June 1. L911.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



297 



THEATRES OR EXPERIMENT STATIONS? 



A MEXICAN friend draws our attention to a magnifi- 

 cent theater building by his government cost- 

 ing $8,000,000, witli proliably tlie most elaborate and 

 costly piece of glass tapestry ever produced. Americans, 

 English and (Germans have invested somewhere about 

 20,000,000 of dollars in Caslilloa and guayule in Mexico. 

 For a tithe of $8,000,000 two or three experiment stations 

 could have been established, and scores of the vexatious 

 problems that the planters and extractors have wrestled 

 with alone, could have been solved scientifically and 

 quickly. Such action on the part of the Mexican govern- 

 ment would not only result in profit to the comitry, but 

 would attract more capital, keep more laborers employed. 

 The Casfilloa is indigenous in Mexico. There are many 

 varieties of this interesting tree — the chistica, Mark- 

 haiiiiaiui, tunn. Ulci. etc., etc. The privilege, nay, the 

 duty, of tlie Mexican government was to experiment with 

 every one of these. To find the best for cultivation and 

 advise and help planters. To study tapping and coagula- 

 tion and point the best way. Then, too, with guavule 

 {Pxirtltciiiitm ai\^ciitiiliiiii ) the problem of its propagation, 

 and, indeed, of its extraction belonged to a government 

 agricultural board. We are very friendly to Mexico. 

 She has been good to many Americans, but $8,000,000 of 

 government money for a theater and nothing for rubber 

 is imfortunate. Perhaps, however, the experiment sta- 

 tions are vet to come. 



LISTEN TO THE RUBBER BAND. 



QL'T your ear to the ground and listen to the insistent 

 ^ demand of wholesaler and retailer for lower priced 

 goods. Crude rubber dropped to $1.12, and Ihey believe 

 that prices of manufactured goods should be immediately 

 revised to that level. Does it interest thcni that that was 

 only a price on jiaper, designed to start the manufac- 

 turer buying to the end that a rising market coerce all of 

 the rest to come in and ]nit it still higher? Not a whit, 

 rubber was wdien they placed their contracts? Will they 

 guarantee any sort of new level of low prices for crude 

 rubber for six months or a year? In tlie event of a 

 sudden rise, are they likely to urge an advance in list 

 prices or a diminution of discounts? Not they. Put 

 not one-half of a whit. Do they remember how high 

 your ear to the ground — the deaf one. 



THE A. C. A. SPECIAL TIRE. 



THE announcement that the .\utomobile Club of 

 America was to sell an automobile tire to its mem- 

 bers, that is, a special tire bearing its own brand, attracted 



a great deal of attention and much comment, adverse and 

 othcrw-ise. As to who manufactures it the consenus of 

 opinion among thost- who handle automobiles pointed to a 

 concern new in the field, not very large, and one that had 

 never made a record as a producer of high-grade tires. In 

 other words, they believed that the officials of the club had 

 been f<ioled. Such, however, is very far from being the 

 case. It transpires thai tlu- company who are to build 

 these tires which, by the way, will be ready for delivery 

 to members of the club in all regular sizes as we go to 

 press, is one of the large tire producers. Its experience 

 in liri' manufacture, its equipment and responsibility, 

 are beyond criticism. 



The club for this special tire is paying 25 per cent, 

 more than it would pay for any standard tire on the 

 market. Willi its large membership, together with the 

 alert, intelligent management of the accessories depart- 

 ment, tlie club will undoubtedly furnish a great number 

 of tires. It is understood, however, that the club officials 

 have no desire to discriminate against any of the standard 

 makes of tires which they will supply to members on 

 requisition. 



.Amerua.v m.\nufacturers, who .\ue looking for 

 foreign trade, owe a debt of gratitude to the Bureau of 

 -Manufactures of the Diparlment of Commerce and Labor 

 at Washington, the extent of which they hardly recog- 

 nize, for the work it is doing in clearing for them the way 

 to export business. The foreign tariff work the bureau is 

 doing is among the most important of its labors, and no 

 expense or trouble is spared to keep its records and pub- 

 lications in this department complete and up to date. 

 Information in relation to the tariffs of foreign countries 

 can always be obtained on application to the bureau, and 

 a list of individuals and firms engaged in foreign trade, 

 showing the lines of goods and the countries in which 

 each is particularly interested, is now in course of com- 

 pilation, so that exporters may be kept fully informed of 

 all tariff changes abroad and subjects selected for imme- 

 diate treatment in the Ihilletins that will prove most gen- 

 erally hel])ful. 



Unse.\son.\ule we,\tiier m.w me.\n much to rubber 

 M.\xuF..\CTURER.s. Late snows or none, lack of slush in 

 city and town, notalily restrict the sales of rubber foot- 

 wear. "Dry spells" spell disaster to makers of rubber 

 clothing and mackintoshes, and a late, cold spring re- 

 sults in no garden hose business, and a greatly restricted 

 sale of pneumatic tires, which latter condition is one from 

 which we are but just emerging. 



