September 1, 1914] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



639 



tliis great aggregate importations irnm (iicat Britain 

 ainounted to two hundred and seventy-three millions and 

 from (iermany to one hundred and eighty millions, the 

 two together represciuing ncarl\ one-half of the South 

 American foreign trade; while the ini]iorts from the 

 United Slates were valued at only one hundred and 

 fifty-five million-;, or about one-sixth of the whole. 



The obstacles hitherto in the way of extending our 

 trade on the continent to the south of us have been many 

 and almost insurmountable. (Jne ditTicully was that the 

 lialance of trade was alwa\s against us, as the South 

 .American e.xporls to this country amounted to two hun- 

 dred and fifty millions a year, while their imports from us 

 were a hundred million less. A second ditliculty was the 

 fact that all trade had to l)e linanced thiMugh iMigland or 

 the Continent. But under present conditions, of course 

 these obstacles either have been entirely removed or soon 

 will be. The balance of trade will undoubtedly soon prove 

 to be in our favor, and while the inirpuse of North Amer- 

 ican banks — as mentioned in our .August issue — to estab- 

 li>h branch banks in .South American cities has not yet 

 been put into etifect, it will be in the immediate future, 

 and in the meantime both New York and Boston banks 

 are establishing an exchange of credits with South 

 American bankers, so that direct financing of both im- 

 ports and exports between the two .American continents 

 will soon be possible. 



There should certainly be a great increase in nur 

 South American market for manufactured rubber goods. 

 During the last two years we have paid South .America 

 about sixty million dollars for ninety million pounds of 

 rubber, and in that time we have sent to South America 

 rubber matiufactured goods to the value of prol)al)ly not 

 over a million and a half — a grotesquely inadetpiate figure. 

 We can hardly expect that the South American market 

 ^\ill ever aj)])roach the North .American market, for the 

 consumption of manufactured rubber goods in the L'nited 

 States amotnUs to over two dollars per year per cajjita, 

 but there ought certainly to be a market in South Amer- 

 ica for rubber goods to the extent of fifty cents a year 

 per capita, and if that could be accomplished and the 

 Initecl States could get a monopoly of it. it would 

 mean an export business of thirty millinn dollars a year. 



One great difficulty hitherto in selling rubber goods 

 in South America, according to salesmen who have been 

 through the experience, was the fact that whenever sam- 

 ples from the L'nited States were submitted our Euro- 

 pean friends, and particularly the Germans, would offer 

 to produce the saiue goods at a considerably less price. 



Our salesmen have contended that these under-price 

 goods were very much under the quality of the American 

 sami>les, but as the American .goods were effectively 

 kept out of the market the consumer had no means of 

 making a comparison. This obstacle is now removed 

 and .American .goods have an opportunity of making 

 their sujieriority known. .And if they are superior the 

 consumer will srjon discover this fact and be quite un- 

 likely to be tempted in the future to revert to articles of 

 a lower quality becrmse of the offer of a lower price. 



-At anv rate, this great European conflict has given the 

 .\merican manufacturer, without any effort on his ] art. 

 the (ippoi-tunity that lie has been struggling for so long 

 in vain. The South .Americans are bound to give our 

 go(xls ;i tri.il, as for the time being they are compelled to 

 resort to our markets; and if the manufacturers of the 

 I nitcil States can adapt themselves to South .American 

 conditions, can give their customers as long credits 

 as they have been accustomed to and can supply them 

 with better articles at a price n() higher than they have 

 been accustomed to ])a\-, they will not only be able to 

 enter this market but will be alile to remain in it per- 

 nianentlw 



WAR PRICES WILL START SYNTHESISTS AGAIN. 



■\ Y 7 ITH the price of natural rubber persistently sag- 

 ' ' ging and the ai^parently well-founded promise 

 of the planters that they would some day supply the 

 market with smoked sheet at a shilling a pound, it is 

 quite natural that the laboratory workers should find 

 their ardor somewhat abated. But conditions during 

 the last few weeks have emphasized a fact which is 

 fairly obvious but likely in normal times to be lost sight 

 of. naniel>. that it is not enough that the forests of the 

 South and the plantations of the East should be able to 

 l)roduce rubber, but there must in addition be sure and 

 not too expensive means of transportation to the place 

 of manufacture. When the roar of the cannon came 

 thuncleriu-g out of a clear sky — or if not exactly a clear 

 sky, a sky to all ajjpearances but slightly clouded — driv- 

 ing to shelter all the commerce of the world, the great 

 advantage of producing the raw luaterial in the same 

 country in which it is made into goods became evident at 

 once. If the laboratories could project themselves into 

 the ])resent situation with fifty cent, or even with sixty- 

 five cent rubber, they would not only be able to find 

 a ready market for their products but would lift (|uite 

 a burden of uncertainty from the minds of the maker.s 

 of tires and other rubber goods. 



