THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



423 



Life on a Sumatra Rubber Plantation. 



THE lAsciNATiox wliich the strange lands of the Far East 

 have held for the average American is taking on a more 

 tangible form, now that travel and business are bringing 

 Asia and the United States into closer contact. No article of 

 commerce is doing more to bring this country into close touch 

 with the mystic East than rubber. The rapid rise of the islands 

 of the Indian Ocean to supremacy in crude rubber production, 

 combined with the fact that America consumes nearly three- 

 quarters of all the rubber grown there, has given many Amer- 

 icans an opportunity to look behind the scenes and become 

 acquainted with the lands and peoples of that distant quarter 

 of the globe. 



Although the whole equatorial belt in that section is dotted 

 with rubber plantations, representing a capital investment of 

 nearly half a billion dollars, the thoughts of Americans naturally 

 center on Sumatra, where one of America's greatest corporations 

 has established a plantation so vast in area and so highly de- 

 veloped that it stands out as the greatest single plantation in 



one gets used to that, so much so that a cool breeze is uncom- 

 fortable and causes more worry about the occasional cool 

 spots in the weather than about the heat. The perspiration flows 

 so freely that colds must be guarded against, and after any vio- 

 lent exercise a sweater should be put on to avoid taking cold. 



The next thing that attracts the attention of the newcomer is 

 the density of the vegetation. The forests in the United States 

 have open spaces among the trees, but in Sumatra the trees are 

 covered with parasites and vines forming a solid wall, while the 

 ground is covered with a mass of undergrowth. This super- 

 luxuriant vegetation is one of the chief foes of the rubber plan- 

 tations, making constant weeding a necessity. On the other 

 hand, the fertility of the soil and the hot, moist climate which 

 produce the heavy vegetation, work wonders for the rubber 

 trees. 



The company has gone a long way to make the Americans 

 and Europeans on its plantations comfortable. There is quite a 

 little social life, centering in a club house. There are balls and 



O.ne-Story Bung.alows, Centr.a 



BoENET, Sumatra. 



the world. This is the plantation of the United States Rubber 

 Co., comprising seventy square miles of growing trees, an enter- 

 prise marked throughout by a magnitude and an efficiency worthy 

 of the best American traditions. 



Many young Americans, alive with the spirit of adventure, 

 have wondered what opportunities this plantation field might 

 hold for a youth in search of opportunity. Inquiries of this sort 

 are constantly being received by the plantation executives. To 

 all such, the company invariably repl'es that without technical 

 training in rubber chemistry, soil chemistry or horticulture, there 

 is almost no chance of getting a foothold. One of the require- 

 ments is that a trian going there must be prepared to settle down 

 with the idea of making his permanent home there. 



The executive and technical staffs of the plantation are made 

 up largely of Americans and Europeans, therefore the following 

 description of the conditions in Sumatra is interesting and 

 timely. 



The first thing that strikes the .American making his first visit 

 to Sumatra is the intense humidity. The temperature does not 

 get as high there as it does on our hottest days here, but for 

 several weeks the humidity seems very oppressive. -After n time 



entertainments, and occasionally there will be a visit from a 

 traveling theatrical or concert troupe. 



There are a nuinber of large houses of comfortable proportions 

 for company officials and their families, and many one-story 

 bungalows. The houses have to be built with regard for the 

 sun and rain. A large part of the home life is spent on the 

 veranda, and this part of each house is usually large and com- 

 modious. Glass windows are unknown — each window is really 

 a slatted shuttei. Circulation of the air must be free at all times, 

 as a room closed for a few minutes would become stifling. 



Much of the pleasure in life in the East depends on the effi- 

 cient management of the .servants in one's employ. For this 

 reason it is quite necessary to speak the Malay tongue. It is 

 so easy to learn that anyone can get along well with it after a 

 few weeks. But imtil it is acquired it is simpler to do some 

 things yourself than to employ the sign language to order them 

 done. When once the language is learned, life is worth living. 

 A white man never carries a package or stoops to lift anything 

 from the ground. When tennis is played there are always some 

 lioys about to pick up the balls. 



The endeavor is to reproduce as nearly as possible the food 



