November i, igio.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



45 



The Editor's Book Table. 



THE CRIME OF THE CONGO. BV A. CONAN DOYLE, AUTHOR 

 of "The Great Boer War," etc. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co. 

 1909. IClotll. 8vo. Pp. XI + 128. Price. $1.] 



TIIK declining output of rubber from what was formerly called 

 the Congo Free State has been explained variously, but 

 without any result in the way of bringing the production up 

 to the former high figures. It may occur to the readers of Dr. 

 Doyle's book that the explanation is to be found in the whole- 

 sale murder of the rubber gatherers. It may be mentioned here 

 that the exports of rubber from the Amazon region increase 

 steadily, though not to a large extent, year by year, but there 

 are no reports of systematic killing of rubber workers in South 

 America such as Dr. Doyle intimates in the case of such centers 

 of population in the Congo as Bolobo, which Stanley credited 

 with 40,000 population, which figure is said to have declined to 

 7,000. If the reports quoted in this book are to be credited, we 

 may look to the time when the Congo country will be entirely 

 uninhabited, and when the production of even one pound of 

 rubber per year will be impossible. 



A disappointing fact regarding this book is that it contains no 

 record of personal observation by its distinguished author, who 

 contents himself with quoting reports which have been familiar 

 for years to every reader who has sought to inform himself re- 

 garding conditions in the country which forms the subject of his 

 work. After all has been said by our author — or rather quoted 

 by him — there is practically nothing in a shape capable of being 

 verified by one who is disposed to get at the truth of the matter. 



What is of chief interest in this little volume is the final chap- 

 ter, in which it is attempted to suggest solutions of the situa- 

 tion which the author has outlined in the preceding pages. He 

 holds that nothing can be hoped for in the way of improvement 

 from the Belgian regime. There is a hint that the United States 

 of America has some responsibility in the case, but evidently 

 the writer does not look for aggressive action in this quarter — 

 particularly as King Leopold attempted to "bribe American com- 

 plicity" by allowing some of our citizens to form a company 

 ■"to share in the unholy spoils." 



The book calls for an international conference to reform the 

 Congo. It is pointed out that France and Germany might do 

 the world a service by adding to their African possessions slices 

 from the Congo State. But failing all else, it is the opinion of 

 Dr. Doyle, speaking as a Britisher, that "it is our duty, as it has 

 often been in the world's history, to grapple single handed with 

 that which should be a common task." 



This book is interesting, as' must be true of anything proceeding 

 from the pen of Sir Conan Doyle, but we fail to see in it any- 

 thing which has a very direct or practical bearing upon the rub- 

 ber industry. We do learn from it, however, something which 

 bears upon the failure of The India Rubber World to collect 

 a certain subscription account in the assertion that "Gustav Maria 

 Rabinck was robbed and murdered by the Congo Free State." 

 But even this is an old story. 



LE CAOUTCHOUC DAN.S LES COLONIES PORTUGAISES. RAP- 

 porteurs: Carlos Eugenio de Mello Geraldes - - - et Bernardo 

 d'Oliveira Fragateiro - - - Lisbon: Typographia A Editora. 1910. 

 [Paper. Large 8vo. Pp. 137-f-maps and plates.] 



The authors of this valuable monograph are both now con- 

 nected with the colonial section of the Agronomic and Veterinary 

 Institute of Lisbon, and each has seen service in the Portuguese 

 colonial administration in Africa. Moreover, they were members 

 of the commission appointed by the Portuguese ministry of the 

 marine and the colonies tc represent that kingdom at the first 

 Internationa! Congress of Colonial Agronomy held at Brussels 

 in connection with the recent international exhibition there. 

 The book is in French, the language of the exhibition. 



The work is devoted respectively to the rubber plants, native 

 and exotic, of Angola, Mozambique, Portuguese Guinea, and 



tlie Princes and St. Thomas islands. As to rubber species, the 

 authors devote attention first to the rubber derived from rhi- 

 zomes (^caoutchoucs des herbes), of which a notable example is 

 Landolphia ThoUomi. Then are considered the rubbers derived 

 from the extraction of latex of vines (,lianes). The posses- 

 sions of Portugal in Africa are so scattered that they include 

 most of the rubber plants which are native to that continent. 



