THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[October i, 1907. 



conduct of the business to suggest a connection with the 

 important house of Macintosh. Similarly the Franken- 

 berg firm, also in Manchester, making rubber articles in 

 many lines, now control a large factory making other 

 lines which originally was a separate concern and is still 

 advertised under a name and style of its own. And the 

 house of Mandleburg — we are still in Manchester — 

 specialists in the waterproofing branch, have taken over 

 and reorganized a factory in the mechanical line at Wood- 

 ley, but without directly amalgamating the two busi- 

 nesses. 



At the last annual meeting of the Leyland and Birming- 

 ham compan^• — itself the result of an amalgamation only 

 a few years ago — it was announced that during the 

 twelvemonth two smaller concerns had been acquired, 

 though it is not announced whether the latter will retain 

 the names in use hitherto. Likewise the latest report to 

 the shareholders of the Callender firm, in the insulation 

 field, announces that they have acquired sole control of 

 the Anchor Rubber Co., and invested a large sum in the 

 shares of two other companies. 



From the above it will be seen that within a year con- 

 siderable progress has been made in the way of consoli- 

 dation in the English rubber industry, while in the mean- 

 time we recall no new rubber enterprise in that country 

 launched upon an important scale. There may have been 

 no apparent decrease in the list of rubber factories, but 

 there has been a falling ofT in the number of distinct, sep- 

 arate enterprises. A pertinent question is : How does the 

 changed condition diflfer from that resulting in America 

 \vhen a number of factories are brought under a single 

 control by the floating of a big public company under a 

 new name? 



It goes without saying that the various English rubber 

 companies that have passed under the control of other 

 concerns had become, for some reason or other, less able 

 than formerly to maintain an independent existence. Or 

 else, some advantage appeared likely from amalgama- 

 tion with larger or more capably managed companies. 

 And what about the buyers of these businesses? A firm 

 like Macintosh, for example, being in a position to ex- 

 tend their business, found certain factories equipped for 

 making certain lines of goods, with an established repu- 

 tation for their products, but possibly with some weak 

 element in their organization which led their managers 

 to consider propositions for reorganization. And in this 

 set of conditions, with the results present and prospective, 

 we see nothing essentially diiTerent from what has hap- 

 pened in the way of rubber consolidation in the United 

 States. It might be added here that every important 

 American factory that has entered any of the so-called 

 "trusts" is still known to the people who buy their goods 

 under their old-time name. In fact The Ixdia Ruiu-.kk 

 \\'()Ui.D is in constant receipt of inquiries as to whether 

 this or that rubber factory belongs to the "trust." 



We arc no advocate of trust building or of trust "bust- 

 ing," our interest being in recording the news of the 



trade. We have held to the idea, however, that the best 

 thing for any trade is liable to be worked out by the com- 

 bined intelligence of its leaders. Seeing, therefore, that 

 the various combinations formed generally hold together, 

 some salient advantages must result to certain concerns 

 by the combination of the best talent which they possess, 

 in the field of production, in the distribution of goods, 

 and in financial administration. But while this may be 

 best for some groups of concerns, other companies con- 

 tinue to succeed and to grow as independents, showing 

 that large aggregations of capital are not always essential, 

 and in this fact lies not the least hope of the rubber in- 

 dustry. The possibilities of success of an independent 

 factory, even on a small scale, will encourage men to en- 

 gage in the industry who otherwise might be debarred 

 from it, and who, by working for themselves, may de- 

 velop ability of a higher order, and consequently more 

 progressiveness, than it is natural for most men to attain 

 as part of a great corporate machine where individuality 

 is at a discount. 



THE BOTANICAL BEDLAM. 



THERE need be no surprise over the fact that so many 

 practical men set small store by the work of the 

 botanists. To the average person they appear to be en- 

 gaged mainly in quarreling over the Latin name to be 

 given to a particular plant. Is it strange that men ask 

 what does it ail amount to? 



Take the scientific nomenclature of rubber species. 

 For years the principal supplies of African rubber were 

 supposed to come from the climber described botanically 

 as Landnlphia florida. Then other species of Landolphia 

 were credited with more and more of the African output, 

 until a good sized book was necessary to list all the 

 Landolfhias that had been described. Then it began to 

 be suspected that the Landolphia This described by Mr. 

 B. and Landolpliia That described by iNIr. C. were none 

 other than Landolphia Something-else described long be- 

 fore bv Mr. .\., and to-day the confusion among the bot- 

 anists over the different Landolpliias is worse than the 

 linguistic difficulties that stopped work on the tower of 

 Babel. To go back to Landolphia tlorida, it is generally 

 agreed by the botanical sharps that it doesn't yield any 

 rubber of commercial value. 



To come nearer home : Just as everybody interested had 

 got accustomed to spelling Manihot Gla::iovii as the 

 botanical designation of the rubber tree of Ceara, in 

 Brazil, known to the natives as "manicoba," the whole 

 business threatens to be upset by the discovery that cer- 

 tain rubber trees farther south, also kmiwn locally as 

 "maniQoba" and assumed to be the same tree, really are 

 not the same. "Manitoba" rubber is being jilanted in 

 liahia and in Ceara and the intermediate state of Sao 

 Paulo, and everywhere referred to botanically as Manihot 

 Gla^iovii. And "manicoba" rubber is being planted in 

 Central America, Asia, Africa and the Pacific islands, all 

 under the name Manihot Glozioini. The results attained 



