512 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[July 1, 1913. 



The constant procrastination in tlic undertaking of the in- 

 tensive culture of the Hevaa tree, and this alone, is responsible 

 for the crisis which now envelops the whole Amazonian region 

 in a common cloud of insolvency and ruin, and Mr. Akers 

 has failed to point out the real salvation. Nor would the 

 Amazon Land and Colonisation Company, with all the favors 

 which Mr. Farquhar may be powerful and influential enough 

 to obtain from the government, be able to solve the problem : 

 first, because many years must go by before the lands it 

 means to exploit can become inhabitable by Europeans; and 

 second, because the obstacles in the way and cost of transpor- 

 tation to and from the Amazon River, up to the settled por- 

 tions, must always remain a large item of expenditure in this 

 exoloitation. 



Mr. Akers tells us that he went up to the experimental farm 

 at Igarape Assu, on the Braganza Railway, having made the 

 visit in a single day, ten hours of which were conssmed on 

 the voyage. Yet he had enough time to see everything and 

 report upon everything representing an outlay of £70,000. In a 

 word: he saw enough to justify the unrestricted condemnation 

 of the whole thing, because the soil is composed of either sand 

 or hard clay. 



Mr. Akers will be surprised to hear that geological investi- 

 gations have led to the conclusion that the whole tract lying 

 between Igarape Assii, was, to a great extent, submerged for 

 ages. There is not as much humus, then, in this region, as is 

 commonly found in other portions of the State of Para. As 

 a matter of fact, the really good agricultural section nearest the 

 city of Para begins just beyond the River Peixe Boi, which is 

 the limit of the Igarape Assu experimental farm. The lands 

 from this spot up to and beyond Braganza, up to the Gurupy 

 River, are among the best tropical agricultural lands on earth. 

 The tobacco produced in this zone is famous, and tropical 

 agricultural farms organized under modern methods and tilled 

 by machinery would yield wonderful returns. But what makes 

 this region the most valuable of all the lauded assets of the 

 State of Para is the excellence and healthiness of the climate 

 of the whole region. 



Of course the lands on this side of Para do not all belong to 

 the government, and no concession of free lands to the extent 

 of 60,000 square kilometres could ever be granted for the ask- 

 ing. But if the lands were needed for any enterprise for the 

 public weal and good, their acquisition by the government would 

 be quite an easy matter. 



It is a great pity, therefore, that this proposition was lost sight 

 of by Mr. Akers and his associates, as it would be quite pos- 

 sible to establish European laborers in this region, and the ad- 

 vantages of such possibilities cannot be exaggerated. 



As regards the introduction of Chinese immigrants, suggested 

 by Mr. Akers, there is yet to be proven one single instance in 

 which this class of immigrants, even tmder indetiture, ever 

 proved satisfactory in any country. 



The history of this class of immigration in the United States 

 of America, in Australia, and in South Africa is of common 

 knowledge, even in the .Amazon. Dr. Huber. who visited the 

 East with all the open-minded fairness and generous disposition 

 peculiar to men of science, would hardly endorse Mr. Akers' 

 opinions in this respect. There is no doubt that the Chinese 

 laborer is intelligent, hardy, thrifty and industrious. But at 

 heart he is a merchant, a speculator, a gambler, and a vicious 

 reprobate, just as soon as he feels free enough to act unhindered 

 by military supervision. If there is one place more than an- 

 other where Chinese immigrants would feel at liberty to found 

 a colony of their own to the absolute exclusion of every one 

 else, that place is the Amazon. In a word — Chinese are not 

 given to intermixing with any other nationality, for the very 

 lowest classes of Chinese have been reared to believe them- 

 selves the "sons of Heaven'' and all other human beings devils. 



Xow if we understand Brazil's proclivities, as a nation, one 

 of its best traits is the happy waj* in which all comers are as- 

 similated. Even the Indians and the Africans are being as- 

 similated by degrees, and the time will come when few traces 

 of these will be left in certain States. If for no other than 

 ethnological reasons, therefore, Chinese should not be imported 

 into the Amazon country. 



As a whole, lilr. Akers has rendered the special interests so 

 powerful in Brazil yeoman service in placing before them in a 

 bright, succinct and lucid form, an excellent analysis of the rub- 

 ber industry of the Amazon valley and its other resources. But 

 much which he now says had been constantly repeated before 

 by others, if in a more unassuming way in terms just as clear 

 and intelligent ; and the Federal government of Brazil seems to 

 have awakened to the true situation before Mr. Akers under- 

 took his task. Tlie appendices to his report are proof of this. 

 These comprise all the measures the said government has re- 

 solved to carry out, and it would seem that the best and most 

 practical thing to do now is for Mr. Akers and his associates 

 to exert all their influence in seeing that all that has been de- 

 creed will be duly put into practice. 



It would never do to seek any alteration of the present gov- 

 ernment program, at this stage. And if the government begins 

 to falter and show signs of indifference in the realization of 

 the measures already provided for legally, then, and only then, 

 would it behoove those interested in the .\mazon to force the 

 government's hand. 



But the worst feature of Mr. Akers' report is the fact that 

 it was issued at the end of the year 1912, and embodies sugges- 

 tions that were adequately provided for by the laws promulgated 

 by the Federal government on the 5th of January, 1912. 



Mr. Akers seems to have condensed in twelve concise para- 

 graphs the sum total of his findings on the investigation he 

 made in the Amazon, and therein embodies all the suggestions 

 he puts forward as the proper program to be observed by the 

 Brazilian government. 



First. He suggests the new method of tapping. 



Second. He suggests the establishment of an agricultural 

 school for training tappers and teaching modern methods of 

 preparing latex, and preparation of rubber for shipment. 



If we now turn to pages 144. 145. et seq., we find in Chapters II 

 and III of the Law for Economic Defense of Rubber, promul- 

 gated on the 5th of January, 1912, the most elaborate provi- 

 sions for all that Mr. Akers suggests, and very considerably 

 more than he mentions. 



Third. He suggests the erection of adequate machinery at 

 Para and Manaos for washing and preparing scrap rubber pre- 

 vious to shipment. By referring to page 146 of the said report, 

 we find that the Federal government offered prizes for the erec- 

 tion of rubber refineries, not only in Para and Manaos. but also 

 in Ceara, Bahia, Recife and Sao Paulo. 



Fourth. He suggests the appointment of expert rubber plant- 

 ers to superintend tapping operations and the preparation of 

 rubber for shipment. The creation of the Superintendency of 

 the Economic Defense of Rubber covers all these items in the 

 most elaborate form. 



Fifth. Fie advises the Federal government to enter into agree- 

 ment with the northern governments for the reduction of duties. 

 This is fully provided for in the said law. and we have already 

 stated why it cannot be done from one day to another. 



Sixth. He suggests the urging of the Federal government to 

 carry out the establishment of central hospitals, etc., and goes 

 on to mention the very law we are citing and which he should 

 know is being carried out, no less a personage than the world- 

 famed Dr. Oswaldo Cruz having been entrusted w'ith the task. 



Seventh. He suggests the establishment of centres of sup- 

 ply, where the employers of labor can purchase at reasonable 

 rates all articles necessary for the workmen in the rubber dis- 



