112 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



I January 1, 1911. 



Goebilt, in Borneo, solely in ilie rubber interest. An- 

 other is the investment in rubber plantations in the 

 Far East by the largest rubber manufacturing com- 

 pany in tlie country. Already .\mcrican india-rubber 

 merchants are established for buying purposes in 

 every primary market of importance, and it has been 

 noted that the largest buying at the recently estab- 

 lished rubber auctions in Ceylon has been for Ameri- 

 can account. Americans are planting rubber in evei}' 

 country in which it grows on this hemisphere; they 

 are interested in such important measures for tapping 

 rubber fields as the IMadeira-Maniore railway ; they 

 hold rubber concessions in Africa. 



Some of the interests here referred to may be small 

 as yet compared with what some other countries can 

 show in the same fields, but they are of recent develop- 

 ment. Moreover, they are not based upon speculation, 

 for the most part, but represent substantial invest- 

 ment. It is only logical that they should become 

 greatly extended, in the near future, in view of the 

 large share of the world's production that is required 

 for American factories. Ultimately we may exiiec*^ 

 not only to see the rubber consumed in the I'ni'ed 

 States produced under American auspices, but large 

 manufacturing companies controlling the sources of 

 their supplies. 



THE AMERICAN DEMAND FOR RUBBER. 



THE continued growth in population of the United 

 States of America, as indicated by the late decennial 

 census, is in itself a point of no little importance to the 

 rubber interest as a whole : what is of even more im- 

 portance is the increasing buying capacity of the 

 American public — something which, while apparent in 

 many ways, is not to be measured by any official census 

 return. The recently announced results by the census 

 bureau of the population for 1910 permit of the following 

 comparison for ten year periods, together with which are 

 given the imports, for corresponding periods, of crude 

 india-rubber, not including gutta-percha, jelutong. balata, 

 or the like : 



1890. 



I'f.pul.aion 62.947,714 



Imports (in pounds) 33,712.089 



1900. 1910. 



75,994,575 91,972,266 



49,397.138 101,078,825 



It will be plain fmm these figures that the increase 

 in the consumption of rubber in the United States has 

 been at a greater rate than the growth of population. It 

 is true that the rubber imported has not all been consumed 

 in the United States, but nearly so. Meanwhile the 

 population in non-contiguous territories which have come 

 under the control of the United States, and not included 

 in the above figures, now exceeds 10,000,000, and these 

 people are becoming users of india-rubber goods. Be- 

 sides, the exports to rubber manufactures to wholly 

 foreign countries have increased in value, during twenty 

 years, from $1,236,443 to $9,060,893. 



Twenty years ago the per capita imports of rubber in 



the United States were less than a half pound; last year, 

 in addition to the large increase in populaltion, the imports 

 per capita amounted to considerably more than one 

 pound, and this at a time when the price of rubber was 

 at a higher ])rice than was ever known before. At the 

 same time, there has been a notable growth in America 

 in the use of lower, but useful, grades of rubber, of which 

 no account is taken in the statistics which appear in this 

 ;irticle. 



But more than this : The typical agriculturist of a large 

 section of the L'nited States two decades ago held his 

 farm under mortgage and was compelled to limit his 

 products to the lowest possible limit, whereas to-day in 

 the same regions the average farmer is a bank depositor, 

 and looked upon as a most desirable customer for auto- 

 mobiles — and rul)ber tires. 



Whatever the rest of the world ma)' show, the condi- 

 tions of life and business in the United States are most 

 encouraging (1), to producers of crude rubber and (2"). 

 to makers of rubber afoods. 



Rubber has been going higher than ever during the past 

 montli — at least in the form of aeroplane fabrics. 



If three dollar rubber failed to bring out a synthetic product 

 commercially available, what higher price will be necessary to 

 bring it out? 



While there is no trade more progressive than the rubber 

 business, there is none more conservative. Else we should not 

 continue to see "boots and shoes" advertised always as if boots 

 were the more important item, whereas the number of pairs of 

 rubber shoes worn is many fold greater. 



How IT WOULD HAVE DELIGHTED the late Colonel George Earl 

 Church, could he have Hved only a year longer, which would 

 have given him an opportunity to hear of the practical operation 

 of the Madeira-Mamore railway, which he worked so long and 

 so earnestly to promote. Not only is this important entering 

 wedge into a hitherto almost inaccessible country a reality, but 

 the work of progress of which it is the most tangible representa- 

 tion bids fair to continue indefinitelv. 



The automobile shows now in progress and shortly to be 

 held are on a larger scale and more elaborate and complete than 

 their predecessors ; they are sure to be largely attended, and no 

 doubt much business can be directly credited to them. At the 

 same time there are indications that the "automobile shows,'' as 

 the term is now understood, will soon be a thing of the past— in 

 New York, at least. The streets of this city daily afford a vastly 

 greater automobile show than could be organized in any one 

 liuilding, and it is at once perpetual and constantly changing. 

 Picsides, the street show forces the automobile upon the atten- 

 tion of the public, while the indoor shows reach only those per- 

 sons who can be induced to pay to enter. There may be local 

 automobile exhibitions in many towns for years to come, but 

 not at the direct expense of the makers, as is now the case. 

 Whatever is said here of automobiles applies equally to tires, 

 witliout which, of course, there would be no automobiles. 



Some of the newspapers that know so much more about the 

 rubber industry than the people who own the industry and work 

 to keep it going continue to try to connect a certain United 



