Mav i; 1911.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



phrase, a bit of word painting, that needs no fact to 

 make it interesting. Poets and orators, if they live up 

 to their opportunities, all deal in that sort of lurid 

 phraseology. Like Bryan's "Cross of Gold," it hits the 

 popular fanc)', and it does no harm. It is not worth 

 while denying either the mystery or its bombastic 

 adjective, for fire hose departments of practically every 

 rubber factor}' in the world are open to the orator or 

 to anyone else who has excuse for visiting ihem. 

 Monstrous Mysterv? Mi-llilhicnt mush! 



WHY CRY CALAMITY? 



r).\SI"n on recent political changes at Washington, 

 '—' on the altogether improbable cimtingency of pos- 

 sible complications with some foreign power, on the 

 trusts "bogey," on the backward spring season, which, 

 by the way, promises to result in exceptionally good 

 crops, the alleged prospect of labor troubles or some 

 other, equally remote, and in most instances wholly 

 visionary cause, we note a tendency in some quarters 

 to predict impending commercial and industrial ca- 

 lamity, financial cataclysms, and all sorts of terrors, of 

 the kind that disjoint the times generally. 



That these hysterical utterances are wholly gratu- 

 itous and their ostensible causes without the least 

 foundation or reason, will be evident after a calm re- 

 view of conditions prevailing throughout the country, 

 which prove, not only that pessimism is unwarranted, 

 but that there are am])Ie grounds for anticipating wide- 

 spread jjrosperity. The basic wealth of the country 

 comes from the productions of the soil. The former 

 creates wealth : the railroad, manufacturer and mer- 

 chant only develop and handle it. Unless the producer 

 prospers the other lines must also suffer. Prosperity 

 for the producer means well-being all along the line, 

 means that railroads will haul heavy trains, workmen 

 in factories will be fully employed, merchants will 

 have customers, and all collateral branches of business 

 will receive -patronage in proportion. The first thing 

 to estimate, therefore, is the promise to the producer. 



From ever}- present report the prospect was never 

 brighter. The acreage for almost every crop has been 

 largely increased for the coming season, and every 

 report of present crop condition is highly satisfactory. 

 The president of the largest bank in .America, return- 

 ing a few weeks ago from an ll,(XX}-milc trip through- 

 out the farming country of the south and west, ex- 

 pressed the opinion that the return to the American 



farmer in 1911 would be approximately eight billion 

 dollars. .\nd such a return will represent far greater 

 profits than ever before. Scientific farming in the 

 west, as taught by the Department of Agriculture, 

 has increased the yield of wheat from 13 bushels to 

 20 bushels to the acre, has added 30 per cent, to the 

 yield of corn, has introduced diversification of crops, 

 has created orchards and small-fruit gardens, and with 

 these increases has reduced the cost of production. 

 Demonstration farms in the south have shown that 

 land which L;rew 400 pounds of cotton to the acre can 

 lie made to produce 1,500 pounds. (Dther crops have 

 been increased in like pro])ortion. and the jiroducer's 

 return, in dollars, is far greater than e\'er before in the 

 histor\- of the m nnitrw 



If all this development means anything to the coun- 

 lr\. it means that the buying power of the ]iublic will 

 he \-astly incri'ased. that the market for manufactured 

 articles, whether thev be of iron, textile, or rubber, 

 will be tremendously developed. It means that more 

 tires, more mechanical rubber goods, more footwear 

 will be bought as surplus pocket money becomes more 

 plentiful. Factories will be busier, merchants will 

 prosjier. and the jieople will buy. It means that the 

 calamity howler will lie relegated to a seat way back 

 in the rear. 



The high i>rice of rubber during the year 1910 has 

 had a stimulative effect that should not be overlooked, 

 on the activity of those inventors who devote their at- 

 tention to the production of synthetic rubber, rubber 

 substitutes, and the perfection of the various processes 

 for the reclamation or other means of using old rubber. 

 Even the soya bean, a staple article of food supply in 

 the far east, and the residue of which, after extraction 

 of the oil, in the form of beancake, is, with the bean 

 itself, imported into Europe, for use as cattle feed, has 

 been laid under contribution by the indefatigable 

 searchers for a raw material for artificial rubber, a 

 German patent having been issued for the manufac- 

 ture of artificial rid)ber from sova bean oil. 



Reference has been made on various occasions in the columns 

 of The Indi.\ Rubber World, to the extraordinary durability 

 displayed by rubber tires, as compared with steel tires doing the 

 same work under similar conditions, the result being invariably 

 favorable to the rubber tire. A case recently brought to our 

 attention merits particular notice. A Diamond tire was removed 

 from an automobile in Spokane, Wash., after having been in use 

 since 1908, witli .i mileage of 30,000 miles to its credit. 



