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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[September 1, 1914. 



EUROPE'S DESOLATION AMERICA'S OPPOR- 

 TUNITY. 



THE SITUATION IN MEXICO. 



TO THE Editor of The Ixdi.v Rlbber World; 

 Dear Sir: In the midst of the most tremendous, devastat- 

 ing and inexcusable war that the world has ever known, it seems 

 shocking to persons of refined spirit that any of us should be 

 thinking of how its existence may turn to our personal advantage. 

 But the war is not of our making. It has inflicted and will yet 

 inflict upon us losses which cannot be escaped. It has inflicted 



jipon other neutral nations great losses of commerce. The losses 

 of these nations, as well as our own, may be modified by increased 

 commerce between them and us. Other nations, having wildly 

 rushed to war, the need for the goods they no longer can supply 

 must be met by ourselves and other neutral peoples. 



There is no harm, but both reason and dut>' in our making the 

 present an occasion for extending our commerce with both bel- 

 ligerants and neutrals. It is not to be forgotten, moreover, that 

 our diminished prestige on the sea dates from the time when our 

 own land was torn by the horrors of civil war. Our ships were 

 swept from the sea and a system of high duties, for the express 

 purpose of discouraging imports, was made a part of our fiscal 

 policy. European traders rushed in to take the advantage we 

 had lost and they retained it until the day that Germany 

 launched her thunderbolts of war. 



Not in bitterness, but with justice, we recall that throughout 



"Etirope our great misfortune was welcomed as "marking the 

 end of the republican experiment." Our own sentiments, in the 

 midst of the horror which is now shaking the world, are those 

 of profound grief. Xo American, worthy of the name, can feel 

 otherwise. But our European brothers have abandoned peaceful 

 commerce for the dangers of war. Their trade is derelict. 

 Humanitj-, as well as self-interest, requires that Americans should 

 do their part to see that the commerce of the world shall still 



.go on. T. M. U. 



OXIDE OF IRON PAINT IN METAL WORK. 



The Westmoreland Chemical & Color Co., of New York and 

 Philadelphia, received a little while ago a communication from 

 'C. S. McNally, a contracting painter, in which he gives his opin- 

 ion of oxide of iron paints (which are manufactured by this 

 company) in the following paragraph. 



"It is my opinion that if o.vide of iron paints were more gener- 

 ally specified for the painting of steel structures today, in place 

 of many of the compounds and mixtures that are used, the prob- 

 lem of preservation would be much nearer solution and at a 

 decidedly lower cost." 



RTTBBER NOT CONTRABAND OF WAR. 



According to article 28 of the general agreement at the Lon- 

 don Xaval Conference, rubber is one of the articles which can- 

 not be declared contraband of war — that is, unless more than 

 one-half of the cargo of the vessel in which it is being trans- 

 jKjrted shall consist of contraband. 



.Articles of interest to the rubber trade which come under the 



•contraband class are balloons and air craft of all kinds, their 



component parts and all accessories and articles recognizable for 



■use in connection therewith, also clothing, fabrics for clothing 



and boots and shoes suitable for use in war. 



-A. report comes from an American consul at Bradford, Eng- 

 land, that a new method of waterproofing fabrics has been 

 -placed on the English market. Among the advantages claimed 

 for it are that it requires no special machinery, stands any heat 

 for finishing purposes and does not alter the feel of the material 

 while rendering it impervious to moisture. Samples of cloth 

 treated by the process may be had from the Bureau of Foreign 

 jmd Domestic Commerce, Washington. 



A X .\merican who has resided in Mexico for many years and 

 ** been successful in his operations there, including rubber 

 planting, was obliged some months ago to leave his plantations 

 and go to Vera Cruz, where with many other refugees, he could 

 be under the protection of the American flag. The following 

 description of the Mexican outlook taken from a letter addressed 

 to the editor of The Indi.\ Rubber World and received a few 

 days ago, is highly interesting, as it comes from a man whose 

 familiarity with the Mexican situation should enable him to form 

 an accurate opinion : 



"Politically and economically the country has reached the 

 depths of degradation and ruin — treason in high and low places — 

 political dishonesty, and so on down to savage murder, rapine, 

 torture and pillage. A'oi, si mihi sint centum linguue centumque 

 ora et vox ferrea possim comprendere omnes formas scelerum 

 ( If I had a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths and a voice of 

 iron, I could not enumerate all the different forms of crime) 

 that have been committed here in the name of liberty; and 

 worst of all one is driven to the conclusion that there is no 

 choice in sides, whether it be Federal or Rebel, or, as the latter 

 please to insist. Constitutional. This is not the opinion of a 

 day. A score of years went to its making. It is idle to talk 

 about unaided reconstruction, regeneration by free or voluntary 

 effort upon the part of the people. The trouble is. there is no 

 standard of ethics to work by, or if there be, the racial tem- 

 perament is not equal to the strain. Many have said it is owing 

 to lack of literacy. Don't think it ; the percentage of literacy — 

 perhaps 20 per cent, of the whole population — is notorious for 

 its crimes : 20 per cent, more would only increase the problem, 

 as the really most trustworthy is the pure Indian untainted by 

 contact with the educated. The point is, literacy is not directed 

 to the proper ends — merely an engine for more clever machina- 

 tions, both in social and political life — and I repeat, unaided 

 there is no hope within human possibilities. 



"This means direction for a series of years by some force 

 capable of insuring compliance with any form of government 

 set up here. That it must be an exterior force is obvious. Who 

 is going to do the job? Merely moral persuasion from Wash- 

 ington intensifies the detestation felt by nearly all Spanish 

 America for the L'nited States. The opposite is wonderfully 

 evident in \'era Cruz, where at the time of occupation and 

 for a short time afterward you could not conceive of a more 

 wild, frenzied, gesticulating lot of lunatics cursing and damning 

 the hated 'Gringo.' Today all is order, peace, justice, discipline; 

 good money in circulation, and practically everybody happier 

 than they have ever been in their lives — saving a few rich harpies, 

 whose wings have been dipt. Fines for misdemeanors are levied 

 and collected impartially. That is a revelation to Mexicans. 

 In other words, their literacy is truly directed to the proper 

 end. but. as you see, force is at the back of it and, more to the 

 point, right in the spot ; so we all sadly enough look forward 

 to the dav — we fear all too soon — when it will be removed." 



ASBESTOS PRODUCTION. 



The report of J. S. Diller of the United States Geological 

 Survey on the production of asbestos in 1913 gives the output 

 of the United States as 1,100 short tons. According to this 

 report, the area opened up in .-\rizona during the year is 

 producing a remarkable fibre, which, when twisted into yam 

 0.03 of an inch in thickness, will support a weight of 1554 

 pounds. It is also said to be superior for insulation purposes, 

 its iron content being somewhat lower than the asbestos of 

 Canada — where most of the world's supply of this mineral 

 is obtained — which is found in serpentine rock derived from 

 peridotite, whereas the Arizona asbestos is associated with 

 limestone. 



