September i, 1901.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER 'JVORLD 



357 



NOT MUCH OF A RUBBER MONOPOLY. 



THE English India-Rubber /aurna/ devotes a good deal of 

 space to what it terms information of " an astonishing 

 character," to the eflfect that the Acre district, lately in dis- 

 pute between Brizil and Bolivia, and reported to be rich in 

 rubber, " has been acquired by one of the most powerful finan- 

 cial groups in America, who will practically stand possessed of 

 all rights, with the Bolivian government as partners." The 

 suggestion is hazarded that this group of financiers is not " en- 

 tering into this agreement for philanthropy." Conversely, its 

 intention must be to make consumers pay all that can be forced 

 out of them for rubber. 



The suggestion comes to The India Rubber World from 

 nearer home that, even if a compani' should be formed to re- 

 ceive and handle all the rubber coming from the river Acre, 

 the effect upon the general market would be unimportant. 

 "No doubt," it was said, "the Acre district is rich in rubber, 

 for the greater part is still unworked. But the scarcity of na- 

 tive labor there, and the difficulty of securing rubber workers 

 from the outside, will prevent the possibility of any great in- 

 crease in production in the near future. By the utmost eflort, 

 1200 tons of rubber might be got out of this district in a year, 

 but what would that amount to, in the total production of 26,000 

 tons in the whole Amazon valley ? Either this rubber would be 

 sold in the open market, or it would be sold to consumers, who 

 to that extent would not be buyers elsewhere, but in any event 

 the market would not be controlled. This rubber formerly was 

 termed ' Bolivian,' though now the cases are marked ' Acre- 

 Bolivian.' The quality is inferior to the rubber from the river 

 Puriis. It now compares with the rubber which came formerly 

 from the Puriis, but the rubber from the latter river has in time 

 become improved, through better working." 



From the same source as the statements just quoted is the 

 assertion : " There might be a greater increase in the produc- 

 tion of rubber in new districts in the Amazon country if prices 

 were more stable. For instance, if there were any assurance 

 that fine Para would remain, in New York, at $1 per pound, or 

 in Para, at 10 milreis per kilogram, it would offer an induce- 

 ment for preparations on a large scale, for continuous opera- 

 tions, and permanent arrangements could be n.ade for the 

 employment of the Cearenses who now drift back and forth 

 between the Amazon and their own province, according as the 

 chance for earning money seems best in one place or the other. 

 But rubber is now away below these figures, and when prices 

 rise again, no man can foresee how long they will remain high.' 



BRAZILIAN EXCHANGE AND RUBBER. 



IN the last India Rubber World was noted the gradual ten- 

 dency, in late years, of the Amazon rubber output to be- 

 come larger during the second half of the crop season, owing to 

 the continued extension of rubber gathering into more remote 

 districts. The Brazilian Review remarks that this has " an 

 important bearing on exchange, as was evidenced this year in 

 March, when the enormous shipments of rubber swelled the 

 supply of ready bills to an extraordinary degree and, with the 

 aid of speculation, drove exchange up to \\^^d. There seems 

 every probability of this year's conditions being renewed, and 

 that the large shipments to be expected from February to March 

 will, in future, provoke an annual upward movement of ex- 

 change, similar to that which generally accompanies the coflfee 

 movement from May to June." 



The rate of exchange in Brazil is not of immediate concern to 

 rubber consumers, since it does not regulate the price of rub- 



ber. If rubber stocks are liberal, and manufacturers are not 

 active, prices will be low, and vice versa. In the last analysis, 

 supply and demand fix the price paid by consumers. But the 

 rate of exchange — i.e. the price in pence of the Brazilian mil- 

 reis — is of great concern to the handlers of rubber in the earlier 

 stages of its movement from the forest to the factory. The 

 rubber producer or collector who offers his year's output when 

 the exchange value of the milreis is 12 pence, will receive fewer 

 milreis by 25 per cent, than if the rate were 9 pence. The price 

 of rubber in England or at New York is the same ; the Brazilian 

 gets less for it in the currency of his country. And if the 

 Brazilian is very hard hit, by reason of a sudden rise in ex- 

 change for which he is unprepared, or if many Brazilians are 

 hard hit, it may demoralize their business to an extent which 

 will render the next season's rubber crop a more uncertain 

 quantity than otherwise would be the case. It is then, if at all, 

 that the consuming trade feels the remote effect of exchange 

 fluctuations. 



It would seem that, as a rule, the rate of exchange would be 

 guided by fixed laws of trade, so that when rubber was selling 

 at a certain price at New York, the producer would get about 

 so much for his crop. But so loncj as Brazil has an unstable 

 currency, the rate of exchange can be manipulated as readily 

 as the price of steel shares in Wall street, and The Brazilian 

 Review does not hesitate to call names and charge that there 

 are banks in Brazil that gamble in exchange as recklessly 

 as anybody. Indeed, it asserts that "if the banks would only 

 refrain from issuing speculative paper, there would be an end 

 of speculation." One bank manager — in the Bank of the Re- 

 public itself — is charged with having boomed rates " like a very 

 bucket shop." 



LOST IN BRAZILIAN WILDS. 



' I "HE Fort Scott (Kansas) Monitor of recent date contains 

 A the details of the hardships experienced by a party of 

 young men from that and neighboring towns, sent to Brazil 

 by the Price Mercantile Co., of Kansas City. Two years ago 

 the original expedition set out, to hunt rubber in the state of 

 Mattogrosso. This party having been reported lost, a relief 

 expedition was organized, under Frank Greenfield, whose 

 brother was one of those missing. The Monitor prints several 

 letters written by Frank Greenfield to his family, stating that, 

 having become convinced that the original party were no 

 longer alive, and that their remains could never be traced, he 

 joined a government surveying party. Their work in track- 

 less forests was most arduous, they were often without suit- 

 able food and sometimes for days without anything but wild 

 meat, besides which they suffered from fevers. The family 

 have learned that Greenfield died March 29, about 60 miles 

 from Cuyaba, in Mattogrosso, while on his way to headquarters 

 for provisions for his party, the other members of which were 

 too much exhausted to travel. Greenfield is believed by his 

 family to have acquired some concessions for gold and diamond 

 mining, and a third brother has taken steps to interest the 

 United States government in aiding him to have these conces- 

 sions confirmed and extended. 



Rubber Shoe Heels. — There has been apparent of late, in 

 certain quarters, a demand to have rubber heels put on leather 

 shoes at the factory, on account of the bother in having the 

 leather heels replaced with rubber by cobblers. The Boston 

 Superintendent and Foreman says that some shoe factories ate 

 now turning out shoes with rubber heels, but that no satisfac- 

 tory machine has yet been invented for attaching these heels. 



