Al-glst 1, 1920.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



763 



10 be faced in this respect is the rising cost of production. The 

 low value of the mark not only makes the purchase of raw ma- 

 terials difticult, but measured by international standards Germany 

 today buys much more expensively than 'any other country of 

 tlie world. It follows that each article carries a severe initial 

 handicap in manufacturing cost that cannot be overcome easily. 

 Under such circumstances it is rather astonishing to see that the 

 German Government seems to be inclined to cut down export 

 activities still further by creating a special taxation of export 

 values for the purpose of raising the German revenues. This 

 matter is now under consideration and rubber manufacturers, 

 especially, are up in arms against such a measure. Whether they 

 will succeed is doubtful in view of the very serious financial con- . 

 dition of the country which calls for a practically complete di- 

 vestment of all surplus property. Incidentally, there is hardly 

 any money available for advertising purposes, and foreign ad- 

 vertising that had been continued by several firms during the 

 first years of the war as a matter of good policy has now ceased 

 entirely. 



PRICES OF RUBBER GOODS PROHIBITIVE. 



These export troubles are only a reflection of the more acute 

 domestic difficulties. Here are a few instances that may illus- 

 trate the situation. All through the war and following, canning 

 and preserving have been encouraged. There is little wasted just 

 now in Germany. But the rubber rings used in preserving have 

 gone up excessively in price. Formerly such a ring could be 

 had for two cents or so. Today, 50 cents and even 75 cents 

 on the basis of the old exchange must be paid. Also the rings 

 are not of the former quality. The German jar-ring industry 

 has been very active in the past and a great number of specialties 

 were introduced to make the opening of the cans easier. 

 Most of these specialties made opening dependent upon the tear- 

 ing of the ring. In addition, they required more rubber for their 

 manufacture. With the present prices, housewives do not care 

 to buy such rings and the simpler forms have been intro- 

 duced generally. As the rubber rings were so expensive, sub- 

 stitutes have been offered. These, however, have not turned out 

 very satisfactorily as was the case with most substitutes. The 

 present situation is that the German market is undersupplied 

 with rings and that dealers are trying frantically to increase their 

 stocks. Rubber jar rings today are an article bought and sold 

 in a speculative manner as shares on the New York Stock 

 Exchange. 



PROFITEERING RAMPANT. 



The same applies to belting. But the belting dealers have 

 had a severe shock recently owing to the heavy break in prices 

 explained in the beginning of this letter. It is suspected that a 

 large quantity of belting has been bought by dealers for future' 

 sale at large profits; profiteering, in fact, is just as rampant in 

 Germany today as it seems to be in other parts of the world. 

 Now, prices have gone down and the speculators wonder what 

 to do with their stocks. It is expected that rubber belting will 

 find more and more appreciation in Germany as soon as a better 

 quality can be made than is the case just now. Rubber manu- 

 facturers complain that the rubber belt has not had a fair chance 

 during the past and that it has not been used wisely during the 

 war. Together with the drop in the cost of belting in Germany 

 has come a general depression of all trading, caused principally 

 by an extensive disorganization of values. Orders are coming 

 in very irregularly. The rubber industry has probably been hit 

 least by this development as the dependency of the industry on 

 foreign supplies acts as a stabilizing factor upon prices. But 

 there is no doubt that the rubber goods dealers are becoming 

 more and more careful and while trying to keep up prices they 

 admit that orders are not obtained at the present quotations. 

 The German manufacturers who are keen to continue present 

 prices are making special efforts to keep up the spirit of the 



market. They point out that prices in other countries are high 

 and that the output of rubber goods outside of Germany is also 

 considerably below the actual demand. There seems to be some 

 truth in this statement, as there is a noticeable falling off of 

 foreign rubber supplies in the domestic market. For a while 

 the "Hole in tlie West" and the new hole in the East offered by 

 Danzig were giving to enterprising dealers an excellent oppor- 

 tunity of introducing expensive foreign rubber goods. It is 

 astonishing that notwithstanding the financial condition of the 

 country and the high prices that had to be charged for such 

 goods, there was still a demand for English tennis balls. Re- 

 cently no English tennis balls were to be had in Berlin at any 

 price and our German sportsmen are losing their mental balance 

 because the German ball is inferior in quality to the English 

 and does not have the correct weight. This applies to many 

 other sporting goods made from India rubber, of which large 

 quantities had been imported immediately after the war. 



INDUSTRIAL FAIRS NOT BENEFICIAL. 



The spring fair in Frankfort, which has been held for the 

 purpose of giving the German manufacturer a chance to keep 

 up his connection with the occupied territory, has not been as 

 successful as the autumn fair of last year. It suffered under 

 the French occupation which then was in progress and still more 

 under the generally disorganized transportation and traveling 

 conditions that followed the famous Kapp revolution. The 

 sales in the rubber section, therefore, were not very good. This 

 section, in fact, was rather small, considering the general im- 

 portance of West Germany as a rubber producer, and only 

 surgical rubber goods were comparatively well represented. 

 There have sprung up in Germany quite a number of these fairs 

 destined either to aid in the sale of Germaft goods or to help 

 the import of raw materials. It is, however, very doubtful 

 whether these enterprises will really benefit the importer of raw 

 materials, as the German manufacturer is not inclined to buy in 

 this manner, but prefers to deal with importers known to him. 

 If .American exporters of reclaimed rubber and other materials 

 wish to get in touch with Germany, they should establish proper 

 trading agencies to handle not only the German market but also 

 that of Poland, Bohemia, and the form.er Austria, all of which 

 seem to hold a good promise for the future. 



RUBBER SITUATION IMPROVING. 



The present depression in the German market will not be of 

 very long duration. It will come to an end with the expected 

 stabilization of the exchanges. This is indicated to some extent 

 by the report of the Demobilization Commission, which stated 

 that the rubber industry was comparatively busy during the first 

 quarter of the year and had sufficient orders to guarantee a 

 favorable occupation rate. In the technical and surgical section 

 of the industry overtime had to be resorted to. The general 

 situation of the industry is very much improved as compared 

 with the same period during the preceding year, notwithstanding 

 all present troubles. 



Authentic news comes from Germany aliout tlie discontinuation 

 of the manufacture of synthetic rubber by the Farben fabriken 

 vorm. Friedrich Bayer & Co. This company had built during 

 the war a large plant for the manufacture of synthetic rubber 

 in Leverkusen and it had become possible to produce considerable 

 quantities of substitute rubber. Part of this rubber has been 

 used during the war by the German army for tires and for a 

 while German scientists and economists were very hopeful that 

 the manufacture of .synthetic rubber could be firmly established 

 in Germany. During the recent general meeting of the share- 

 holders of the company it was announced that the company has 



