March i, iqio.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



199 



Published on the 1st of each Month by 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING GO., 



No. 395 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 

 CABLE ADDRESS: IRWORLD. NEW YORE. 



HENRY C. PEARSON, 



EDITOR. 



HAWTHORNE HILL, 

 ASSOCIATE. 



Vol. 41. 



MARCH I, 1910. 



No. 6. 



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COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING CO. 



Entered at New York postoffice as mail matter of the second class. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS ON LAST PAGE READING MATTER. 



M 



WHAT MAKES A RUBBER "MARKET." 



W'Y inquiries reach the office of this journal as to 

 why prices of this or that grade of rubber are 

 not reported regularly in our pages. It is neces- 

 sary at times to make reply that a real "market" for some 

 specific grade does not exist. It is possible that this ex- 

 planation does not always satisfy the inquirer, who may 

 have knowledge that the kind of rubber about which he 

 asks actually is being sold from time to time in the New 

 York or some other market. 



To turn from rubber to another material scarcely less 

 important to rubber manufacturers — that is to say, cotton 

 — there is one important difference between the two as 

 to market conditions. A contract for the purchase or 

 sale of cotton on the New York Cotton Exchange pro- 

 vides that the material to change hands may be of any 

 grade within a certain range, "at the price of — cents 

 per pound for Middling, with additions or deductions for 

 other grades, according to the rates of the New York 

 Cotton Exchange existing on the day previous," etc. 

 Consequently it is sufficient for most purposes in business 

 to mention a single price per pound for cotton, this being 

 understood to apply to the basic grade, all other classes, 

 whether better than or inferior to middling, being quoted 

 at prices which vary automatically according to an agreed 

 upon system. 



COMING NEWS FROM THE AMAZON. 

 At going to press with this issue of THE INDIA RUB- 

 BER WORLD our editor is at Manaos — a thousand miles up 

 the Amazon river from Para — where he went to attend the 

 "Congresso Industrial Serinsueiro" (the Ruhher Congress). It 

 is too early yet to report the result of this conference, hut in 

 due course our readers may expect to be fully informed in re- 

 gard to the proceedings, together with the latest intelligence 

 en the rubber situation on the Amazon in general. 



It would be very convenient if a similar system could 

 be maintained with respect to crude rubber. To a cer- 

 tain extent the condition does exist that when the best 

 grade of Pani rubber is selling at a given price — say 

 $1.50 or $2 per pound — the price of rubbers of lower 

 quality will be found to be in sympathy. And by the way 

 it should lie kept in mind, whenever the value of any 

 rubber of lower grade is estimated, that the figure has 

 slight value unless the prevailing price at the moment 

 of fine Para is mentioned. But there is no such fixed 

 relation of one class of rubber to another as exists in 

 the case of cotton, where one of a dozen or more grades 

 is accepted as the basis of the market, and other grades 

 rate higher or lower by established percentages. 



All buyers of rubber, of course, recognize the supe- 

 riority of Para grades to any other, and expect to pay less 

 or more for medium sorts in keeping with the fluctu- 

 ations in the market for Paras. But as we have inti- 

 mated, there is no rule governing the trade in this regard, 

 and when we say there is no "market" for a given grade 

 it means that no fixed price exists for it, and that it may 

 find a ready sale or become a drug on the market just 

 as there happens to be a momentary demand for it or 

 the absence of a demand. This is particularly true of 

 newly introduced grades of rubber, which, while per- 

 haps appearing attractive, may not appeal to manu- 

 facturers until the same have been thoroughly tested, or 

 until the manufacturer can be assured of being able to 

 obtain regular supplies if the new grade should be 

 adopted in his compounding room. 



It may not be appreciated generally by producers of 

 rubber that the basis of the rubber manufacture is the 

 employment of certain compounds, which the factory 

 superintendent is loath to deviate from, and any change 

 is made only after careful and long continued experi- 

 menting. Rubber goods have to stand the test of time 

 before their merit can be determined, and the mere ap- 

 pearance in the market of a new grade of rubber, no 

 matter how promising, no matter what the price, does 

 not always tempt the manufacturer to adopt it and there- 

 by upset the established practice at his works. 



On the other hand, he will spare no pains or expense 

 to acquire a particular quality of rubber which he has 

 been accustomed to use for a given line of products, 

 rather than change his formulas. In such ca-es rubbers 

 of comparatively low grade sometimes realize prices 

 higher than fine Para in a single market, or for a limited 

 period. The explanation is that for the time being there 

 is either a marked shortage of the lower grade rubber, 



LP 



NE 



BOTANIC, 

 CURDEC 



