September 1. 1914.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



643 



moderate rates ranging from ten to fifty dollars a day — let us 

 hasten to add — in Guatemalan money, which, as the market lUic- 

 tuates, may be purchased with American gold at the rate of 

 twelve to sixteen Guatemalan for one American. 



The indispensable requirements of the salesman are thai he 

 must speak the Spanish language and that he have a .sympathetic 

 understanding of Spanish-.Xnierican ideas and customs. He must 

 not attempt to drive things American fashion and, if his customer 

 says "Manana," manana let it be. The merchant or manufac- 



turer must, in his turn, till orders as given and follow packing 

 and shipping regulations to the letter. The purchaser may be 

 presumed to know what he wants and why he wants it, and as 

 he is paying for what he gets, he is entitled to have his wishes 

 respected. In the matter of credits it is also necessary to 

 respect the customs of the country. In respect to nearness 

 the United States has so great an advantage over European 

 competitors that, if our business men fail to reap the benefit, it 

 is their own fault. 



The Future of the Rubber Industry On the Upper Amazon. 



By Adolfo Ballk'iaii, Cuiisul General from lioln'ia to New York. 



A CAREFUL study of the interesting reports on the Oriental 

 and .•\mazonian rival regions made by Mr. C. E. .Akers, and 

 of the opinions of authorities such as The Indi.\ Rubber 

 World, of New York, shows conclusively the future possibilities 

 of the rubber industry in the Amazon Valley. We will not, 

 therefore, attempt to analyze the valuable and complete informa- 

 tion therein given, Init will only refer to those original sources, 

 calling attention to some of their impurlant features. Mr. .\kers 

 says in his report : 



"In the East the industry was founded from seed taken from 

 Itaituba, on the Tapajos, in 1876, reproducing the white variety 

 (not the best), and yielding an inferior rubber classified as 

 'weak' (fraca) in the markets of Manaos and Para." All the 

 rubber produced in the Orient originated from such inferior 

 seed. 



Mr. .-^kers continues: "In the Amazon Valley the varieties 

 principally utilized are black (preta), the best; white (branca) ; 

 red {Vermclho) ; Barriguda (Hevea spruceana), and Itapiru 

 (Hevea guayanensis) . ... In the East the rubber tree is 

 planted upon many different classes of soil, and with the aid of 

 careful cultivation it thrives in a surprising manner in most 

 localities, with the exception of undrained, swampy lands. 

 Throughout the Amazon Valley the soil is an alluvial deposit on 

 yellow or red clay, and rich in vegetable matter, brought down 

 by the rivers and spread over the land by annual floods. In 

 many districts of the lower Amazon the trees have their roots 

 permanently below the water level, and flourish under such 

 circumstances — in direct contrast to the experience of the Orient. 



"In the Orient the rubber trees are carefully and systematically 

 cultivated and all possible assistance extended to foster rapid 

 development. In Brazil the tree is the natural product of the 

 forest, and as yet no effort whatever has been made to aid its 

 growth. ... In the East the seed is selected with care, 

 planted in specially prepared nurseries, and the young trees trans- 

 planted subsequently to land where the conditions afford every 

 possible chance for both branch and root growth." 



We ask, what would be the result if the same careful methods 

 should be employed in the Amazon Valley? 



"In the East," again Mr. Akers says, "a rubber tree. 75 feet 

 high with a girth of 100 inches at 3 feet from the ground is 

 looked upon as a giant. In the Amazon Valley a tree 130 feet 

 high and 200 inches in girth is not considered anytliing out of 

 the common. . . . On the River Madeira a little supervision 

 has been attempted, but elsewhere the proprietors have looked 

 on with apathy at the practical destruction of their trees, owing 

 in great part to the fact that the number that could be reached 

 in the forest was so great that a fresh source of supply could 

 be opened up when the existing ones were worthless. 

 Economical methods are unknown on Brazilian rubber property, 

 and in consequence the loss in value in both quality and quan- 

 tity from the time the latex is extracted from the tree to the 

 date of sale, apart from the loss of weight, is certainly not less 

 than 10 per cent., and often very much greater. 



"In the Malay Peninsula a fair basis of price for bringing 

 1.000 acres of rubber into bearing is £30 ($150) per acre. In 

 the .'\mazon Valley the only initial expenditure required is for 

 the construction of houses for the administration and the cost 

 of bringing the collectors to the property, this latter expense 

 being recovered subsequently from the men. 



"In the Amazon Valley a marked reduction in the cost of 

 production can be accomplished by improved methods of tapping; 

 increasing production without additional labor, by more sys- 

 tematic administration ; by opening up the resources of un- 

 touched trees ; by cheapening the price of living ; by diminution 

 or abolition of export duties, and by the introduction of Chinese 

 (we would suggest Japanese in preference, as they have already 

 gone of their own accord to the Bolivian rubber district with 

 various trades), or European immigration. By sucii means only 

 it is possible for Brazil to meet successfully the competition of 

 the Orient in the world's markets. That such reduced costs can 

 be brought about I have no doubt whatever, if the measures in- 

 dicated elsewhere in this report are adopted without undue 

 delay." 



If this is such good advice for the Brazilian rubber industry, 

 how much more valuable is it for the Bolivian rubl)er gatherers 

 and planters ! The import and export custom duties are very 

 liberal, and recently the duties on rubber have been considerably 

 reduced, following a scale according to the market price of the 

 article and representing, at the actual price, only a cent and a 

 half per pound of rubber. 



The lower Amazon iS' subjected to longer floods ; the rubber 

 trees are more scattered; they do not yield so much, nor is the 

 quality to be compared with that of the up-river regions — as the 

 .■\cre. Purus. and especially the .i^buna River on the Bolivia- 

 Brazilian frontier — whence comes the best rubber known in the 

 world. 



It is a well known fact that there has never yet been or- 

 ganized an economical or well-managed plantation such as that 

 recommended by Mr. Akers, either in Brazil or Bolivia, and if 

 some attempts have been made which naturally resulted in fail- 

 ure, they were merely due to defective administration. Those 

 sad experiences can now be turned to advantage in the new 

 organization of plantations, as well as in the exploitation of 

 virgin forests on the up-river estates, especially in Bolivia ; 

 adopting the economical methods of the East and employing 

 Japanese laborers, as recently a treaty betw-een Japan and Bolivia 

 has been signed. 



-•Mthough the original price of land in the Orient, as well as 

 in the Amazon Valley, was very low, it has risen in many cases 

 to enormous figures. In the Orient £95 ($475) per acre, and in 

 some cases $1,000 per acre, has been paid for plantations. In 

 Bolivia, in the same way. although the original official price 

 was $0.16 per acre, the grants have been stopped, and private 

 property has been estimated at $720 per acre. Owing to the 

 prices caused by the low value of rubber it is possible to acquire 

 valuable estates close to the Madeira-Mamore Railway and 