So energetic have been the colonial authorities of Portugal 

 and the consessionaire companies developing colonial resources 

 that practically every rubber species under cultivation in any 

 country is now under experiment in the regions covered by this 

 report. Not the least interesting feature of this report is the 

 section devoted to the plant first described by Professor Geraldes 

 — locally known as "'Ecanda" and botanically as Raphionacme 

 utilis. There are also details regarding "potato gum," also known 

 commercially as "alemeidina." The book embraces an important 

 amount of statistics. 



It is evident that the details under the heading "Native Rub- 

 bers of Portuguese Africa," contained in a British consular re- 

 port reviewed in The Indi.^ Rubber World, September i, 1910 

 (page 442), were derived from the book above reviewed. 



HENDRICKS' COMMERCIAL REGISTER OF THE UNITED STATES, 

 for Buyers and Sellers. Especially Devoted to the Interests of the 

 Architectural. Mechanical, Engineering, Contracting, Electrical, Rail- 

 road, Iron, Steel, Hardware, Mining, Mill, Ouarrying, Exporting and 

 Kindred Industries. - - ■ New York: Samuel E. Hendricks Co., 

 No. 74 Lafayette street. 1910. [Cloth. Large 8vo. Pp. C-|- 1,342. 

 Price, $10.] 



This is the nineteenth annual edition of a work which has 

 proved useful to a great number of business men in various 

 lines. It embraces the names and addresses of over 350,000 

 manufacturing firms and individuals under 35,481 classifications, 

 the mere listing of which in the index requires 100 four column 

 pages. The work as a whole is larger than in any previous 

 year, now embracing 238 pages of new matter. While not offered 

 as a complete directory of any branch of industry, its lists under 

 each general heading are sufficiently full to make the work of 

 value for reference, to which are to be added the advantages of 

 its being accurate and brotiglit up to date. 



IN CURRENT PERIODICALS. 



Rubber in Centraal-Amerika. By J. Alberts. = De Indische Meriuur, 

 Amsterdam. XXXIII-23 (June 7, '10). Pp. 441-442. 



Uote sur les Hevcas Cultives en Afrique Occidentale. ^ Journal d'Agri- 

 culture Tropicale, Paris. X-107 (May 31, '10). Pp. 129-131. 



Nach den Kautschuklandern. By A. H. Berkhout. [Relates mainly to 

 the Malay peninsula.] = Der TropenpHanser, Berlin. XIV-6 (June, '10). 

 Pp. 277-287; XIV-7 (July, '10). Pp. 348 and 357. 



L'Hevea a la Cote Occidentale d'Afrique. By Yves Henry. := L'Agri- 

 culture pratique des pays chauds, Paris. X-87 (June '10). Pp. 442-450. 



Der Kautschuk in dem Deutschen Kolonien. By Professor O. Warburg. 

 [A paper read before the International Congress for Tropical Agriculture, 

 in connection with the International Exhibition at Brussels.] ^=L' Agronomie 

 Tropicale, Louvant. II-7 (July, '10), Pp. 184-192; II-8 (.\ug., '10), Pp. 

 235-240. 



Die Kautschukkultur in Me.xiko. By 11. Juan Ludewig.^Dcr Tro- 

 penpilaucer, Berlin. XIV-io (Oct., '10), Pp. 516-527. 



L'Ex[yloitation du Caouchouc et la Culture des Plantes Productrices au 

 Dahomey. By Auguste Chevalier. =L'Agriculturc Pratique des Pays Chauds, 

 Paris. X-88 (July, '10), Pp. 24-32. 



On the Cultivation of Dwarf Rubber Trees. R. Tliomson. [Relates to 

 the advisability of planting Manihot species.] =T/ie Indian Forester, Alla- 

 habad. XXXVI-3 (Mar. '10). Pp. J17-125. 



Experiences de Rendement sur TArbre a Caoutchouc du Tonkin. (Teo- 

 nong. Bleekrodea Tonkinensis, X>. et 'E.).=Bulhtin Economique, Hanoi. 

 XIIL82 (Jan. -Feb. '10). Pp. j-ii. 



Addendum. Observations Biologiqucs sur I'.'Vrbre a Caoutchouc du 

 Tonkin ^Bleekrodea Tonkinensis). ^^Bulletin Economique, Hanoi. XIII-8a 

 (Jan. -Feb. '10). Pp. 12-14. 



Y.'IIcvca en Cochinchine. By E. Mathieu. =i.'/J^ric»//i(rc pratique de.t 

 pays chauds, Paris. X-86 (May *io). Pp. '357-380. 



A BOOK for rubber planters — Mr. Pearson's "What I Saw in 

 the Tropics." 



