54 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[November i, 1910. 



A BRAZILIAN VIEW OF THE RUBBER CRAZE. 



[from "revista da associacao commercial do amazonas."] 

 "T" ME India Rubber World reproduces in its April number a 

 ■^ curious picture showing the London Stock Exchange on 

 one of the days of the greatest excitement over the organization 

 of enterprises for Hevea rubber. The most curious feature of 

 the ilUistration is not the varying phases of physiognomic ex- 

 pression of the great number of people crowding around, await- 

 ing their turn to risk their toil-won savings in this or that com- 

 pany loudly vaunted by the brokers. 



What strikes the attention, rather, is that notwithstanding the 

 valley of the .Amazon is the largest producer of rubber, repre- 

 senting more than one-half of the world's consumption, it is 

 not on account of this rubber, the best and most abundant, the 

 veritable dominating factor in markets and quotations, that this 

 fever, this rage to become a stockholder, to invest money with 

 a prospect of realizing enormous dividends within a short time, 

 that this mad crushing and forging ahead by dint of fisticuffs is 

 to be attributed. 



These pounds sterling are pouring out for Hevea companies — • 

 yes, for our Hevea, but planted and exploited in the Orient. If 

 some one were to venture to launch, we will not say ten, twenty, 

 but barely two or three companies for exploiting rubber planta- 

 tions in Amazonian regions, he would look in vain for pur- 

 chasers of the stock. 



To our mind this reveals one of the most interesting phe- 

 nomena of our extractive industry. It is certain that we have 

 the greatest seringaes (rubber estates) in the world, all of the 

 territory of the nation and that of other countries washed by 

 the waters of the Amazon river exerting a predominant influ- 

 ence in the markets, that is to say, as a source of supply. The 

 fine quality of our Hevea is acknowledged by every one and even 

 admitted to be without an equal, and unapproachable in its 

 manufacturing adaptability. 



Even the Federal government recognizes that the greatest 

 advantages accruing to the nation's treasury during the last 

 fiscal year were derived by the rubber industry. At any rate, 

 this is what the minister of finance has recently declared in his 

 reports to the President of the republic, and this latter in his 

 annual message to the Congress. 



Our February congress — but recently adjourned — also had 

 the good fortune to arouse the interest of the minister of agri- 

 culture in its final conclusions. [See The India Rubber World, 

 April I, igio — page 233.] This official, who is a large agricul- 

 turist in Sao Paulo, and one of the best exponents of our re- 

 sources, declared in a telegram to the governor of the state that 

 he was in most perfect sympathy with the conclusions reached 

 and with the earnest and patriotic work of the congress. 



Some cf the measures recommended he had already put into 

 practice, such as the government subvention of the Cerqueira 

 Pinto invention, the use of which on a large scale in the Acre 

 territory would furnish sufficient data for more determinate and 

 general measures. 



There are other things, however, for which a solution is not 

 less desirable than the results achieved by Mr. Cerqueira Pinto's 

 invention. Our economic and industrial life in the Amazonian 

 region must be readjusted. Let us throw off this prolonged 

 lethargy that has hampered our activities for the past 30 years; 

 above all, we must recognize the fact that fortune tires at last 

 cf supporting the spendthrift, finally frowning severely upon 

 those too unwise to profit from her favors. 



Twenty years ago, when the most far-sighted among us pointed 

 ■out the danger of our supremacy involved in the planting of our 

 Hevea in the Orient, the burden of the reply made in a unani- 

 mous chorus was that our forests were limitless, and that there 

 was no end to our inexhaustible riches in gums. And, indeed, 

 up until the present time there has been no falling off in this 



respect. But who can say with certainty what the extent of our 

 native resources is at the present time? It is a fact that some 

 regions are only now beginning to be explored. From the shores 

 of the prinicpal rivers the tide tends toward the middle districts, 

 thence to the more inaccessible regions in the interior, but the 

 way in which this was done and the expense and difficulties en- 

 cmmtered — this is something that has never yet been properly 

 appreciated and calculated. 



We heard, too, a little while ago, Lieutenant-Colonel Rondon 

 delight his audience at his lecture in the hall of our directors' 

 hall with a magnificent description of those rubber plantations 

 which, right after leaving the shores of the Paraguay, seemed 

 to .follow the explorers, describing curves and zig zag lines as 

 far as the regions of the Madeira and the headwaters of its 

 most important effluents. 



The fact of the matter is that we must not fold our arms 

 or indulge in any idle dreams on account of the quotations re- 

 cently reached by rubber. Even admitting that the feverish ex- 

 citement alluded to above may result for the purchasers of stock 

 in the companies thickly crowding one another on the London 

 E.xchange, in a great disillusionment or tremendous loss, the 

 sums that shall be applied to greater production and that will, 

 for the most part, realize compensating returns, are bound to 

 result to our decided disadvantage through the Asiatic planting 

 in the future and the gradual increase of its influence in a not 

 distant future on our markets of consumption. 



NEW TRADE PUBLICATIONS. 



THE Faultless Rubber Co. — Ashland Rubber Works (Ash- 

 land, Ohio) issue a catalogue of Hospital and Surgical 

 Rubber Goods, embracing some of their high-class specialties for 

 use in hospitals and sanitariums, which is attractively got up 

 and especially in connection with the illustrations. [6" x 9". 

 20 pages.] 



The Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. (.\kron, Ohio) issue a 

 booklet on Carriage Tires, having reference to solids. The book 

 is printed in two colors, giving better effect to the cuts than 

 if they were only in black and white. [4^^" x 7\i" . 12 pages.] 



B. F. Sturtevant Co. (Hyde Park, Massachusetts) issue a 

 handsome brochure, "Standard Types of the United States Navy," 

 ilustrated with a number of American warships, in connection 

 with each of which are details of the Sturtevant fire room blow- 

 ers and Sturtevant ventilating fans with which they are equipped. 

 It may be suggested that if devices of their manufacture are 

 good enough for warships, they may be found serviceable in 

 the power houses and other departments of rubber factories. 

 \10y2" X 8". 24 pages.] 



Centr.\l Electric Co. (Chicago) issue, under date of October 

 I, 1910, a new Price List and Discount Sheet applying to their 

 Catalogue No. 26, of electrical apparatus and insulating ma- 

 terials. [6" X 8M"- 76 pages.] 



.^LSO RECEIVED. 



The Webb Motor Fire Apparatus Co.. St. Louis. = The Motor in 

 the Fire Department. 52 ptiges. 



Oswego Machine \Vorks=Ncil Gray. Jr.. Proprietor, Oswego, New 

 York. = Cutting Machines Exclusively. 79 pages. 



Katzenhach & Bullock Co.. Inc., New York and Trenton = Chemicals 

 [for the rubber manufacturer]. 12 pages. 



Home Rubber Co., Trenton. New Jersey.= [N B O Packing.] 8 

 pagfs. \0 I M Packing.] 4 pages. 



The Diamond Rubber Co.. .Akron. Ohio. = Little Voyages of Discovery. 

 [Relates to the qualities of "Diamond" tires.] 16 pages. 



The National Board of Fire Underwriters have issued a new 

 edition of their rules and requirements, applicable to different 

 interests. One pamphlet contains rules regarding Sprinkler 

 Equipments: another refers to Valves, Indicator Posts and Hy- 

 drants for Mill Yard Use; and so on. These will doubtless prove 

 of interest in many rubber factories, as well as to industrial 

 establishments generally. 



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

 the Tropics." 



