September i, 1904. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



405 



cultivation, as is bound to be proved by the yield of many 

 plantations within the next few years. 



The mechanical rubber manufacturers of this coun- 

 try are to be congratulated upon having taken steps to form 

 such an organization as is reported, on another page, to be 

 under way. The possibilities for good to the industry are 

 miny, though it may take time to demonstrate the real value 

 of the organization. But certain it is that in an industry so 

 extensive and embracing so many men of ability, good must 

 come from a movement designed to render them better ac- 

 quainted, and to put them in a position to work in concert in 

 matters in which their common benefit is concerned, rather 

 than have them continue to work without cooperation, even if 

 all should have the same objects in view. It is a narrow view 

 which some persons have taken of such a movement — that its 

 chief purpose should be an agreement upon prices. This 

 should be and will prove to be the last thing undertaken. The 

 longest maintained and the most beneficial organization of rub- 

 ber manufacturers in existence is that in Germany, and it has 

 never attempted, as a body, the regulation or control of selling 

 prices of products. But doubtless there are customs in the 

 trade, which have grown up through carelessness here or inju- 

 diciousness there, the correction of which would be worth 

 more to the manufacturers to day than a material advance in 

 selling prices, and in dealing with such problems the keenest 

 competitors can afford to work in harmony, for the good of 

 each and of all concerned. 



In this age of labor saving machinery it is only natural 

 that attention should be devoted to mechanical aids in the 

 production of rubber, which hitherto has been accomplished by 

 hard work alone, and principally in countries without any surplus 

 of laborers. Not the least element of interest in connection with 

 a rubber smoking device illustrated on another page of this 

 paper is the fact that it has been designed and patented by a 

 Brazilian — in a land whose people have not been noted for en- 

 terprise or ingenuity in the mechanical field. 



A GRUESOME bit of news which we find in the Brazilian 

 Review of August 2 may have a more direct connection with 

 the rubber trade than appears at first sight. The paragraph 

 reads : 



Several of the children of the 10; 1 refugees from the drought at 

 Ceara, who arrived at Belem [Para] in the steamship Itabira, died en 

 route of the effects of starvation. The captain, Mr. R. Nilson, did 

 what he could, supplying food at his own cost, but the relief, in this in- 

 stance, came too late. 



We are led to believe that the droughts in Ceatd are about 

 the most devastating known in any country. That being essen- 

 tially an agricultural state, a season without rain means that 

 the population must go elsewhere for means of subsistence. 

 Leaving their cattle behind to perish for want of water, the 

 farmers from whole districts actually flee with their families, 

 without always being able to escape with their lives. The chief 

 recourse of the Cearenses, in such circumstances, is to seek em- 

 ployment in the rubber camps up the Amazon, and they make 

 the best of all available seringuieros, being more intelligent 

 and more capable of sustained labor than the Indians native to 

 the upriver districts. Ceard's misfortune, therefore, is turned 

 to the rubber consumers' advantage, since an unusual influx of 

 Cearenses in the Hevea producing districts means an increased 

 production of rubber. What is more, of every considerable 

 body o( Cearenses going into the rubber fields, a certain pro- 



portion remain, giving rise to a permanent population of rubber 

 workers of the best type yet known, and giving greater system 

 and continuity to the business of getting out rubber. If the 

 above item of Brazilian news means anything, it indicates a 

 large movement of laborers to the rubber districts this year, 

 and at the beginning of the season. 



WHO CUTS THE AMAZON CABLE? 



TO the Editor of The India Rubber World: In 

 reference to the article published in your August num- 

 ber [page 380] giving the cause of the many interruptions of 

 the Amazon cable, as explained by Captain Arthur Schindelar, 

 I beg to state that his information is absolutely unfounded and 

 incorrect. The Amazon cable is not purposely cut to aid or 

 abet those interested in rubber, as that gentleman's statement 

 implies, nor has the company any other interest than to keep 

 the cable in working order. Captain Schindelar apparently 

 does not know that any one cutting a cable or otherwise inter- 

 fering with telegraphic communication commits a crime, and 

 is liable to a term of imprisonment not less than three years. 

 Imagine having to suborn the officers and crew of the repair 

 ship, the staff at Manaos and Pard (not to mention the inter, 

 mediate stations), the representative at Rio de Janeiro, and 

 the London directors for nine years ! 



Who can be paying for the loss in traffic and the bribes all 

 this time, and who is doing the cutting? It cannot be the rub- 

 ber merchants, as nearly every house in Para is represented by 

 a branch in Manaos, and all business is stopped in the latter city 

 during the interruptions. It cannot be the federal govern- 

 ment, seeing that a subvention is paid by it to assist the com- 

 pany. It cannot be the state governments, when we know they 

 expended 7,000,000 milreis to open up a road for a land tele- 

 graph line, which was constructed and afterwards abandoned 

 on account of the expensive maintenance and interruptions 

 due to falling trees, landslides, etc. It cannot be the company 

 itself, seeing that during the interruptions the traffic is nil 

 and the subvention reduced if the trouble lasts over 90 days, 

 and over ,£1,000,000 have already been spent to improve the 

 service. 



Will Captain Schindelar kindly say by whom the cable is cut ? 

 I am sure the cable company would pay him handsomely for 

 his information. I can testify that up to the end of 1902 the 

 cable company had used every means and device that science 

 can teach in order to maintain permanent telegraphic commu- 

 nication between Para and Manaos. I defy any one to prove 

 that the interruptions are not due to natural causes, the princi- 

 pal ones being falling banks, sunken logs, chafing by rocks, 

 and the bed of the river changing on account of the seething 

 current, which in its mad career washes everything before it, 

 the cable becoming buried, making repairs difficult. I wonder 

 if Captain Schindelar has ever noticed the current opposite 

 Parintins and Obidos, or the meeting of the waters below 

 Manaos? Fancy a cable living in that turmoil ! There is no 

 necessity to cut it. I regret not having met or heard of Captain 

 Schindelar during the ten years I was in that district, where I 

 know every port on the river between Para and Manaos and 

 consequently everyone of importance, especially Americans 

 and English travelers; however, I hope the information he 

 picked up regarding the " controlling (sic) of the rubber trade 

 on the Amazon " was from a better source than that of the 

 cable interruptions. Yours very truly, R. H. mardock, 



Late Superintendent of the Amazon Telegraph Co , Limited ; Conctssionaire for 

 Wireless Telegraphy in Amazonas state ; and secretary to tne Amazon Com- 

 mission at the St. Louis World's Fair. 

 New York, August 32, 1904. 



