452 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[June 1, 1913. 



A. Staines Mandkks has, abovic anv otiieu man 

 that we know, the rare faculty of org^anizing great exhi- 

 bitions of international interest. What he has clone in the 

 past in rubber exhibitions has been of the greatest educa- 

 tional value. Rubber planting was new, and thousands 

 who were interested wanted to have the graphic present- 

 ment of the exhibition, to supplement and explain what 

 thev had read in the printed page. Hence governments, 

 planters and those who supplied planters, were eager to 

 exhibit. Like all other industries, however, rubber 

 planting is fast getting u])on a stable basis and its novelty 

 is disappearing. In the future the new tools, machines, 

 processes and products will steadily lessen in number. 

 Under these conditions it will be only the novel that will 

 1)6 willinglv shown, and the result will be a steadily 

 diminishing volume of exhibits — that is, if rubber exhibi- 

 tions were ])lanned every two or three years ad mfiiiitiun. 

 We hold no brief for Mr. Manders, but it would seem that 

 he appreciated this situation. The fact that he planned a 

 fibre exhibition to be held in an adjoining building, and 

 at the same time as the 1914 Rubber Exhibition, would 

 point to such conclusion. In his announcements Mr. 

 Manders says : "A similar exhibition will not be held 

 until 1918 or perhaps latter." 



If all that is new in rubber, in fibres, in cofifee, cacao, 

 cane, and all of the varied tropical products could be 

 shown once in two or three years in London, the joint 

 exhibitions would be very .great, and valuable beyond 

 description. 



The Tropics are just beginning to be generally ex- 

 ploited. A comprehensive Tropical Products Exhibition, 

 including of course all that is new in rubber, is what is 

 needed. 



In view of the presext tariff situation one or two 

 statements which appear in the letter from our Japanese 

 correspondent, in this issue, are interesting. He is de- 

 scribing the industry of making rubber tov balloons in 

 Japan. He says that the imports of toy balloons into 

 Japan ceased some x'ears ago. He then goes on to re- 

 mark that the lowest grade of the imported toy balloons 

 of former days cost the Japanese dealer 25 cents a gross, 

 while the same thing is now being produced in [apan at 

 the price of 7_'/2 cents a gross. Later in his letter he 

 makes a statement that renders it very clear how the home 

 product can sell at one-third the price of the imported 

 article. He says: "The average daily wage of the 

 women balloon makers is 20 sen ( 10 cents) for ten hours. 

 The average dail\" rate for rubber manufacturing work- 



ers, male and female, is 50 sen (25 cents) for ten liours." 

 There \ ou have the contrast ; — rubber workmen in Japan 

 receiving 25 cents a day and rubber workmen in America 

 receiving from ten to twenty times that amount. Men 

 who work for 25 cents per day have to live on a 25 cents 

 a day scale. Is that, or any approximation thereto, desir- 

 able in this country? That is the crux of the tariff 

 question. 



An Engllsh paper speaks of the fact that the 

 question is being agitated of organizing a rubber club 

 in London. It certainly would seem as if London could 

 support such a club. There has been a rubber club in this 

 country for fourteen years, and it is a highly successful 

 organization. It has a membership of nearly 350, and 

 the midwinter dinner, midsummer outing and other gath- 

 erings of the club are largely attended. It also has an 

 inner membership, called a "firm membership," in which 

 between 50 and 'lO of the leading rubber concerns of the 

 country are represented, which is devoting itself to the 

 solution of the important problems pressing upon the 

 American rubber trade today. To be sure, the English 

 rubber manufacturing industry is less than one-half that 

 of the United States, but it is a large and important field, 

 in addition to which are the great rubber plantation in- 

 terests centering in that city. A rubber club in London 

 ought certainly to prove a successful and valuable or- 

 ganization. 



If anyone has been under the impression that the 

 use of the automobile had about reached flood tide and 

 was unlikely to remain stationary or possibly to recede, 

 his impression was erroneous. The Secretary of State 

 for New York announces that the number of automobile 

 owners who have registered during the past three months 

 has exceeded the 100,000 mark, which is more than 

 20.000 over the number registered during the same period 

 last year. The registration fees collected during the 

 same period came within $8,000 of reaching a million — 

 which is nearly $325,000 in excess of the fees for the 

 same time last year. 



The same situation has developed in Ohio, where the 

 registrar of automobiles announces that in point of reg- 

 istrations the entire number for 1912 was exceeded on 

 May 10, the registrations at that time for this year being 

 63,720, as compared with 63.117 for the entire twelve 

 months of 1912. 



Obviously, the stationary period of automobile con- 

 sumption has not only not been reached, but is no- 

 where in sight. 



