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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[April i, 1904. 



as it is confronted by a prospect of diminished orders as a 

 result of the advanced cost of goods. 



That cotton is selling at artificial prices is beyond ques- 

 tion ; the condition of the cotton market is known to and 

 studied by hundreds of thousands of people. The raw 

 product is grown almost under our own eyes, by millions 

 of American citizens, and every movement of each annual 

 crop is patent to whoever will look on. And the consensus 

 of opinion is that the selling price to-day is higher than is 

 necessary to reward properly the producer, and allow fair 

 commissions and profits to the middlemen who advance 

 the commodity toward the mills. 



Is crude rubber also selling at artificial prices ? On ac- 

 count of the remoter sources of rubber, and the fact that 

 its movement is largely beyond the observation of the in- 

 habitants of the great consuming countries, the number of 

 people familiar with the details of the trade is compara- 

 tively small. All that the average purchaser of the raw 

 material knows is that, when seeking to cover his require- 

 ments, the price often is inconveniently high, and sudden 

 and marked advances occur without any warning. Why 

 should not rubber be cornered, as well as cotton ? 



The India Rubber World has not always credited re- 

 ports that this or that rise in rubber was due simply to 

 speculative efforts to force the consumer to pay more than a 

 fair price for the material. But we have seen the gradual 

 approach of what appears to be the limit of production 

 under existing conditions. We beg leave to dissent from 

 the suggestion by a contributor on another page of this 

 issue, that the present high prices of rubber must have the 

 effect of bringing larger supplies to market, and that an 

 early decline must necessarily result. While we should be 

 pleased to see such a development, the question presents 

 itself, where is the increased supply to come from ? The 

 fact is that many rubber producing districts appear defi- 

 nitely to have reached the utmost limit of production, and - 

 the remaining districts do not appear to have the neces- 

 sary working forces to make an immediate increase possi- 

 ble at any given time. 



Year after year the world's supplies of rubber grow 

 smaller, as compared with the demand for the commodity. 

 Steadily the increase in transportation facilities render it 

 easier to control the movement of the whole production 

 within a given period, while the extension of telegraphic 

 communication enables large traders to keep in closer 

 touch with supply and demand in every quarter. Mean- 

 while the consumer, sticking to his work ot making goods, 

 and buying raw materials day by day, in the nearest mar- 

 ket, as needed, has been content to let the market take 

 care of itself. Today he finds cotton controlled by specu- 

 lators, beyond a doubt. Need wonder be if he suspects 

 the same of crude rubber ? A combination of consumers 

 may become necessary to meet the situation, just as the 

 combination of rubber footwear makers above referred to 

 has come into existence to control prices in this line of 

 production. 



The question which heads this article is bound to come 

 for consideration, giving the crude rubber handlers a chance 

 to prove the negative, if they are prepared to do so. 



"RUBBER-LIKE GUMS." 



T^ROM time to time the daily press rings with the dis- 

 covery of a new and unsuspected source of crude 

 rubber. Some plant, shrub, or vine that had hitherto 

 either been a nuisance, or else the product of such sterile 

 soil that its presence was ungrudged, is found to contain 

 a " rubber-like gum." At once a means of separating this 

 shrub from its presumably valuable contents is devised and 

 protected by an indulgent government. And then — and 

 then — well, the promoters may believe that those who put 

 in the money will reap rich rewards. They may be abso- 

 lutely honest in securing money to prove their position 

 commercially, but each of these projects is received by the 

 sane sense of the trade at large with the greatest distrust. 

 Of course that proves nothing, although in ninety-nine 

 cases out of a hundred, that same estimate turns out to 

 be correct. 



When the milkweed (Asclepias Cornutt) was to prove 

 such a remunerative product because of its rubber and its 

 fiber, it was the scientific men of Canada who were the be- 

 lievers, while the more ignorant rubber manufacturer and 

 importer was a profound skeptic. That was years ago 

 and still we hear of no quotations for Asclepias rubber. 



Later the " guayule " plant was pulled from its alkaline 

 bed in Mexico and forced into notice. Again and again it 

 came to the front. Factories were built in Mexico, ma- 

 chinery was designed in Germany, promoters tried to buy 

 up all the uplands on which it grew — with other people's 

 money — yet to-day we have no guayule rubber. 



And now comes the Picradenia floribunda atilis, the Colo- 

 rado " rubber plant." Is it to be like the others ? Are we 

 to have Colorado rubber ? Is. the day at hand when our 

 market reports will quote " Picradenia fine," "floribunda 

 medium," and " utilis coarse ? " 



THE "NORTHERN SECURITIES" DECISION. 



T^HE more or less superfluous assurance of the attorney 

 *■ general of the United States, that the government 

 has no intention of "running amuck " in its prosecution of 

 trusts was not required to convince those interested in the 

 two great India-rubber organizations, the United States 

 Rubber Co. and the Rubber Goods Manufacturing Co. 

 that their properties were in no immediate danger of 

 molestation. The decision of the United States supreme 

 court, adverse to the Northern Securities Co., which prac- 

 tically declares that a holding company is illegal, has, of 

 course, created an enormous amount of talk and specula- 

 tion as to the extent of its application. Without attempt- 

 ing to go into the extent of the decision and its points, it 

 is sufficient for those interested in India-rubber to say that 

 there seems no warrant for any belief that even by an ex- 

 aggerated construction could any of the principles laid 

 down be made applicable to the rubber companies. 



This action was brought and the decision rendered 

 under the Sherman act of 1890 — known as the anti-trust 

 law — which prohibits unlawful combinations to the detri- 

 ment of free commerce between the states. It is almost, 



