December 1, 1910.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



79 



Combination of Para Rubber Receivers. 



(What follows is an editorial article from the I'ara journal, O Com- 

 mercio Norte-Bracileiro, after which is an extract from the market 

 review of the ^ame journal, llie date of publication beinff October 22, 

 1910.] 



THERE has been formed in Para, for a most commendable 

 purpose, a Liga dos Aviadores* [League of Aviadores, or 

 Dealers], being composed of merchants interested in pre- 

 venting the continuous depreciation in the price of rubber, thus 

 safeguarding the interest of the market and putting it beyond the 

 speculative inlluence of the so called "bears." 



This is the main purpose of the League, whicli has succeeded 

 in securing a union of the rubber depositaries, with the idea of 

 holding back offerings in order to sell them at the desired prices. 

 For this purpose a capital of 1,000,000 milreis [about $304,100] 

 has been subscribed in shares of 100 milreis, each kilogram of 

 rubber contributing an assessment of 50 reis towards the oper- 

 ating fund. The league also counts upon the financial support 

 of the federal government and also on receiving some favors 

 from the state of Para. 



A board of directors has been elected which, in order to meet 

 the conditions of the present crisis, can adopt the required meas- 

 ures, such as the establishing here of a brokerage system sim- 

 ilar to that e.xisting in Antwerp ; also the establishing of a pur- 

 chasing center for buying small lots at sight, in order not to 

 hamper the economic progress of the small dealer — and other 

 measures of immediate and practical efficiency. To keep back 

 rubber without an adequate fund for this purpose hardly seems 

 advisable to us. 



At a meeting held on October 2, in the hall of the Real So- 

 ciedade Beneficente Portugueza (Royal Beneficent Portuguese 

 Society), for the approval of the by-laws and election of the ad- 

 ministrative officers, Senhor Narciso Romariz spoke of the situa- 

 tion confronting the rubber trade, expressing the opinion that the 

 center of production is where the price of the article should be 

 fixed, and that this should not be left to the mercy of the specu- 

 lative market in England, and to this end factories should be 

 established for entering into competition for the manufactured 

 product. 



Notwithstanding the applause that greeted this proposition of 

 Senhor Romariz, we are sorry to say we regard it as inopportune, 

 if not impracticable, at least for the present. Indeed, if we ex- 

 amine briefly into the composition of the manufactures into which 

 rubber enters as raw material, we shall find that the percentage 

 of Amazon rubber employed is limited, this being skillfully em- 

 ployed to give greater elasticity to other kinds of weak rubber 

 which we do not have here, and which would have to be im- 

 ported, this one single fact involving a great disadvantage. 



On the other hand, manual labor would be very dear, because, 

 as we do. not have professional workmen here, we should have 

 to send to European or .\merican centers for them, and they 

 could only be induced to leave the factories where they are now 

 paid liberally and have an assured future, if a flattering proposi- 

 tion were made them, because, apart from other drawbacks, the 

 European and the American still regard Para as a hotbed of 

 yellow fever. 



In addition to this, what an enormous outlay of capital would 

 be required for machinery and its installation, each manufac- 

 tory having its special machines and apparatus, which would 

 have to be imported, and we have absolutely no mechanical es- 



•The major part of the rubber arriving at Para is consigned to merchants 

 there called ai-iadorcs — the Portuguese word aviador meaning literally "fur- 

 nisher of funds." or one who prepares another for a journey or voyage. 

 The custom is for the owner of a seringal to make requisitions upon an 

 aviador for the camp supplies needed for a season, and to ship rubber as 

 produced to liquidate the advances. The aviador sells the rubber as received 

 to the exporting houses at Para. — The Editor. 



tablishnient tliat is in a position to do any casting, or even to 

 make the slightest repair to some delicate piece. 



Another consideration of great importance, if not the prin- 

 cipal one, is that of the capital. It is well known in trade circles 

 what difficulties are encountered by a new company in organ- 

 izing with a capitalization of 1,000,000 milreis, with shares of 

 100 milreis each, and a factory in a position to meet competition 

 from another one of its kind would cost much more than 

 1,000,000. 



