472 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[June 1, 1913. 



prominent factor in the prosperity of the Amazon Valley. Its 

 territory contains great numbers of the best variety (black) of 

 rubber trees, while the quantity and quality of the rubber ex- 

 ported from that district are most noticeable features in the 

 markets of Manaos and Para. It provides the outlet for rich 

 districts of Bolivia, and the excellent soil on its banks is capable 

 of development in many branches of agricultural inchistry in the 

 future. The climate, moreover, is such tliat it presents no ob- 

 stacle to European colonization. 



The river Purus flows into the river Solimoes, 200 miles west 

 of Manaos ; the distance from that point to the confluence of the 

 river Acre and the Upper Funis being 1,065 miles. For the first 

 600 miles, it is navigable the year around for vessels drawing 15 

 feet. 



Rubber forms practically the only industry of the Purus river. 

 It is entirely collected from forest grown trees, the few attempts 

 at planting having proved failures, or not having yet come lo 

 maturity. It is remarked that many of these rubber properties 

 are of very great value, or would be so if developed on intelligent 

 and reasonable lines. On one estate containing over 200,000 fully 

 grown trees, only 25 per cent, are worked, and these are being 

 hacked to pieces by the use of the machadinho. Such a property, 

 it is added, in competent hands, could produce 2.000.000 pounds 

 of rubber annually, while the present output barely reaches 

 150,000 pounds. There is not a property today on the Purus 

 v/hich could not be worked to at least twice its present capacity, 

 under skilful direction and management. 



CLE.\EING -XND WEEDING. 



■Special attention was paid in the course of the recent investi- 

 gation to the question of clearing. According to the opinion of 

 the commission, there is not much to choose between the forest 

 growth in Brazil and that of the rubber-growing districts of the 

 Orient. The average tree may be slightly larger in the Amazon 

 Valley, but not to an extent to make any appreciable difference 

 in the amount of labor required for felling and clearing up 

 afterwards. Any differences in cost would be solely dependent 

 on the wage rate and not on variations in natural physical 

 conditions. 



It has been asserted that with expensive labor, the cost of 

 weeding on cultivated land in the Amazon Valley makes planta- 

 tion work on Oriental lines a practical impossibility. The results 

 of the investigation show that less labor is required for this pur- 

 pose in the Amazon Valley than in the East. This fact is at- 

 tributed to the absence of pernicious grasses, such as lallang ; 

 nor are the rapidly-seeding weeds common on eastern plantations 

 nearly so numerous in Brazil. 



METHODS OF TAPPING. 



A separate chapter deals with the general question of the rub- 

 ber industry of the Amazon Valley. Among many other points 

 treated in this chapter is the subject of tapping. The view is ex- 

 pressed that under the present system of using the machadinho 

 (or small axe), there is not only the risk of serious damage to 

 the trees in the present, but the total extinction of the industry in 

 the future is likewise inevita))lc. In order to demonstrate the 

 advantages of the herring-bone system of tapping rubber trees by 

 the use of the gouge, the members of the commission gave be- 

 tween 45 and 50 such lessons in the districts of the rivers Madeira. 

 Purus, Tapajos and Xingu, and in tlie vicinity of Maues and 

 Obidos. In this way they claim to have created an innovation in 

 tapping methods, and firmly established the principles which have 

 been carried to such successful issue in the Orient. 



THE LABOR QUESTION IN THE AMAZON VALLEY. 



The problem of the labor supply in the .Amazon Valley is not 

 easy of solution, but on it depends the future development and 

 prosperity of this section of Brazil. In an interesting table it is 



shown that the annual exports of the Amazon Valley are esti- 

 mated for 1913 at; 



Approximate Approximate 

 quantity, value f. o. b. 



tons. Manaos or Para. 



Rubber and caucho 48.000 $72,000,000 



Brazil and Sapucaya nuts 12,000 750,000 



Cacao 3,000 900,000 



Hides and skins 1,500 175,000 



Miscellaneous 6,500 475,000 



Tons 71,000 $74,300,000 



It is asserted that with a sufliciency of labor there is no reason 

 why this production of some 70,000 tons annually should not be 

 increased twenty-fold. The forests are extraordinarily rich in 

 natural wealth, but generations must elapse before any expan- 

 sion of the present bare nucleus of population can be sufficiently 

 extensive to develop the vast resources left dormant so long. 

 Immigration alone, it is added, can remedy the difficult condi- 

 tions now dominating the situation. 



It is pointed out by the report that two widely distinct classes 

 of immigrants are required to make rapid development possible, 

 and at the same time establish a permanent peasant population, 

 hereafter to become an integral part of the Brazilian nation. 

 These classes are on the one hand colonists or settlers, and on 

 the other paid laborers. Both have spheres of action to fill, and 

 both are urgently needed to people and open to civilization, those 

 great tracts of land that Nature has endowed with such generous 

 munificence. 



Certain qualities are necessary in regard to the immigrants. 

 They should be selected on account of a knowledge of agricul- 

 tural work in their own homes, such as that possessed by the 

 peasants in many districts of Italy, Spain and Portugal. These 

 go in thousands to North .\merica. Argentina and Southern 

 Brazil; and they would come to the Amazon Valley, once its 

 fertility and resources were made known to them, and good land 

 became available for their occupation. 



The other description of immigrant required is the paid laborer, 

 (o meet the needs of the owners of landed estates, from whose 

 properties come the rubber, which forms quite fifteen-sixteenths 

 of the total value of the exports from the Amazon Valley and 

 is the source of the bulk of the revenues of the States of Para 

 and Amazonas. At present these rublier estates employ about 

 100,000 men, recruited from the more southern states of Brazil 

 at an expense of about $100 each, to bring them to the districts 

 of the Madeira, the Purus, the Jurua and other centers of rubber 

 production. These men have not been paid direct wages, having 

 worked on the sharing system, but a crisis in the situation has 

 now been brought about by the competition of the Orient, and 

 a complete change in the method of production has become an 

 imperative necessit}'. To meet altered conditions, another 50,000 

 dai!}' wage laborers are required within the next twelve months. 



Hence the question arises as to where they are to be sought. 

 It being useless to look for this number in Brazil, and there be- 

 in.g a doubt of a ready response in Europe, the alternative is to 

 bring the men from the East. The recruiting of Indian coolies 

 not being permissible, the question is reduced to the advisability 

 of introducing Chinamen. 



I'Vom every point of view, the report urges, the employment of 

 Chinese laborers indicates satisfactory prospective results in the 

 Amazon Valley. They can earn high wages at a lower cost to 

 the employer than is the case at the present time, the work being 

 light and leaving ample leisure for the cultivation of a garden 

 or a patch of food stuffs. Finally, they would not supplant the 

 existing labor force, but would add to its efficiency in many 

 directions. The carrying out of this plan would be a matter for 

 the Federal Government, which could subsequently recover the 



