those islands, but seemed to feel 

 considerable apprehension regarding the hurricanes that are 

 alleged to visit that section from time to time; so he wrote to 

 one of the officials at Trinidad and asked if there was not some 

 variety of rubber tree sufficiently elastic to be able to bend be- 

 fore the hurricanes without being injured. In conclusion he said, 

 "We are all under obligations to Mr. Manders and Miss Fulton 



for the work they have done here and the difficulties which 

 they have overcome, of which we have little conception. We 

 are greatly indebted to them for bringing here to America — 

 the country that uses over one-half of the rubber production of 

 the world — this great Exhibition of crude rubber and of all the 

 myriad articles that are manufactured out of it." 



The President: "Now that the representatives of the New 

 York press have withdrawn, I will call upon Mr. Salmon to 

 speak for the press of Europe." 



Mr. Edward G. Salmon spoke in part as follows : "We have 

 just been told that over one-half of the crude rubber of the 

 world comes into New York. I am disposed to think that 

 quite a little of that goes into the offices of the New York 

 newspapers — judging from the extreme elasticity of many of 

 their statements. This Exposition has been a great object 

 lesson in many ways — chiefly perhaps in the rivalry it has shown 

 between the great rubber country of the South— Brazil, and the 

 planters of the Middle East. Great credit is certainly due my 

 countrymen in Ceylon and Malaya for the wonderful way in 

 which they have developed this adopted tree. Their success 

 has been a challenge to Brazil, and we have seen in this Ex- 

 hibition the alert and aggressive manner in which Brazil has 

 accepted this challenge. It is a rivalry on a stupendous scale 

 — but entirely friendly. I wish there were present here to 

 speak for the press of Europe, some representative of a great 

 European paper, but as a humble representative of the Euro- 

 pean press I thank New York and America for the courtesy 

 and hospitality that has been shown to us all, and simply ex- 

 press in addition the hope that we may all have an opportunity 

 to accept your hospitality again." 



The President : "Mr. Salmon has spoken to us about the 

 wonderful development in the Middle East. I am going to ask 

 Mr. Crosbie-Roles to tell us more about it." 



Mr. a. Crosbie-Roles: "To the man who sits at his desk — 

 to the stay-at-home— the Middle East seems far distant; but 

 way beyond us — out in the Spice Islands — they have a daily 

 paper. Colombo, by the way, has five daily papers, and it is the 

 seventh harbor for tonnage in the world — an alert and enter- 

 prising town. We perhaps could hardly expect American cap- 

 ital to be attracted such a distance, but some of it has been 

 attracted to the Middle East, as is shown by the enormous 

 plantation of the United States Rubber Co., in Sumatra, where 

 over 22.000 acres have already been planted, and well planted to 

 rubber. Direct trading between the rubber growers of the 

 Middle East and the American manufacturers is natural and 

 logical, and will soon come about. Unfortunately, cable rates 

 still stand at 2s. a word, notwithstanding the decrease in cable 

 rates across the Atlantic. One great benefit from an Exposition 

 — like this just closing in your city — Hes in bringing together 

 the different members of the same industry from the different 

 quarters of the earth. These Expositions make for good will 

 and friendship and for increased commerce." 



The President: "In conclusion we will have a final word 

 from Dr. .\rgollo, who will speak on the press of Brazil." 



Dr. J. de Argollo: "Hard lines indeed for me to speak after 

 the eloquent toast made by my clever colleague of the European 

 press. I am not a wealthy citizen of the growing and power- 

 ful United States nor an Englishman, but only a Brazilian, a 

 stranger. I feel alone, but morally obUged to say something, 

 because in rubber questions and interests, Brazil cannot remain 

 silent. 



"Dr. Huber, the greatest scientist of Brazil on this subject 

 has exhausted the most interesting side of the question of wild 

 rubber as a product of the enormous Amazonian Valley, but 

 most fortunately for me, he did not mention one of the sources 

 of Brazil's progress, development and wealth ; he did not refer 

 to the press, as useful as dangerous, according to its display of 

 power. 



"In Brazil, the press is a political and instructive guide, but 



