March 1, 1914] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



325 



motor car owners, who have been kept busy day and night, would 

 be pleased if Christmas came twice a year, for the balata men 

 are their best customers. All the public houses did a good trade. 

 The dry goods shops were not forgotten, for the bleeder under 

 any circumstances must have a new outfit for Christmas. 



It may be interesting to note that altho the prices and ad- 

 vances paid to the men were very much reduced from those of the 

 past, in no case have we heard of serious objections or murmur- 

 ing. This goes to prove that the balata men are not so unreason- 

 able as many represent them. 



We understand that new legislation for the industry will soon 

 see light. It is to be hoped it may be so framed that both capital 

 and labor will be properly safeguarded. The old regulations 

 were certainly one-sided. There is much room for improvement 

 in the balata business if the authorities will only do the right 

 thing and foster the industry, which is at the present time the 

 colony's main support, and, in fact, the only industry whereby 

 the bulk of the population gains a livelihood. 



The holidays are all over, and before this letter is published the 

 men will be at their posts on the grants and many tons of ba- 

 lata have been produced. Every one is looking forward to a fine 

 harvest for 1914, and should weather conditions be favorable their 

 expectations cannot fail of realization. 



It may be of interest to show what the exports of the colony 

 are, in addition to the balata exports. The general export figures 

 given below are taken from the official reports; 



EXPORTS OF COLONIAL PRODUCTS DURING 1913. 



Balata (pounds) 2,609,050 



Bananas, fresh (bunches) 1,368,690 



Bananas, preserved (pounds) 1.162,434 



Cocoa (pounds) 1,162,434 



Coffee (pounds) 454,472 



Hard wood (cubic feet) 140,800 



Letter wood (pounds) 247,469 



Hides (pounds) 100,899 



Rum (gallons) 244,353 



Sugar, V. P., finest crystal (pounds) 21,688,676 



Sugar, common process (pounds) 1,869,608 



Gold, native (grammes) 856,768,'/2 



THE RUBBER CRISIS IN BOLIVIA. 



BALATA INDUSTRY OF SURINAM, 



It is reported that the Surinam balata exploitation of the firm 

 of Ter Laag & Co. has been taken over by a London company 

 organized for that purpose. 



The reported fusion of the Denierara Consolidated Rubber Co., 

 the Balata Co. of Surinam and the Balata Co. of Guiana, has 

 been contradicted, tho the possibility has been discussed in 

 Surinam business circles of such an arrangement being ulti- 

 mately effected. 



CENTRAL AMERICAN NOTES. 



Exports of rubber from the Bluefields districts of Nicaragua 

 to the United States in 1912 amounted in value to $207,748, in 

 1911 to $214,960. 



Crude rubber exports from Guatemala have materially de- 

 creased since 1910, when they reached a value of $175,309, having 

 amounted in 1911 to $159,621, and in 1912 to only $140,768. There 

 is no local consumption of the article, much the larger part of 

 which is gathered from wild trees. 



Exports of chicle — collected chiefly in the northeastern portion 

 of the Republic, in the forests of the Peten region — have, how- 

 ever, considerably increased, amounting in 1910 to 322.515 pounds 

 valued at $102,095. in 1911 to 478,172 pounds valued at $150,902, 

 and in 1912 to 870.925 pounds valued at $274,852. Of the total 

 exports almost 60 per cent, of the rubber and 56 per cent, of the 

 chicle was consigned to the United States. 



A GOVERNMENT report recently published in Bolivia states 

 that this is the second time since 1882 that an extracting 

 industry has passed through a crisis. This time it is the rubber 

 industry, which has got into great difficulties through the fall in 

 price of that article. Since 1880 wild rubber trees have been 

 tapped in Bolivia, attention being given only to current condi- 

 tions, without any thought for the future. 



The reason of the falling off in Bolivian rubber exports is 

 obvious enough— the cause lies in the Eastern plantations. The 

 plantations in the Middle and far East were first laid out in 

 1898, but it was ten years later, 1908, before any considerable 

 quantity of plantation rubber came on the market. In that 

 year the plantation product amounted to 2,120 tons which, how- 

 ever, the following year jumped to 12,800 tons and in 1912 in- 

 creased to 28,500 tons; while in 1913 the product was certainly 

 in excess of 40,000 tons. This plantation rubber has the tre- 

 mendous advantage of low cost. It is collected from trees set a 

 few feet apart, by laborers whose wages are low, and is trans- 

 ported over fine highways — and tlie whole enterprise backed by 

 abundant capital. 



It is estimated that the cost per pound of producing rubber 

 in Bolivia equals about 29 pence, or 58 cents, while in Asia it 

 represents about 11 pence, or 22 cents. Thus the cost of Asiatic 

 rubber is 18 pence, or 36 cents, lower than that of Bolivian. 

 Moreover, account must be taken of the loss in weight of 

 Bolivian rubber caused by drying during the long transport. 



The plantation coolie gets 6 pence (12 cents) a day, and in 

 20 days can gather about 220 pounds ; while the Bolivian worker 

 collects from 6 to 10 pounds a day, for which he receives 69 to 

 111 pence ($1.38 to $2.22) per pound. 



.\s to the Bolivian rubber gatherer, the only thing in his favor 

 is the quality of the product, which is further improved through 

 the preparation by smoking, which gives it more nerve than 

 when coagulation is produced by chemical means. 



From the above explanations it will be seen that any material 

 advance in the price of rubber is not to be looked for, so that 

 efforts should be directed to lowering the Bolivian cost of pro- 

 duction. Among the measures recommended are :— Construction 

 of railways ; laying out of rubber plantations ; reduction of ex- 

 port tax ; improvement of sanitary conditions in the rubber ter- 

 ritory ; instruction in various advantageous methods of tap- 

 ping, and the obtaining of a thoroughly uniform product. Ef- 

 forts are also to be made to induce the Indians of the elevated 

 plateaus and the hard working population of Cochabamba, in the 

 vicinity of the Chilian Provinces of Tarapaca and Antofagasta, 

 to go to the rubber districts. Through giving land to the 

 Bolivian families, the State can form colonies, not only for the 

 rubber industry, but also for agriculture. 



Conditions existing in Bolivia thus seem to correspond more 

 or less with the situation in Brazil, and to have led to the sug- 

 gestion of like remedies. 



MEXICAN NOTES. 



Reports from the State of Tabasco, Mexico, show that a 

 number of the plantations in the southern part of that state and 

 in northern Chiapas arc gradually dying and that extensive areas 

 are to be abandoned, having been found unsuited to the cultiva- 

 tion of rubber trees. Imports from this district into the United 

 States amounted in 1911 to $369,530, in 1912 to $353,578. 



Importations of motor cars into Panama average about a dozen 

 a year, the number now licensed being in the neighborhood of 

 120— all gasolene and with two exceptions of American manu- 

 facture. Imports of cars from the United States amounted in 

 1912 to $19,800, from France, $809. 



