October 1, 1911.} 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



13 



secured. The- Spanish and Portuguese possessions, and certain 

 ■of the Mediterranean countries could furnish many colonists, 

 America and Europe once interested and convinced would fur- 

 nish capital if any were needed, and China and Japan would 

 also undoubtedly furnish coolies. 



Of the methods generally employed in collecting and coagu- 

 lating the latex of the Hevea Brasilieiisis which should be pre- 

 ferred? For wild rubber where the gatherer works away from 

 the supervision of a foreman, it would be very risky to make 

 any change at present. He is doing good work with simple 

 tools that he understands. His well smoked rubber is the best 

 in the world. For plantations I should favor the herring-bone 

 style of tapping with some such tool as your own Dr. Huber 

 designed for his experiments in the Botanic Gardens in the 

 city of Para. The latex would naturally be collected in cups, 

 brought to a central point, strained and smoked. 



I would begin to put some planting enthusiasm into every 

 inhabitant of Amazonas. So far in this beautiful city, I have 

 not seen a single }levca. A city that owes so much to rubber 

 should certainly have them everywhere in evidence. They 

 should be in the parks, in the private gardens, in the suburbs. 

 Any householder who did not possess at least one, should teach 

 the children to know the tree and to have a pride in planting 

 it. Once make it a patriotic duty and the whole of Brazil will 

 go a-planting. 



Unless an individual corporation, or a producing country is 

 in a position to distance all competitors, it is likely to be put 

 out of business. Para rubber is not copyrighted, it is not pro- 

 tected by patents. The whole tropical world has the seeds of 

 the Hcz'ca, and in the Middle East alone, there are now 

 400.000 acres of Para rubber trees. With the wonderful 

 industrial expansion that the world has of late seen, and a 

 fair promise of its continuance, the product of the Amazon and 

 of the East can be absorbed at good prices, but from a busi- 

 ness stand point if Amazonas does not put herself in a posi- 

 tion to produce more rubber and cheaper rubber, it is bound 

 to be done elsewhere with the possibility of disaster to those 

 who can not get down to existing production prices. I believe 

 that the Amazon can and will one day produce infinitely more 

 rubber than it does today and will be able to market it at 

 such a price that scores of new and great uses in the arts will 

 develop and that the producer will make greater profits than 

 he has enjoyed in the past. 



'THE FIRST DOMESTIC RUBBER," 



The "wall street journal'' ix reply to ax inquiry by one of 

 its readers regarding the United States Rubber Company's pre- 

 ferred stock as an investment observed as follows : 



"United States Rubber first preferred stock is an 8 per cent, 

 non-cumulative issue which has received its dividends regularly 

 since the readjustment of the company's financial arrangements 

 in 1905. In the last five years the average annual surplus avail- 

 able for dividends was equivalent to 10.35 per cent., and in the 

 last year this surplus was equivalent to 13.83 per cent. At cur- 

 rent levels the stock yields 7.07 per cent., which places it upon 

 a very attractive basis of returns. The shares of this com- 

 pany have never been very popular with careful investors, nor 

 have they enjoyed a very active market. The issue under con- 

 sideration is not generally classed by the conservative as being 

 representative of the highest type of industrial stocks. This 

 is indicated by the high yield. The articles of incorporation of 

 the United States Rubber Co. provide that in case of liquida- 

 tion or dissolution the first preferred stockholders shall be en- 

 titled to receive par for their stock, having preference to this 

 extent over the second preferred and common stock. Accord- 

 ing to the last annual statement full assets, taken at the figures 

 carried by the company, are sufficient to cover the first pre- 

 ferred stock approximately twice over." 



THE National Rubber Co. — not the great corporation at 

 Bristol, Rhode Island, but a j-ounger concern with head- 

 quarters up Harlem way in New York, is to give a "new impe- 

 tus to the rubber industry" and a "new industry to the United 

 States." This — again we quote — is "because of 'National,' the 

 first domestic rubber." 



The fact that the framers of the circular apparently know 

 nothing of the rubber gathering that accompanied the discovery 

 of Colorado's Picradenia Horibunda utilis or the guayule fields 

 of Texas and the factory at Marathon does not prove that they 

 have nothing. It simply puts them third instead of first. 



Passing over the statement that the discovery was made by a 

 "good" American citizen, and that the company is capitalized 

 "at the low figure of $200,000," we come to the source of supply. 

 Still again to quote : 



"The company has an unlimited supply of raw material * * * 

 and strangely wonderful it is in the Pacific ocean, on the shores 

 of the western boundary of the United States. It is in such 

 abundance that it is a nuisance and the government has to pay 

 for clearing the channels of it in order to make them navigable." 



Strangely wonderful, indeed, also wonderfully strange. 



"The raw material costs nothing except for hauling from the 

 water to the factory. Unlike other rubbers, the cost of produc- 

 tion of 'National' will be low. It is estimated that the maxi- 

 mum cost will be 25 cents per poimd. This cost of production 

 is unprecedented." [Planted Castilloa. planted Hevea, Guayule 

 and several other rubbers cost from 20 to 25 cents a pound, so 

 that unprecedented is not exactly the word. Why not say 'un- 

 comprehendable?'] "The company has decided to sell this 

 domestic rubber at not less than 60 cents per pound. * * * 

 The company proposes to erect a plant which will produce at 

 least a ton per day. The profit per ton would be $500 a day — 

 or taking 300 working days in the year, the annual profit would 

 be $150,000." 



Far be it from us to discourage any attempt to £.dd to the 

 world's sources of rubber. Land plants are rubber producers, 

 why not sea plants? Nevertheless the whole circular shows that 

 the promoters are not at all versed in rubber. They doubtless 

 believe what they state, but they should have more information 

 to give before they offer one dollar's worth of stock to the 

 public. If it is a proposition that is as they claim, why has not 

 some rubber factory used the product? Who knows that even 

 if they can produce a plastic say from sea weed that it will 

 take it'p compound and vulcanize as does rubber? 



The promoters are in error in so many places throughout 

 their circular, are they hot mistaken as to their product? They 

 should have it analyzed to see whether they are producing rub- 

 ber or some analogous product such as cold consomme. 

 * * * 



Since writing the above a sample of the "National" rubber, 

 which is the product of kelp grown on the Pacific coast, has been 

 sent us for examination. The sample looks very much like com- 

 pounded sheet, is soft and doughty and from a very brief physical 

 examination would seem to be the kelp product mixed with 

 rubber dough. That, however, is not assumed with any degree 

 of finalitv. 



Dutch capitalists and bankers h.\ve secured control of 9,000 

 acres of cotton lands in Bolivar County, Miss., near Deesoft. 

 It is proposed to charter the enterprise with a capital of $500,- 

 000 or more as' the Delta Farms Co., and to grow choice cotton 

 and farm produce generally on the property, operating it as a 

 series of ideal Southern plantations. 



The accepted authority on South American rubber — "The 

 Rubber Country of the Amazon," by Henry C. Pearson. 



