December i, 1909. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



65 



Published on the 1st of each Month by 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING 



No. 395 BROADWAY. NEW YORK. 

 CABLE ADDRESS: IRWORLD, NEW YORK. 



GO., 



HENRY C. PEARSON, 



EDITOR. 



HAWTHORNE HILL, 



ASSOCIATE. 



Vol. 41. 



DECEMBER I, 1909. 



No. 3. 



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TABLE OF CONTENTS ON LAST PAGE READING MATTER. 

 VERY PRACTICAL OPTIMISM. 



OUR congratulations to the directors of the Federated 

 Malay States Rubber Co., Limited, for being able 

 to present to their shareholders the most cheerful yearly 

 business report which it has ever been the pleasure of 

 The India Rubber World to review. How many times 

 has one read in the financial papers, in the report of a 

 general meeting of This-or-That Company, Limited, 

 under the presidency of the chairman, the secretary hav- 

 ing read the notice convening the meeting, that the chair- 

 man, rising to offer a few comments on the accounts, pro- 

 ceeded to explain the lack of more definite information 

 on the ground that certain details had not arrived from 

 America, or Africa, or Asia, and that the shareholders 

 must take it for granted that affairs were in good shape, 

 although the figures presented might be subject to a dif- 

 ferent construction. Mails had been delayed, or a man- 

 ager was ill, or returns had not been received for a sale 

 of merchandise, and though the usual dividend could not 

 be declared this year, the prospects of the business were 

 most enchanting. 



Not so with the report of the rubber planting com- 

 pany referred to, which has its business domicile in Ant- 

 werp and its rubber trees in Selangor. "We have pleas- 

 ure," the report opens, "in submitting ... a profit 



and loss account largely exceeding our expectations." 

 The figures recording the yield of rubber "exceed con- 

 siderably our estimate." And so the report runs through- 

 out — the most concrete expression of optimism possibly 

 that ever emanated from a board of directors. And con- 

 crete optimism is away ahead of the abstract optimism 

 that is expressed in predictions and promises, rather than 

 distributing a dividend of 24 per cent, to shareholders 

 who never before had received more than 8 per cent, on 

 their shares. 



Whatever the future of rubber may be, there is no 

 question today that the holders of shares in productive 

 rubber plantations, under good business management, are 

 exceedingly lucky persons, and there are indications that 

 they have not yet seen their best days. At the same time, 

 it seems in order to point out that just as "all is not 

 gold that glitters," every projected rubber plantation may 

 not yield rubber in the days to come. 



To recur to the subject of management, it is interest- 

 ing to notice in the financial report of the particular rub- 

 ber company under review that their expenses in Europe 

 for the past business year amounted only to nine-tenths 

 of 1 per cent, of the gross revenue of the company, 

 though it must be mentioned that the directors received 

 a percentage of the net profit, which does not seem to be 

 a bad idea. If they have directed well, they deserve to 

 share in the fruit of their labor. 



'RESTRAINT OF TRADE." 



A 



RECENT decision in a federal court in the 

 United States unfavorable to the Standard Oil 

 Co. — the first institution in the country to become 

 known to the general public as a "trust" — cannot 

 fail to revive in the popular mind the discussion as to 

 the effect of trusts upon the general welfare. This is 

 not a place for a review in detail of the decision re- 

 ferred to, if for no other reason than that is is not 

 final ; it remains to be reviewed by the United States 

 supreme court. It will suffice here to mention that the 

 unanimous opinion of the court of appeals in the eighth 

 circuit, sitting at St. Louis, is that the Standard Oil 

 Co., as a holding company for numerous petroleum 

 refining companies, capitalized at $100,000,000, and 

 with a recent market value for its shares of over 

 $700,000,000, is a combination "in restraint of trade" 

 in the meaning of the Sherman "anti-trust law" of 

 1890. 



It remains to be seen whether the highest court in 

 the land — and we believe that the United States su- 

 preme court is held universally not to be excelled in 

 dignity and ability by any other body of men in exist- 

 ence — will confirm the decision of the learned court 

 at St. Louis, one of the nine courts of appeals, in dif- 

 ferent districts, which pass upon important cases 

 before they reach the final court at Washington, if 

 they ever do. That is to say, the ultimate decision may 