Neither should we be able to fix the price of rubber because 

 there are other centers of production besides our own, which are 

 subject, like ours, to the laws of supply and demand. 

 * * * 



Tr.\ding in rubber has been almost at a standstill by reason 

 of the decline in prices, and the action of the Rubber Dealers' 

 League in holding back the amount produced from day to day. 

 For several weeks in succession there has been no transaction 

 in this line, and this enforced paralysis acts as a wet blanket on 

 the rest of the market. 



The league will, however, begin weekly auction sales similar 

 to the ones held at Antwerp, which proceeding, as it favors the 

 purchaser here and abroad through the free and open compe- 

 tition it affords, will have a very stimulating effect upon business. 



The deputy Bento Miranda submitted a bill for the considera- 

 tion of the state congress reading as follows : 



.■\rticle I. — The governor of the state shall be authorized to take 

 such measures as he may deem expedient with regard to the present 

 critical situation of rubber, in order to protect the product from the 

 unwarranted depreciation that threatens it, being empowered for this 

 purpose to take administrative action, to open credits, to create institu- 

 tions of credit and extend such assistance as he may consider necessary, 

 with the idea of reestablishing normal conditions in the market for this 

 product, and avoiding, as far as possible, excessive speculation. 



.\rt. II. — Everything now in force in contravention of the foregoing 

 is hereby repealed. 



The following are the directors, the firms to which they belong, 



and the number of tons handled by each annually : 



Tons. 



Senador Jose Porphirio de Miranda, Junior (A. F. de Sousa & Co.) . . 600 



.\ngelo Amador Leite (Leite Co., Inc.) 620 



Senador Jose Pinto Ribeiro (Mendonca & Ribeiro) 450 



Thome de Vilhena (Thome Vilhena & Co.) 250 



Wan-Dick Amanajas do Tocantins (Barbosa & Tocantins) 800 



Luiz Dias da Silva 250 



Isaac J. Roffe (Isaac J. RofFe & Co.) 330 



.\bilio Augusto Certo (Pinho & Certo) 500 



Ernesto Baptista da Cunha ( Silva Cunha & Co.) 350 



Manoel F. Barreiros Lima (Freire Castro & Co.) 300 



Antonio Brandao Dias (Martins Abreu & Co.) 



Antonio Barbosa Rodrigues (Candido Jose Rodrigues & Co.) 200 



Saul Caey (Alves Braga Rubber Estates and Trading Co., Limited)... 500 



Jose Solheiro (Solheiro & Co.) 270 



Antonio lose de Pinho (Mello & Co.) 600 



Placido Felippe Ribeiro (B. Antunes & Co.) 1,300 



Jos6 Furtado de Mendonca Sobrinho (Jose Furtado Mendonga & Co.) . SCO 



Dr. Fernando Mello (Mello, Frotas & Co.) 220 



Antonio Nunes Victoria (E. Pinto Alves & Co.) 450 



Camillo Velhote (Velhote Silva & Co.) 180 



Menasses Bensiinon (Bensimon & Coriat) ISO 



Raymundo Rocha Pereira (Pereira Lemos & Co.) 400 



Raymundo Rodrigues Vieira (Vieira & Irniao) 50 



Alfredo J. de Sousa (A. J. de Sousa Pereira & Co.) 200 



Total 9,470 



These are the principal receivers of rubber, at Para, with 

 whom others of minor importance will naturally affiliate them- 

 selves in their own interest, thereby constituting themselves a 

 veritable bloco (trust). In this way the exporter as well as the 

 small dealer will profit, as they will have but a single entity to 

 deal with — one beyond the reach of the machinations of the 

 "bears." 



Consequently the governing body — t. e., the Liga dos Aviadores 

 —receives annually 9,470 tons out of the 16,000 tons of rubber ex- 

 ported from there. [These figures do not include rubber shipped 

 direct from Manaos or other parts up the Amazon.— I. R. W.] 



