342 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[April 1, 1913. 



If this act is signed and becomes a law, the next step 

 logically for our wise legislators to take is to convene in 

 special session, and to pass an act making it compulsory 

 to date the air that is pumped into the tire. 



AMERICAN MANUFACTURERS INVADE BRAZIL. 



DYNAMITE IN RUBBER PLANTING. 



nPEN years ago the discussion of the use of dynamite in 

 •^ the development of rubber plantations would have 

 interested only an extremely small number of people in 

 the United States. The consideration of any subject per- 

 taining to rubber planting would have made but a limited 

 appeal to .\mericans, for the simple and logical reason 

 that aside from a few holders of shares in Mexican ven- 

 tures, there was no one in this country who felt anything 

 more than an academic interest in the subject of ruliber 

 plantations, or anything that pertained thereto. 



But all that has now changed. When one American 

 company is developing the largest rubber plantation in 

 the world — investing millions in the enterprise — and 

 when other large manufacturing concerns are sending 

 their agents through the whole rubber belt to make a 

 thorough study of the planting problem, it can no longer 

 be said that Americans have no personal interest in rub- 

 ber plantations, and the conditions affecting them. 



There are. undoubtedly, many readers of this journal, 

 therefore, within our own home borders, who will read 

 with more than a merely general interest, the paper on 

 the use of dynamite on rubber plantations, which Mr. 

 Hamel Smith, editor of "Tropical Life," contributed to 

 the International Rubber Conference, recently held in 

 New York, and which is reproduced in this number. 



Our Western farmers who are as alert agriculturists 

 as can be found anywhere, have long used dynamite and 

 other explosives to conquer the soil. Its swift and thor- 

 ough efficiency strongly commends it to their distinctly 

 modern temperament ; and now the Eastern planters are 

 awakening to the fact that a pound of dynamite is w'orth 

 a dozen men with the hoe. As Mr. Smith points out, it 

 lays hold of the sub-soil, which neither hoe nor plow can 

 touch, and opens it up to the beneficent influences of air 

 and light, letting the water beneath it up and the roots 

 above it down. It is particularly effective in preparing 

 the holes for the actual planting of the trees, as it not 

 only digs the holes but softens and mellows the surround- 

 ing earth, so that the new roots can push out into 

 hospitable soil ; and its utility as a destroyer of pests — 

 both animal and vegetable — is obvious. It is a safe con- 

 jecture that explosives will grow in popularity with the 

 evolution of the rubber plantation. 



""T'HIS issue of The India Rubber World contains 

 ■*• some exceedingly important news regarding the in- 

 dustrial development in the great continent to the south. 

 It is news, moreover, of special interest to American 

 manufacturers, as it relates to the invasion by one of them 

 of the great South American domain. Last year the 

 Government of Brazil enacted certain legislation to induce 

 capital at home and abroad to embark ui;)on manufactur- 

 ing operations in that country. Among those who 

 responded to this appeal, and responded successfully, was 

 the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. This company contem- 

 plates the immediate erection of large rubber refining and 

 washing plants at Para and Manaos and, even more im- 

 portant, of an extensive and completely equipped factory 

 for the manufacture of rubber goods in Rio de Janeiro. 

 These interesting enterprises are described in detail in two 

 articles appearing in this issue, one devoted to the manu- 

 facturing plant, the other to the refining and washing 

 plants. 



RUBBERS AS LEGAL TENDER. 



ENTHUSIASTS as to the ultimate destiny of rubber 

 are prepared to believe that it can be and will be 

 utilized in multitudinous ways not yet dreamed of, but 

 probably very few of the enthusiasts ever expected that 

 it would take its place with the precious metals as a me- 

 dium of exchange. This, however, has come to pass, as 

 will be noted by the following paragraph, taken from a 

 paper published in a highly respectable community in New 

 Jersey : 



"The }'oung people of the Epworth League of the 

 Methodist Church of this place are going to hold a 'rub- 

 ber social' in the church Thursday evening, March 27. 

 Admission will be a parcel of old rubbers." 



Here is a fine illustration of the doctrine of efficiency, 

 now so loudly heralded, which is as applicable to matter 

 as to energy. To make the useless put on usefulness ap- 

 jjeals to the well-balanced, economic mind, and this special 

 instance also shows exceptional financial perspicacity on 

 the part of the leaders of this particular Epworth league ; 

 for undoubtedly this Xew Jersey village, like all other rep- 

 utable villages, is full of homes where actual cash is 

 scarce, but where old rubbers — too good to throw away 

 and too bad to wear — have been accumulating for years. 

 What more delightful than to tie up an assortment of 

 these old rubbers — some of them having been stored in 

 the garret since the Civil War — and present them at the 

 box office, in exchange for an evening of elevating enter- 

 tainment? At last rubber has come into its own, and 

 takes its place side by side with gold and silver as a 

 standard of value and a recognized instrument of ex- 

 change. 



