296 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



IJUNE 1, 1911. 



■EI 



Arglmknt. 

 Saccharin, which may be termed for the sake of this 

 argument synthetic sugar, has 500 times the sweetening 

 power of commercial sugar. It i§ a chemical product and 

 if the pure food laws were favorable would revolutionize 

 a score of industries that are today the greatest users 

 of cane and beet sugar. 



The Case Suppositious. 



Chemists and experimenters are constantly essaying 

 the production of synthetic rubber "equal to the best Up- 

 river fine." Why not produce a colloid that is infinitely 

 superior to Para? Produce a colloidal parallel for sac- 

 charin. Granting that a pound of Para will easily as- 

 similate a pound of carbonate of lime and still lie strong, 

 resilient and durable, let the chemist evolve a substance a 

 pound of which will assimilate 500 pounds of adulterant 

 and be equal to the Para compound. It does not matter 

 what the cost of the base from which it is made or how 

 rare the ingredients employed, the substance will be so 

 valuable that at $300 a pound it will be a better purchase 

 than Para at $1. It would be by far the most valuable 

 product used in the arts. Instead of tons of crude the 

 great companies could get along with pounds, the little 

 ones with ounces. .A small manufacturer could bring in 

 his week's supply in his coat-tail pockets, and use his safe 

 for a drying room. Alore valuable than gold, pound for 

 pound, infinitely more useful in the arts, it would make 

 itself the medium of exchange and jnit that heavy and 

 actually useless metal down with lead, where it belongs. 



Navy specifications would sternly call ■' fot' not less 

 than 1,000 per cent, of synthetic PanijaM' a thousandth 

 of a grain less would bring a:b6ut Tejebtinn of the goods. 



It would be sold by photograph, and sworn analysis 

 rather than by sample and shipped in bullion chests 

 guarded by Pinkerton detectives. Special armed guards 

 would be necessary, in every factory grinding room. 

 Steel vaults with time locks would be its storehouse. 



.All that and much more at $.^00 a jKinnd. Put sui>pose 

 it were put on the market at $3 a pound. No one can 

 comprehend the industrial revolution that would follow. 

 Rubber roads would stretch from city to city and rubber 

 tires would be unnecessary. Cattle would no longer be 

 slaughtered for their hides for rubber leather would be 

 so much better and cheaj-er that shoe, trunk and harness 

 manufacturers could not atYord to use anything else. 

 Iron, lumber and paper would have to reckon with a 

 rival so cheap, so adaptable, so easily worked, that they 

 would have the greatest difficulty in competing. 



There is, to be sure, no indication that such a dis- 



covery is imminent. Indeed, "just as good as fine" is not 



yet accomplished. But .who can s^y Wshat will eventuate 



if only tli9 'tighf efTort is j)ut fprjh. "■ Aih:ing at some- 



^ > ' — . * ' " V ' ■ * ' '. 



thing reiich better than Para migJit oring' about 'a prcxduct 



at le^st equal to it. Xcjt failure but low aim applies. 



With apologies. 



Work cahnly in thy rubber mill, 



Oh, thou, whoe'er thou art; 



And let no wild synthetic dreams 



Oppress thy fearful heart. 



MECHANICAL TAPPERS AND GATHERERS. 



nPHE late J. B. Carruthers when at the head of the 

 •'■ Botanical Gardens in Trinidad, expressed himself 

 as doubtful of the possibility of planters of Hevea any- 

 where in the .\mericas competing with those in the Far 

 East. He acknowledged that everything in the way of 

 climate, soil and moisture was ideal in the Guianas, for 

 example, but the labor cost seemed to him an insur- 

 mountable obstacle. That is to say, 15 ceiUs a day as 

 against 40 cents for a coolie was enough to make a mar- 

 velously profitable business in Malaya unprofitable in 

 Guiana. Were Para rubber to drop to 50 cents a pound 

 and stay there, it doubtless would cause those who are 

 considering planting in the Americas to pause, but such 

 an eventuality is hardly possible for years to come, at 

 least. Plantation Para costs in the Far East, say 25 

 cents a pound. In the Guianas it may cost 35 cents, per- 

 haps 40 cents, but even at that it will be a marvelously 

 profitable crop. 



Then, again, it must be remembered that labor costs in 

 the East are gradually .going up. It is not improbable 

 that with the enormous expansion in planting in Ceylon 

 the Federated Malay States. Java. Sumatra, Borneo, etc., 

 labor will become scarcer and wage scales appreciate con- 

 siderably. Then, too, there is the mechanical faculty of 

 the Ainerican planter to be taken into account. It is by 

 no means thinkable that the last word has been said upon 

 methods of tapping, gathering and coagulating. With 

 trees set in orderly rows equally distant one from an- 

 other, who can say that it is impossible to operate me- 

 chanical tappers and gatherers that will do the work of 

 hundreds of coolies? When the Yankee gets too far be- 

 hind in the race for any sort of supremac\-. he is likely 

 to discover some short cut that lands him at the goal with 

 the rest. He certainly is far behind in the produetion of 

 systems of tapping and gathering now. Nearly all of the 

 successful ones are of English origin, and are the result 

 of much labor and experiment. To Ijctter them is to 

 possess and utilize genuine mechanical genius. 



