March i, 1902. J 



THE INDIA RUBBER V/ORLD 



173 



THE SOUTH AMERICAN RUBBER FIELDS. 



RUBBER OUTPUT OF THE AMAZON VALLEY. 



IN a report to his government the United States consul at 

 Para, Mr. K. K. Kenneday, under date of December 27, 

 wrote that the unusually large receipts of rubber up to 

 that period had been made the basis for many calcula- 

 tions concerning the total output of rubber from the Amazon 

 valley for the crop year, and its effect upon the commercial 

 future of Para. The largest rubber buyers and exporters were 

 still chary of expressing opinions as to the season's crop, and 

 were conservative in their dealings. Some held that the bulk 

 of the crop had already been marketed, and that the months 

 of January, February, and March, when the heaviest shipments 

 are usually received, would show a very large deficit. 



" On the other hand," writes the consul, " information re- 

 cently received shows a diametrically opposite state of afTairs. 

 Business was good in the previous year [1900-01], exchange 

 low, and credits easy. The aviadores and laborers indulged in 

 many luxuries; they bought better food than usual, and treat- 

 ed themselves to watches, jewelry, and expensive clothing. 

 The end of the season found the crisis at hand, exchange rising 

 rapidly, the gatherers deeply in debt, and the price of rubber 

 reduced 20 per cent. This year they are making a desperate 

 effort to pay ofl this indebtedness and make a fresh start. They 

 are getting a large proportion of their food from the streams 

 and forests by hunting and fishing; they are purchasing only 

 absolute necessities ; and are working overtime to increase the 

 crop and liquidate their bills. 



" It is reported that there are now on the way down the 

 river, from the upper tributaries of the Amazon, about 700 tons 

 more rubber than has ever before been shipped from that section 

 in one season, and there are at least 200 tons more to follow. 

 About thirty small steamers and launches have left this port 

 and Mandos for the Acre, Jurua, Purus,and Beni rivers, and are 

 due to return here in February. It is not to be supposed that 

 they will come back empty. Altogether, there is reason to be- 

 lieve that this season's rubber crop will exceed that of last year 

 by a very considerable margin." 



Consul Kenneday refers to the final adjudication of the bound- 

 ary dispute between Bolivia, Peru, and Brazil, with the formal 

 relinquishment of the thousands of square miles of land in- 

 volved to the two first-mentioned countries, which he says may 

 mark the beginning of a new era in this part of South America. 



"The territory under dispute, with the adjacent regions in 

 the Andes mountains, is said to be very rich, and Americans 

 should not permit the people of aay other nation to anticipate 

 them in the exploitation of this field. The cession of this land 

 will deprive the Brazilian state of Amazonas of a large portion 

 of the revenue which it derived from export duties on rubber, 

 as much of the rubber from the Acre, Purus, Javary, and other 

 rivers embraced in the territory ceded to Bolivia has hitherto 

 passed through the Manaos custom house, but will now pay 

 toll to Bolivia. On the other hand, Pard will profit indirectly 

 by the new conditions, as all cargoes entering and leaving the 

 Amazon pass through this port." 



DEVELOPMENT IN BOLIVIA. 

 CONSIJL Kenneday transmits with the report above quoted 

 a statement made to him by Sefior Florian Zambrano, high 

 commissioner and financial agent of the Bolivian government, 

 in which it is stated : 



The rivers which the treaty with Brazil now incorporates into Bolivia 

 are the Acre and Yacu and their affluents ; the upper Purus and uppe 

 Jurua and their affluents (the Enviri, Tarahauca, Mua, Gregorio, etc.) 

 Up to the present time, Bolivia's occupation of this territory has been 

 confined to the Acre and its aflluents, where the custom house of Puerto 

 Alonso is established. The rubber exported from the Acre and its afflu- 

 ents alone reaches 3500 tons per annum. The total export of rubber 

 from the other rivers just named amounts to another 5000 tons per an- 

 num, and is increasing yearly. This rubber is of the first quality, and 

 is sold in European markets at the same price as, and under the name 

 of, fine Para rubber. 



Sefior Zambrano states that Bolivia has decided to subsidize 

 a line of foreign steamers to ply between Europe and Pard, in- 

 coming cargoes to be transferred at Pard and sent to the Acre 

 in smaller steamers of the same company. No contract exists 

 as yet for this purpose and the government is disposed to ac- 

 cept the best proposal that may be presented. Another im- 

 portant work in prospect, and for which plans are said to have 

 been made and the cost estimated, is the construction of a rail- 

 way from the river Acre to the Beni or Madre de Dios, which 

 would give an outlet for the rich rubber fields of the latter 

 streams to the Amazon, independent of the badly obstructed 

 Madeira, the high freight charges on which were referred to in 

 the last India Rubber World. 



The government of Bolivia grants large tracts of unculti- 

 vated land to capitalists who intend to colonize her territories ; 

 admits free of duty and other taxes all machinery, factories, 

 tools, agricultural implements, etc., and protects and guaran- 

 tees the personal safety, work, and property of all foreigners. 

 There is said to be not a single instance of a diplomatic claim 

 against Bolivia on account of damage, violence, or injury to 

 foreign subjects. The rich mineral resources of the country, 

 no less than rubber, are expected to attract outside capital, be- 

 sides which the climate is salubrious, and the soil favorable for 

 the production of food staples. It is only the neglect of nat- 

 ural advantages that has led to the scarcity and high cost of 

 subsistence on the Beni, lately commented on in this journal. 



During the year ended July i, 1900, the government of Bo- 

 livia granted new concessions for working rubber as follows: 



Department of La Paz ... 7264 estradas. 



Department of Santa Cruz 9590 " 



Department of Cochamba 500 " 



■ Total 17,354 " 



Since each estrada is supposed to embrace 150 rubber trees, 

 these concessions would account for 2,603,100 trees brought 

 under private control within a year. It is understood, how- 

 ever, that many small rubbf^r properties in Bolivia are for sale, 

 due probably to a lack of working capital on the part of the 

 concessionaires, vi\i\\t. perhaps some of them have been located 

 only with a view to selling them. 



A statement has reached The India Rubber World that 

 the following amounts of rubber paid export duties (15 per cent. 

 ad valorem) at the Bolivian custom house in the Acre river dis- 

 trict — lately in dispute between Bolivia and Brazil — between 

 January 29 and April 16, 1901, and were shipped via Para: 



Pounds. 



Goma elastica (fine rubber) 2,954.879 



Sernamby (coarse rubber) 328,275 



Caucho 13.728 



Total 3,296,882 



