528 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[July 1, 1914. 



in its dustlessness and in its obviation of the perpetual 

 remarking of the lines. Then again, it would be more 

 comfortable to the players' feet than a court with a hard 

 surface, and would be considerably more conducive to 

 the preservation of one's equanimity under those mis- 

 haps — which will occur in the best regulated games — 

 where the player involuntarily comes down on some 

 super-sensitive part of his person. 



A resilient court would undoubtedly add considerably 

 to the liveliness of the ball, and this perhaps would seem 

 objectionable to players accustomed to a less responsive 

 ground. But it would be as fair for one as for the other. 

 In any event this rubber tennis court connected with the 

 London show is something that will interest not only 

 those addicted to the popular and salubrious game of 

 tennis, but even more the producers of rubber ; for if all 

 the tennis courts in the world, or even one in a hundred 

 of them, were to be laid with rubber, a new use would 

 be found for this product of very pleasing proportions 

 and far reaching possibilities. 



BRAZIL TO BORROW A HUNDRED MILLION MORE. 



BRAZIL has been casting about for some time to see 

 where she could borrow $100,000,000 to pay off some 

 rather pressing matters. England has been Brazil's 

 source of financial supply for a long time, but England 

 already has over half a billion dollars invested in one 

 way and another in that country and apparently begins 

 to feel rather conserv^ative regarding further advances. 

 Moreover, the Brazilian government now has a foreign 

 indebtedness of over four hundred million dollars, and 

 last year its expenditures exceeded its income by over 

 eleven million. German financiers have been appealed 

 to but have not proved particularly responsive. 



It appears now, however, that this loan will be made, 

 not by the financiers of any one country, but by an inter- 

 national group of bankers, probably about the same group 

 as co-operated to assist China. It is stated that some of 

 the large New York banking interests will participate 

 in this Brazilian financing to the extent of twenty million 

 dollars. Under just what terms this loan will be made 

 does not yet appear, but the probability is, under existing 

 conditions, that they will be fairly onerous. 



It is unfortunate that Brazil, with her vast wealth iif 

 rubber trees, not ten per cent, of which have probably 

 yet been touched, and with her great coft'ee product and 

 other wonderful resources, should be compelled to burden 

 herself with debt. 



THE DEMORALIZING FORCE OF HOLIDAYS. 



THE medical superintendent of a large manufacturing 

 corporation, in a recent address before an efficiency 

 society, discussed the relation existing between the weekly 

 day of rest and the effectiveness of the workman. He 

 had kept a careful record of 1,300 accidents in the plant 

 with which he was connected and found that of this num- 



ber 253 occurred on Mondays, 196 on Tuesdays, 194 on- 

 Wednesdays, 197 on Thursdays, 195 on Fridays and 265 

 on Saturdays. That is, from Tuesday to Friday, in- 

 clusive, the average number per day was practically the 

 same, varying only from 194 to 197, while on Saturday 

 the number increased over 33 per cent, and on Monday 

 was 30 per cent, above the normal. The explanation 

 given by the doctor — which would be obvious without 

 any expert authorit}- — lies in the fact that on Saturday 

 the workman has his mind on the coming holiday rather 

 than upon his work, while on Monday he has not yet re- 

 covered from the strain and fatigue of the "day of rest." 



These same conditions hold good to even a greater ex- 

 tent with the annual two weeks' vacation. Without any 

 statistical table for reference, everyone knows that the 

 efficiency of the workman, whether in clerical or factory 

 capacity, is greatly diminished during the week or two 

 before the summer holiday and during the week or two 

 succeeding it — for the very palpable reason that preced- 

 ing the vacation one's mind is naturally on time tables, 

 hotel rates and similar preparatory details, and following 

 the vacation some time is required to get the harness 

 comfortably adjusted again. 



But this is by no means an argument in favor of 

 abandoning either the weekly or the annual summer holi- 

 day. Both are not only beneficial but essential. It is,, 

 rather, a mild suggestion to the workman, whether his 

 work be mental or manual, that he should enter upon 

 the enjoyment of his holidays with a rational regard for 

 the maximum amount of benefit to be derived from them. 

 Let him temper his relaxation with moderation and not 

 rest with too much strenuositv. 



President Pena, of Argentina, in a book which 

 is a long farrago of historical inaccuracies and un- 

 warranted assumptions, says that the Monroe Doctrine 

 should be called the gutta-percha doctrine because it is so 

 elastic that it can be stretched to any conceivable degree 

 or returned to convenient length. President Pena clearly 

 knows about as much about gutta-percha as he does 

 about history or the proprieties of the great office he 

 holds. It is a matter of plain history that the United 

 States has interposed on various occasions to protect 

 the states of Latin America from subjection or dismem- 

 berment. It has spent blood and treasure for their free- 

 dom and stands ready to do it again. So far from coveting 

 the soil of its neighbors it has more than once rejected pro- 

 posals of annexation made by the countries to the South. 

 Intelligent and informed Latin Americans know all this 

 to be true, but unfortunately all Latin Americans do not 

 come under that description. And there is another class 

 of Latin American politicians — those who resent the 

 fact that the United States stands ready to block any 

 traitorous plan which these politicians would like to 

 carry out in selling their own or a neighboring country 

 to the highest European bidder for naval bases or colo- 

 nies. Hence these tears. Pena in Spanish means pain. 



