August 1, 1921 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



797 



■CA<1? 



^uml^ 



Reg. United States Pat. OR. Reg. United Kingdom. 



Published on the 1st of each month by 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING CO. 



No. 25 West 45th Street, New York. 



Telephone — Bryant 2576. 

 CABLE ADDRESS: IRWORLD. NEW YORK. 



HENRY C. PEARSON, F.R.G.S., Editor 



Vol. 64 



AUGUST I, 1921 



No. 5 



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TABLE OF CONTENTS ON LAST PAGE OF READING 



THE FORDNEY TARIFF BILL 



IN theory the Fordney Tariff Bill should prove most 

 effective for the protection of American industry. It 

 aims to levy on manufactured articles imposts that will 

 cover the difference between the lower overseas and the 

 higher American cost of production, and safeguard 

 American industries from unfair and perhaps niinous 

 competition. Yet in actual operation in its present form 

 it might handicap exports and so defeat its avowed pur- 

 pose, and its efficacy will hinge very largely on the 

 question of appraisal. This involves an issue of trans- 

 cending importance which is : Shall the United States 

 take the goods of foreigners at their own, or at tlie 

 American valuation? 



It is intimated that unless Americans accept the price 

 ratings given by foreign shippers, often subject to mis- 



^^ statement and exchange fluctuation, our neighbors over- 

 o > 



' — seas mav retaliate. Re that as it may, American manu- 



' facturers are quite willing to take a chance on such re- 



scare our lawmakers into surrendering the nation's just 

 and logical prerogative of fixing the values of imported 

 goods as rated in the domestic rather than in the foreign 

 market. As a whole the rubber trade is not stirred by 

 the terms of the bill. Hard rubber and some other lines 



need more protection but no tariff' bill is fair to all. 



New 



science in RUBBER PLANTATIONS 



D L'LE of thumb methods in the growing of rubber and 

 A ^- in the manufacture of rubber goods were prolitable 

 when both industries were young and competition mild. ' 

 Their day, however, is past or passing, and scientific pro- 

 duction alone promises success. This has been notably 

 found in the manufacture of rubber goods in the past ten 

 years. A very brief survey of the progress, chemical, 

 mechanical and industrial, shows an advance in scientific 

 knowledge that is marvelous. 



That crude rubber production must come under the 

 same law of survival is obvious. It is, therefore, most 

 encouraging to examine the reports that come from the 

 Far East where a brilliant corps of scientists are tire- 

 lessly at work upon the problems incident to rubber culti- 

 vation. As a preliminary, it may be noted that the many 

 diseases and pests that threatened the Hevea have been 

 halted or exterminated by the British and Dutch savants. 

 Of just as great importance, however, is the work in tree 

 selection that is going on, notably in Medan, Sumatra, 

 under Dr. Heusser. 



Briefly, the learned botanist secured records of yield of 

 thousands of trees. From this he observed that one or 

 two trees out of every thousand were big producers of 

 latex. The difference ran from 4 to 10 times as much 

 as the daily product of the rest of the other trees. These 

 big producers were then tested for the dry rubber con- 

 tent of the latex, which was found to varv from 15 to 52 

 per cent. These selected trees with a latex content from 

 30 to 35 per cent are called "mother trees," as they are 

 designed to breed the plantings of the future. This is 

 done by budding from the mother tree upon one-year-old 

 Hevea seedlings. Thousands of these buddings have 

 been made and tapping results are eagerly awaited. It 

 is not too much to say that the promise of success is 

 there. 



STANDARDIZATION AND SIMPLIFICATION 



CD 



taliation. Certainly no open or covert threats should 



MINDFUL not merely of the benefit to its own country 

 of more general standardization and simplification, 

 tlie American section of the International Chamber of 

 Commerce, of which John J. Raskob, vice-president of 

 E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., is a leading member, 

 has been urging at the London conference the adoption 

 of such a policy as tending to promote an early return of 

 world-wide normal conditions. The American committee 

 is convinced, it says, that the stagnant stocks of commodi- 



