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THE INDIA RUBLER WORLD 



[June i, 1904. 



the causes for the existing difference in results obtained, 

 not the least of which is due to the degree of care exer- 

 cised in preparing rubber for market. 



It appears that not all of the rubber planters of the Far 

 East are wholly satisfied with their prospects. At least 

 some of them are heard from now and then who fear that 

 somebody else is likely to do better than they are doing. 

 Some of them, for instance, feel that the Castilloa will prove 

 a more prolific producer of rubber than the Hevea, and 

 therefore more profitable. Some such complaints have 

 led The Straits Times, published at Singapore, to assert 

 that the planters have no cause for worry, " for there can 

 be no doubt that they have a wonderful market waiting 

 for all the rubber of any kind that they can produce within 

 this generation." 



WHAT BECAME OF THE MONEY? 



A LEGAL gentleman who introduced himself at the 

 ■**■ offices of The India Rubber World last Septem- 

 ber as counsel for Mr. John Cudahy, president of the 

 " Para Rubber Plantation Co ", spent two hours in making 

 an argument — for which he deserved to be well compen- 

 sated by his client — against the publication of articles in 

 our pages showing that to be a fraudulent concern. No 

 matter what might have been done in the past by irre- 

 sponsible agents of the company, the learned counsel 

 pleaded, the standing of Mr. Cudahy, its president, was 

 such that it should be a "personal guaranty" to every 

 stockholder of the company that it would carry out " every 

 obligation that it has made or shall make." The company 

 was preparing " to broaden its character and enlarge its 

 facilities for useful labor." And the shareholders were 

 assured, in behalf of Mr. Cudahy, of "the direct benefit of 

 his wide experience and great executive ability." 



What happened later was that the company took a new 

 name and adopted new tactics for selling its shares. It 

 also stopped paying dividends. In time Mr. Cudahy 

 quietly retired from the company. But what became of 

 his " personal guaranty," and who got the benefit of his 

 "•great executive ability ? " Also, who got the investors' 

 money ? 



The present prices of cotton — a cause of no small con- 

 cern to the rubber trade — if long continued, must inevitably 

 lead to production on an increased scale. But where? It is 

 not probable that the planters of the southern United States 

 will be stimulated by the prevailing prices to double their acre- 

 age under cultivation. So long as increased planting, involv- 

 ing an increase of labor, renders liable a fall in prices and a 

 decline in the rate of profit, a large additional production is 

 not reasonably to be looked for. Why should they grow two 

 bales of cotton for no larger net profit than one bale now 

 brings, simply because the rest of the world wants cheaper cot- 

 ton goods? But the American planter cannot always control 

 the situation ; more cotton is consumed abroad than in the 

 United States, and an interest in cotton culture is growing in 

 many directions. And because the English failed, in spite of 

 persistent efforts half a century ago, to make India the source 

 of her cotton supplies, it does not follow that cotton cannot be 



grown outside of this country. The fact is that already more 

 than a third of the cotton used is grown abroad, and it may be 

 that in time the only hope of our planters will be in learning 

 how to produce cotton more cheaply than somebody else is 

 doing it. 



And now comes Peru with a claim to a goodly slice of 

 the rich rubber territory included in what is known as the Acre 

 district and lately relinquished by Bolivia to Brazil. The basis 

 of Peru's claim is an ancient boundary treaty, but like most 

 ancient treaties that document is capable of two interpreta- 

 tions, and Brazil can support her reading of the treaty with the 

 fact of present actual possession — a very strong point, as against 

 a weaker republic — and the further fact that much of the terri- 

 tory to which Peru makes claim has no outlet except through 

 Brazilian waters. We know what happened when the Bolivian 

 Syndicate planned to operate on the Acre and found the Bra- 

 zilian waterways closed to it. The new complication will tend 

 to interfere with rubber production, with the effect of helping 

 to keep up rubber prices, and this will help the Brazilian treas- 

 uries, which levy a generous ad valorem tax on rubber exports. 

 Brazil's revenues do not suffer from short rubber crops ; less- 

 ened production means higher prices, and consequent higher 

 export duties per pound. 



The enormous output of rubber from Africa during 

 the past dozen years was due to the work accomplished by the 

 late Sir Henry M. Stanley, in a larger degree than any other 

 development of rubber production was ever due to the work of 

 a single individual. Stanley not only made the " dark conti- 

 nent " known to the civilized world, but he planned the utiliza- 

 tion on a broad scale of the resources of Central Africa, and 

 what is more, he gave practical effect to his own plans. First 

 to realize the importance of the " reservoir of rubber "discover- 

 ed by him in the Congo basin, he pointed out how, by the build- 

 ing of a railway around the obstructions in the Congo river and 

 the establishment of trading stations in the interior, the rubber 

 could be made available, and its collection a profitable oppor- 

 tunity for employing capital. And he lived to see the full vin- 

 dication of his views, visionary as they seemed to the world at 

 first. 



The prominent rubber manufacturer who has thor- 

 oughly tested the new " Colorado rubber " and placed large 

 orders for the material still declines to have his identity re- 

 vealed. Every manufacturer thus far suspected has positively 

 refused to " acknowledge the corn." Perhaps, after all, there 

 is no such man, and that we have been misled by the irre- 

 sponsible newspaper reporters. Indeed, it is possible that the 

 confidence of the Colorado people in their native rubber has 

 been maintained through their care not to give the manufac- 

 turers of rubber goods an opportunity to express a possibly 

 unfavorable opinion of it. 



We are learning gradually why crude rubber is so high 

 priced. A newspaper in Utah is informed by Mr. John Beck 

 that "last year 5.000,000 pounds were used for tennis balls 

 alone." Now this is a fact not known before by anybody but 

 Mr. Beck. If everybody having private knowledge of what be- 

 comes of our rubber imports were to speak out at once, the 

 situation would become much clearer. 



A more informing report than that of President Colt, on 

 another page, has not been issued by any corporation in this 

 country, to our knowledge. 



