466 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[September 1, 1911. 



without an upper deck. The latter, with its narrow 

 and winding stairway, has been found in Europe to be 

 inconvenient and unsafe for women and children. 



Another point for consideration is that of fare. If 

 autobuses, as in the case of those running on Filth 

 avenue (carrying 16 passengers below and 18 above), 

 have to charge a ten-cent fare, then the average pas- 

 senger will select one of the parallel five-cent surface 

 car lines. E.xtension of Paris traveling facilities seems 

 to be chiefly in the direction of the autobus, while in 

 New York new subways are apparently being looked 

 to for the solution of the problem of locomotion. 

 Developments, and particularly results, in Paris will be 

 watched with interest by those interested in the pas- 

 senger traffic of American cities. 



DO EXCHANGES MINIMIZE SPECULATION? 



OXE of the principal arguments urged in favor of 

 exchanges generally, and which has been quoted 

 in favor of a rubber exchange, is the claim that such 

 bodies minimize t^uctuations in value. This conten- 



•il90/ \/902 \/905\/90f\ /905 '^^'^\'^°7'908\I909 15^^ 



Fluctuatioks of Raw Cotton. 



tion is disproved in the case of the most important 

 New York exchanges. During the years 1909 and 

 1910 No. 2 Red Wheat rose on the New York Produce 

 Exchange from $1.09 to $1.49, and then dropped to 



Fluctuations of Australian Wool. 



98 cents. No. 2 Red Corn has, within the last fifteen 

 years, ranged, per bushel, from 33 to 78 cents ; average 

 price for December, 1910, having been 57 cents, 

 against 7Z cents in the preceding January ; a fall of 

 nearly 25 per cent. 



Middling Upland cotton during the period from 

 1900 to 1910, ranged (according to Mr. Alfred B. 

 Shepperson's "Cotton Facts") from 6.85, in 1904, to 

 19.75 in 1910; thus showing a fluctuation almost 

 equalling that which, for a short time, tripled the price 

 of rubber. 



Not only have the leading exchanges failed to pro- 

 duce steadiness in values, but in other branches the 

 absence of exchanges has, through the restriction of 

 the speculative element, prevented the extreme fluctua- 

 tions, which it is desired to avoid. For instance: 

 Australian combing wool, between 1901 and 1910, 

 fluctuated between 33 and 44 cents per pound, while, 

 as has been shown cotton ranged from 6.85 to 19.75. 

 These comparative fluctuations are illustrated by sub- 

 joined charts, through the courtesy of the Textile 

 Manufacturers' Journal. 



Wool and rubber have many points in common, 

 notably the question of clean product, and both are, 

 to a certain extent, influenced by London auction 

 prices. The failure of the attempt to establish a wool 

 exchange in New York some fifteen years ago, will 

 still be in the memory of downtown New York mer- 

 chants. The stately building at the corner of Beach 

 street and W^est Broadway is all that remains of the 

 project, which was opposed by the wool trade at large, 

 as being detrimental and unnecessary. 



The interest taken in rubber in Great Britain is easily 

 understood when the market prices of the stocks in the various 

 companies, based on the dividends they are paying, or are ex- 

 pected to pay. are considered. For instance : stock in the Selan- 

 gor Company has a par value of 2 shilHngs (48 cents) per share, 

 and sells at £5 ($24.33) ; Pataling, with a par value of 50 cents, 

 is quoted at $15. and Batu Caves, par value $5, brings $75. 



Fire Commissioner Johnson, of New York, has about $750,0(X) 

 available for the purchase of automobile apparatus, of which he 

 expects to have ISO pieces within eight months. A Board has 

 been appointed to elaborate plans for the wholesale introduction 

 of automobile engines, in which gasolene will do away with 

 steam pumping. Plans have been asked by the Board from 

 manufacturers of gasolene propelled engines. 



A statistician in the United States department of agriculture 

 has compiled a long list of articles in general use among the 

 farmers of the country, with average prices — supplied by retail 

 dealers — showing the advance in cost from 1899 to 1909. The 

 prices of farm products are also compared. The net result is to 

 show an average advance during the ten years on the articles 

 purchased by farmers of about 12 per cent., while the purchasing 

 power of an acre under cultivation has advanced 54 per cent 

 Rubber boots figure among farmers' supplies, $3.34 being given 

 as the average figure in 18S9 and $4.18 in 1909 — the advance 

 being 29 per cent. It might be added that whereas the average 

 price of fine Upriver Para rubber during 19(X) was only fl.Sfl 

 per pound, it has advanced ten years later to $2.01, or an increase 

 of about 29 per cent. 



