November 1, 1913.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



53 



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Published on the 1st of each Month by 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING GO 



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HENRY C. PEARSON, Editor 



Vol. 49. 



NOVEMBER 1. 1913. 



No. 2 



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TABLE OF CONTENTS ON LAST PAGE OF READING. 



IS SINGAPORE TO BE THE FUTURE RUBBER 

 MARKET? 





'I'll I'.RIl appears on another page in this issue a 

 letter from Singapore setting forth the claims of 

 that port to be considered the rubber shipping market 

 of the world. Our correspondent has been prominent 

 in rubber circles of the Federated Malay States for a 

 good many years and is thoroughly familiar with the 

 ground he covers. He estimates that in the year 1914 

 the Malayan rubber yield will be 55,000 tons, in 1913 

 75,000 tons, and that by 1917 or 1918 the Malayan 

 product will equal 140,000 tons. He then proceeds to 

 show by means of comparative tables of cost, in which 

 he goes much into detail, that it would be greatly to. 

 the advantage of American rubber importers — even 

 at the present time — to buy plantation rubber direct 

 from Singapore rather than from London. 



According to the figures, which lie has jjrepared 

 with obvious care, there would be a saving to the 

 New York buyer of 2 per cent. — or, in other words, 

 he would be able to buy rubber in Singapore and 

 have it delivered in New York at its present cost of 

 delivery in London — thereby saxinc' all the extra 



freight charges and the various handling 

 now added tn the cii>t Iiccause of reshipment. 



There would also be the great advantage, which has ' '" 

 been repeatedly pointed out in these columns, of re- '^'"^^ 

 ceiving the rubber in New York in its original cases, 

 for, as our correspondent states: "All the rubber pur- 

 chased in London for America is mixed up, and one 

 lot may consist of breaks from Ceylon^ Straits, Borneo, 

 and Sumatra, etc., all difTerent climates; and the rub- 

 ber, altho exact in appearance, will give quite different 

 reactions. L.y purchase here (Singapore), the consumer 

 would know even the estate every parcel came from." 



The planters would profit by these direct shipments 

 quite as much as the New York importers, and, with 

 the exception of those who are under long-time agree- 

 ments with Lcindon agents, they are very anxious to 

 make this direct connection. As the shipment of 

 plantation rubber direct to New York would be profit- 

 able both to the American buyers and to the Middle 

 East sellers (the only obstacle standing in its way 

 being the tradition that London is the gateway of the 

 East), it is a foregone conclusion that the planters 

 and the importers will very soon come to an under- 

 standing and rubber be shipped direct from Singapore 

 to New York. It is a clear case where the middleman 

 no longer serves any useful purpose. He has lost his 

 laisoii d'etre. 



A LOOSE PIECE OF LEGISLATION 



r'ROM the days of Moses down to Solon and from 

 Solon down to the present time the making of 

 laws has always been thought to belong to superior 

 minds of exceptional wisdom; and that is the reason 

 why our members of Congress are so carefully selected 

 with reference to their ripe intelligence. But in the hurry 

 and stress of Washington life occasionally a piece of 

 legislation goes through the halls of Congress that 

 fills the lay mind with wonderment if not with con- 

 sternation. Such a bill has recently been passed. It 

 is known as the Kahn law. Its purpose is to protect 

 foreign exhibitors at the San Francisco Fair in their 

 ownership of patents, copyrights and trade-marks; and 

 in its endeavor to throw ample protection about this 

 foreign ownership it distinctly endangers the rights of 

 the American manufacturer, and unless amended con- 

 stitutes a grave menace. 



It provides that the Librarian of Congress and the 

 Commissioner of Patents shall establish a branch office 

 at the fair where ''the proprietor of any certificate of 



