Fehruary 1, 1902.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER ^/VORJLD 



133 



control, and based upon private capital, governments can 

 render great help to the interest, particularly in the way 

 of collecting and disseminating correct information. Re- 

 ports by trained scientific observers, intent upon discover- 

 ing facts rather than making profits, when published offi- 

 cially, gain a wider circulation and are accepted as more 

 trustworthy than even similar reports from any private 

 source. Of the mass of printed matter in The Indi.\ Rub- 

 ber World's library regarding the sources and conditions 

 of natural rubber supplies, by far the greater part is the 

 result of official or semi-official investigations. There is 

 not one book in the lot written by a private individual 

 who has traveled in and studied any rubber country on his 

 own account. 



The United States government in the past has given 

 little attention to the subject of rubber, considering that 

 more than half the world's production is consumed in this 

 country. But now that we have extensive tropical posses- 

 sions, the same reason exists for studying the development 

 of a rubber interest in them that has appealed to every 

 colonizing power in Europe. The present disposition at 

 Washington is to discover, not only what plants of eco- 

 nomic value exist in our tropical territory, but what plants 

 in other countries of corresponding latitudes may be in- 

 troduced profitably therein. The department of agricul- 

 ture, in making the estimates of money needed for the 

 coming fiscal year, has included the following clause, 

 which, it is understood, refers in an important degree to 

 rubber : 



Botanical Investigations and Exptriments. — - ■ - -; to investi- 

 gate and publish reports upon the useful plants and plant cult- 

 ures of the tropical territory of the United States, and to investi- 

 gate and report upon them, and introduce other plants promising 

 to be valuable for the tropical territory of the United States, such 

 plants and botanical and agricultural information when secured to 

 be made available for the work of agricultural experiment stations 

 and schools ; - - - - §65,000. 



It might tend to influence Congress favorably in respect 

 to voting the appropriation if citizens engaged in the rub- 

 ber trade would write approving the measure, to senators 

 and representatives from their states, or whom they know 

 personally; or letters might be directed to' the chairmen 

 of the committees on agriculture, of the senate and house 

 of representatives, respectively. 



The import duty on rubber shoes continues to receive 

 much attention in view of the revision of the German tariff 

 schedules now under way. In this connection the American 

 duty on goods of this class is often mentioned, in comparison 

 with the rate charged in other countries, and it appears that 

 Uncle Sam makes a pretty heavy charge. It does not follow, 

 necessarily, that a high tariflf on rubber footwear in any country 

 will build up the shoe making industry there. Although the 

 protectionist policy has long prevailed in the United States, 

 there probably is no industry in any land whose leaders have 

 been less concerned about tariffs than our rubber shoe manu- 

 facturers. It is doubtful whether the rate that would be 

 charged on an importation of rubber shoes is known in any 

 rubber factory in the United States to-day. There is no special 

 duty on such goods, and the rate would have to be computed 

 by analogy. Nor do we believe that, among the countless rep- 



resentations that have been made to the Congress in the past 

 in behalf of protection to home industries, any has been heard 

 from a rubber shoe manufacturer. The success of the Amer- 

 ican firms in this branch is due to the fact that they have made 

 the kind of rubber shoes that were wanted. Having succeeded 

 at home, they are now giving their attention to other markets, 

 in the hope of obtaining a share of their trade by smiilar means. 

 This is a consideration for rubber manufacturers in other coun- 

 tries to keep in mind, rather than the rates of duty imposed 

 at their custom houses. 



The list of dutiable imports into the Philippine Islands 

 includes sample rubber goods 'with commercial value." It 

 seems worth while to note that such imports during the fiscal 

 year ended June 30 last amounted in value to S470, whereof 

 $443 is credited to Germany, and nothing to the United States. 

 During the same year the United States supplied 29 2 per cent, 

 of the total value of rubber goods imported into the Philip- 

 pines, and Germany only 194 per cent. In view of the fact 

 above mentioned, in respect to the introduction of sample 

 goods, it will be mteresting to see whether the share of the 

 United States in this trade will be relatively as large next 

 year. 



The scale of wages of labor in the manufacture of 

 submarine cables is lower in Europe than it would have to be 

 in the United States in order to attract any labor to this industry. 

 But, as a member of the insulated wire trade points out on 

 another page of this paper, the higher rate of wages would prob- 

 ably be offset by the increased average efficiency of the men 

 employed. We have, upon more than one occasion, referred 

 to the fact that the higher wages paid in American rubber 

 factories do not prevent the sale of their products abroad, in 

 competition with the products of factories paying a lower scale 

 of wages. 



The rubber trust has failed, according to the able Engle- 

 wood (N.J.) Titnes. The issue of that paper for January 11 

 stated : " Last week an application was made for the appoint- 

 ment of a receiver for the Rubber Trust, and for its liquida- 

 tion." The editor of the Times considerately sent marked 

 copies of his exclusive news to many rubber men, who suspect 

 that he has been the victim of a practial joker. It would be 

 interesting to know whether the enterprising editor is laugh- 

 ing over the matter with the amused rubber men, or swearing 

 in secret. 



It should encourage rubber men to learn from a writer 

 in the Pittsburgh Leader, that " Marconi's wireless telegraphy 

 requires insulation to make it practicable." The idea must be 

 to insulate separately each message transmitted, instead of 

 wrapping tons of copper conductor with Gutta-percha, as is 

 now the case in submarine telegraphy. 



The upriver rubber country of the Amazon may be 

 in the backwoods, but it is the scene, nevertheless, of many 

 phases of business enterprise. For example, the police of Ma- 

 naos arrested recently two men who had in their possession 

 192,000 milreis in counterfeit money, with which they were 

 proceeding to the river Purus to buy rubber. 



Is Akron getting ready to manufacture all the rubber 

 goods needed in this country .' In no other town have so many 

 factories been started in recent years, and they no sooner are 

 started than they begin to grow. 



