October 1, 1913.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



prices are bound to tend downward as the years go by, 

 there appears to be nothing in the present situation or in 

 the immediate future to indicate any continuous low level 



of prices. 



WILL THE EASTERN PLANTERS TRY A CORNER. 



THE BUSINESS OF STEALING RUBBER. 



T"" \ i'.RY now and tlien the rubber trade wakes up 

 •*— ' to tlic fact that rubber stealing is still going on. 

 It is not that more rubber is stolen, but some one of 

 the stealers blunders and thus centers attention upon 

 this profitable and secret phase of the rubber industry. 

 E\en tiien it is h Hiked upon only as an incident. 



As a matter of fact, however, the stealing of crude 

 rubber has long since ceased to be incidental. It is a 

 business — and a \ery serious business, too, for many 

 manufacturers. It would seem, on the face of it, as if 

 this were a ])ractice that might readily be stopped, for 

 crude rubber is not a commodity in general use. Its 

 natural movement is through w-ell defined channels, 

 and when it is offered outside of them suspicion is at 

 once created. The only people who under normal 

 conditions would have crude rubber to offer are im- 

 porters, brokers, and, in some cases, manufacturers 

 who have a surplus stock. Anyone else, who tries to 

 sell a few pounds or possibly a few hundred pounds of 

 crude rubber, becomes, by the very nature of the cir- 

 cumstances, a suspicious person. .Anyone who pur- 

 chases such small offerings from unknown people 

 must be aware that he is probably buying stolen 

 goods. 



Xaturall}-, rubber that is secured at no expense — 

 other than the infraction of such trifles as the moral 

 and statute laws — is sold at a considerable concession 

 in price. To whom is it sold? Find that out and the 

 stealing of rubber can be stopped. Where there are 

 thousands of workmen — not all of them scrupulijusl}' 

 honest — the temptation to take a few- pounds of un- 

 guarded rubber is bound sometimes to be too strong 

 to resist; and it is impossible to keep close watch of 

 this great army of employes. But the number of 

 avenues through which this stolen rubber can be dis- 

 posed of is comparatively small and more readily dis- 

 covered. A list of workmen or rag-pickers or freight 

 handlers who occasionally get away with a pound of 

 rubber would be of no avail in stopping rubber steal- 

 ing. But a list of the big firms which buy the aggre- 

 gation of these pounds would show any stealings com- 

 mittee where to begin work. 



nPHERE are rumors, coming by way of the European 

 ■*■ press and through other channels, that the .Middle 

 East planters, being very much dissatisfied with the 

 prices which have recently ruled for plantation rubber, 

 have decided to take concerted action ''to restore plan- 

 tation prices to their normal level." 



This gives rise to two questions: What is the "nor- 

 mal" price for plantation rubber? and, if purchasers 

 will not give it how are the planters going to get it? 



Speaking of rubber in general, it woidd be rather 

 difficult to discover just what its normal price is. 

 Many years ago the normal price for crude rubber was 

 25 cents, and for some years it remained under 50 

 cents. Two years ago it was between $2 and $3. At 

 present the normal price may be located at about 90 

 cents for Para, with jdantation crepe about 15 per cent, 

 lower. 



In other commodities — at least those whose produc- 

 tion and consumption have been on an established 

 basis for many years, and where an increase in con- 

 sumption is followed by a natural proportionate in- 

 crease in production — it may very properly be said 

 that there is a normal price; but the conditions in the 

 rubber trade have been extremely unsettled for a num- 

 ber of years, the advent about ten years ago of the 

 automobile, with its tire, increasing the consumption 

 with extreme rapidity, while the maturing of planta- 

 tion trees has now begun to increase the production 

 out of all proportion to the natural increase in demand. 

 So what the normal price of rubber will be five years or 

 even three years from now is wholly a matter of con- 

 jecture. 



But the planter's chief complaint is that his rubber 

 is selling so far below Para; and he proposes to correct 

 this disparity. But how is he going to do it? Rubber 

 niaiuifacturers do not prefer Para out of mere preju- 

 dice. Their only prejudice is to get the most they can 

 for their money. And the planter's problem is simply 

 to persuade the manufacturer that he can get as much 

 out of plantation rubber as out of the product of the 

 Amazon. Then he can get an equal price. The 

 planters disclaim all intention of trying to effect a 

 "corner," but they say that they hope so to systema- 

 tize the selling channels through which their rubber 

 passes that prices will be materially advanced. It may 

 be quite possible, of course, for them to improve their 

 methods of salesmanship, but they can do this not by 

 putting artificial restrictions on the sale of their 



