April 1, 19i: 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



309 



Published on the 1st of each Month by 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING GO. 



No. 15 West 38th Street, New York. 



CABLE ADDRESS: IRIVORLD. NEW YORK. 



HENRY C. PEARSON, Editor 



Vol. 46. 



APRIL 1, 1912. 



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COPYRIGHT. 1912, BY THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING CO. 

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table of contents on last page of reading. 

 haste and its penalties. 



In tlie great plantings of Hcvca there has been the 

 belief that, hasty though the work was, the penalty of 

 the lack of knowledge and inadequate preparation, 

 through sheer good luck was not to be paid. It begins 

 to look, however, as if here also losses and disappoint- 

 ment are likely to be exjjcrienced. Within the last 

 two years plantings supposed to be of Hevea Brasil- 

 icnsis have been found to be a mixture of Brasiliensis 

 and what appears to be a hybrid variety, practically 

 valueless as a rubber producer. How far this extends 

 none can say at present. The hybrid trees before tap- 

 ping appear to the eye of the planter to be the thriftiest 

 and best of their Heveas. When tapped, however, the 

 product is a very inferior gum, and the quantitv far 

 below reasonable expectation. It is due wholly to 

 government botanists that this type of tree has been 

 discovered ; and the planter of Hevea, present and 

 future, should get in touch with them, so as to be able 

 to recognize this type in seed, seedling and mature 

 tree. Further, they should be able and willing either 

 to destroy the tree wherever found, or else prevent its 

 seeding and subsequent further distribution. 



No. 1 



THAT TARIFF ON CRUDE RUBBER. 



""T"© the experienced the creation of any "mushroom" 

 *■ industry forecasts inevitably, partial or complete 

 failure. Nor could it be otherwise, for sudden growth 

 entails ignorance of many vital points, and correspond- 

 ing weak spots in the industrial structure. The motor- 

 tire business growing up over night was a striking 

 example of this. The history of most of the great and 

 successful tire companies, from their beginnings, 

 shows millions of dollars lost simply because the de- 

 mand for goods was so great that they were forced to 

 manufacture on a large scale without an adequate knowl- 

 edge of the whole problem. 



The same condition obtained in the planting of rub- 

 ber. Hundreds of acres of Ceara were planted in the 

 Middle East, and the trees destroyed as they matured, 

 because the planters did not understand how to extract 

 the latex profitably. Thousands of acres of Castilloa 

 were planted in the Americas on soil not fitted for such 

 culture, and millions of dollars were wasted. 



X TOTHIXG further has been given out from Wash- 

 ^ ^ ington regarding the proposed tariff on crude 

 rubber, which' it was announced in Februarv was under 

 consideration in the scheme of revision on which Con- 

 gress has been for some time so laboriously at work. 



In the meantime, opponents of this measure, who 

 include practically the entire American rubber trade, 

 have not been idle : and if, when the rubber schedule 

 is finally reached, there should be serious efforts to 

 place a duty on importations of crude rubber, it will 

 be met with vigorous resistance. 



Washington reports had it that the duty on sugar 

 was to be removed or substantially decreased, and this 

 loss of revenue made up by duties on "silks, laces, 

 rubber and other lu.xuries." This is certainly a whim- 

 sical classification. Lace is concededly a luxury. 

 Silk may be similarlv described without any serious 

 ])erversion of language ; but the only hypothesis upon 

 which rubber could be so designated is the assumption 

 that its only use is in the manufacture of tires for joy- 

 riders — an assumption that disintegrates the moment 

 it is analyzed. If rubber is not one of the necessaries 

 of life, there are none. Admitting that a large part — 

 let us say 45 per cent. — of the crude rubber that 

 comes into our ports goes into tires ; not a third of 



