222 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[February 1, 1914. 



Regretfully he would reply that he would be glad to 

 give the names of the books wanted, but that he himself, 

 during many years, had been searching unsuccessfully 

 for the desired literature. Finally he was forced to write 

 an editorial on "The Paucity of Rubber Literature," 

 saying that inquirers would not soon find the books they 

 were searching for because they did not exist. As mat- 

 ters stood at that time there was but one counsel to give, 

 and that was given — to study in the school of experience. 

 The books were few and of doubtful value and "as to 

 finding books which will let them into the secrets of the 

 business, such books do not now exist." 



Seven years later the condition had changed so little 

 that the long-suffering editor, answering the perennial 

 and insistent question, told one correspondent that no 

 books were to be had, but that he might consult the arti- 

 cles on "India Rubber" and "Caoutchouc" in the standard 

 encyclopedias, after which, if he would talk with an in- 

 telligent operative from a good rubber factory, he might 

 learn something about the rubber business. But if the 

 disappointed seekers of those days are still interested in 

 the theme they need not go athirst. The Sahara of that 

 period is more like a Niagara today. There are books 

 on every branch of the rubber business, and, it might be 

 said, every twig of every branch. There are books on 

 the gathering and coagulation of wild rubber; books on 

 planting and cultivation and marketing ; books on planta- 

 tion management, on buying crude rubber and on selling 

 it, on vulcanization, on every phase of manufacture, and 

 on the testing of rubber goods after they are manufac- 

 tured. 



There are books on the botany of rubber plants, with 

 monographs on Hevea, Castilloa, Ficiis and Fimtuiiiia. 

 There are books and still more books on the chemistry 

 of rubber, and its laboratory companions. There are pam- 

 phlets and booklets and leaflets in stacks, telling of ex- 

 periments in rubber culture in public gardens. There 

 are directories of buyers and sellers, exporters and plan- 

 tation syndicates. If the reader does not want his liter- 

 ature served up in the English language he may have 

 it done in French, German, Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish 

 or Japanese. He may regale himself with books on tires 

 and toys and rubber hand stamps, books of statistics, of 

 "shares" and of exhibitions. He can feast himself on all 

 the courses, from the possibilities of the guayule shrub 

 to why the ultimate consumer's rubber shoes part at the 

 seams ; and he can write down his reflections in a "Rub- 

 ber Diary and Year Book." He can read picturesque 

 and interesting tales of travel in lands where the rubber 

 tree grows, from Borneo to Brooklyn. He can read 



"popular" books by writers who think that crude rubber 

 is gutta percha, or he can give his mind to thoughtful 

 little brochures on "Fungoid Diseases of Funtumia" or 

 "Insurance of Rubber Trees." When he gets through 

 with all of these, if he thinks another book on the rubber 

 business is needed, he can write it himself — and prob- 

 ably will. But at least and at last, the editor is relieved 

 of the task of explaining to disappointed readers that 

 there are no books on the rubber business. 



PRIZES TO BE AWARDED AT THE LONDON RUB- 

 BER EXPOSITION. 



THE Fourth International Rubber and Allied In- 

 dustries Exhibition, which is to be held in Lon- 

 don next June and July, will be distinguished from its 

 three predecessors by the exceptionally large number 

 of prizes and trophies which have been offered by 

 various associations and which will be awarded to the 

 successful competitors at that time. Many of these 

 prizes are ofTered for the best methods of gathering 

 and cultivating and coagulating rubber. These, natur- 

 ally, will be only of general interest to the great body 

 of our home readers; but there are some offers that 

 certainly should appeal to American rubber men, as 

 they have to do not with the planting or cultivation of 

 rubber, but with the extension of its use or with its 

 efficient and profitable manufacture. 



The Mincing Lane Tea and Rubber Share Brokers' 

 Association offers two prizes — one of 75 and the other 

 of 25 guineas — for the best new ideas for the use of 

 plantation rubber in a large way, the conditions being 

 that the suggestions or inventions shall be thoroughly 

 practical. The Rubber Growers' Association, of Lon- 

 don, invites a similar competition, offering a prize of 

 £50 and a gold medal for "the discovery and applica- 

 tion of such new use for plantation rubber as may be 

 adjudged the most valuable; special consideration be- 

 ing given to the weight of the rubber which such appli- 

 cation is likely to consume." 



Another prize — a valuable silver vase — offered by 

 the "Gummi Zeitung" of Berlin, ought to awaken con- 

 siderable interest among our factory experts. This 

 trophy is offered for "the best design for laying out a 

 factory for the manufacture of rubber goods; the 

 specifications to include the greatest possible variety 

 of production, to show the installation of individual 

 machines for the working up of raw rubber, as well 

 as machines for later processes and the arrangement 

 for the finishing of the goods." 



