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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[July i, 1901. 



One drawback to the export of rubber, from every 

 part of the world in which it is now found in paying quanti- 

 ties, has more influence than any other consideration in keep- 

 ing this a high priced commodity. To be more exact, the 

 trouble is not so much in the shipment of rubber from the 

 countries of production as in getting to the rubber camps the 

 necessary subsistence stores for the workers. This condition 

 is particularly true of Bolivia, in which country are to be found 

 to-day probably the richest of all rubber forests, with more 

 favorable climatic conditions for rubber gathering, and a more 

 desirable class of native labor than exists in the Amazon val- 

 ley. Rubber not being perishable, and having a very high 

 value as compared to weight, is particularly adapted for trans- 

 portation from remote forests, but the opposite is true of food 

 supplies and to an extent of clothing, implements, and other 

 stores needed to equip rubber patherers, and the difficulty of 

 carrying these through the trackless forests in which rubber is 

 found in Bolivia seems destined long to discourage the enter- 

 prise of outsiders in that direction. 



The man who sees with his eyes shut has been measur- 

 ing the product of the Mexican rubber tree, giving the results 

 in the Scientific American of May 18. He says : " It was found 

 that trees five years of age . . . yielded from 3^ t0 4>^ pounds 

 of pure gum. Trees six years of age . . . yielded 410 5 pounds 

 per tree, and from those trees seven years old . . . the yield 

 was dYz to 8,'^ pounds per tree. All these trees were cultivated 

 in partial shade." It is to be regretted that the same observer 

 did not include in his tests trees " cultivated " in total shade. 

 He might have found that half grown trees, under such circum- 

 stances, would yield nearly a bale and a quarter of rubber. It 

 is surprising how forgetful the authors of all these reports of 

 heavy yields of rubber are, in the matter of supplying such 

 details as will admit of their- verification. 



The report of a German rubber factory, on another 

 page, has more space given to it, perhaps, than is warranted by 

 the interest of a majority of the readers of The India Rubber 

 World in the affairs of the particular company to which it 

 relates. But from other points of view, we regard the matter 

 well worth the attention which it receives at our hands. In 

 the first place this is a specimen of the yearly business reports 

 — though it may be more detailed than some— which the direc- 

 tors of twenty-one rubber companies whose shares are admit- 

 ted to quotation on the German borsen make to their stock- 

 holders. Here is set forth the standing of practically all the 

 accounts which figure on the company's books except the indi- 

 vidual accounts with agents and customers. And not only are 

 totals expressed in the balance sheet and the report of the 

 year's operations, but a narrative report filling several printed 

 pages explains the accounts written oflf and the inventories of 

 raw materials and finished products, the various reserve funds, 

 and so on, and points out what branches of business have been 

 unprofitable, and in what respects there is promise of better 

 returns next year. A certain amount of this detail, it may be 

 said, is required by law, but the law is only the expression of 

 the public sentiment that shareholders in a registered company 

 are entitled to know what is being done by its directors. More- 

 over, these reports are of interest as indicating the caution that 

 is shown, in regard to both fixed reserves and the reserves from 

 year to year for possible depreciation— say in the value of in- 

 ventoried stocks and of book accounts. The result of such 

 management as shown in published share quotations is that, of 

 the twenty-one companies, earning for the past business year an 

 average of 11.41 per cent, on their share capital, the stock of only 



three is quoted at less than par, while the average of the high- 

 est quotations during a recent week was 171.50 and the average 

 of the lowest, 169.85. 



There seems to be so.mething about the ruiiber busi- 

 ness conducive to longevity on the part of those who are en- 

 gaged in it. Considering the comparative newness of the in- 

 dustry, the average age of the factories is surprising. There is 

 a goodly number of men, too, still in the enjoyment of life, al- 

 though their active interest in rubber dates back to the time of 

 Goodyear's greatest activity. Not long ago we published a con- 

 tribution from Mr. Hyatt, now in his eighty-first'year, following 

 close upon an account of Mr. Converse's celebration of his 

 eightieth birthday. And in our last issue was reproduced an 

 article relating to the work of L. Otto P. Meyer, who took a 

 conspicuous part in the development of the hard rubber indus- 

 try almost at its first inception. Though now in his seventy- 

 ninth year, he still takes an interest in the progress of the rub- 

 ber industry, at his home in Dresden, where, by the way, he at 

 one time filled the post of United States consul, having acquired 

 American citizenship while living in and about New York. 



It seems evident not only that the more sparsely settled 

 rubber countries must yet draw upon the outside world for 

 labor, but that sufficient sources of supply will be found. For 

 instance, the desirability of Hindoo labor has been pointed 

 out, but the statement invariably is heard that Hindoos cannot 

 leave their own country except under restrictive contract laws. 

 A recent British government report, however, states that there 

 are now 14,000 Hindoos in Jamaica, 83,000 in Trinidad, and 

 118,000 in British Guiana, among all of which only 13,000 are 

 held under labor contracts. There is currently reported a 

 lack of labor in portions of Mexico for new enterprises. Re- 

 cently the San Francisco Call mentioned the incorporation in 

 that city of a steamship company, having for one of its objects 

 the colonization of Oriental laborers on a large scale in Mexico. 



RUBBER WATERPROOFING IN ECUADOR. 



A LETTER to The India Rubber World from a camp 

 on the line of the railway now being built between 

 Guayaquil and Quito, Ecuador, says : "Opposite the camp is 

 the hacienda of an Ecuadorian, where I have to-day for the 

 first time seen rubber gathered. He has an immense property 

 but does not himself know how many rubber trees he has. He 

 has a great many, however, and the rubber he collects is sent 

 to Guayaquil. I bought from him &J>oncho for use in riding. 

 The cloth is of very fine quality, and the rubber is applied to 

 one side in layers, making the best waterproof article I ever 

 saw. I also bought from a native a pair of riding breeches, 

 made by spreading rubber between two thicknesses of cloth, 

 after which the cutting out was done and the trousers made 

 up. It would be a striking novelty to exhibit in a New York 

 rubber store. The owner of the hacienda, whose family are in 

 Chile, wants to sell the property, which is rich not only in rub- 

 ber, but in Peruvian bark and ivory nuts." 



The India Rubber World has been applied to, through the 

 consulate of Salvador at New York, for information bearing 

 upon the suitability of the Ceara rubber tree for cultivation in 

 that republic. A late issue of the Salvador Boletin de Agricul- 

 tura prints an advertisement of Ceara rubber seeds for sale in 

 San Salvador, and also mentions the planting at San Miguel of 

 seeds of Sapium biglandulosum, an important rubber tree of 

 Colombia. 



