THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[October i. 1907. 



THE EDITOR'S BOOK TABLE. 



THE TRUTH ABOUT THE CONGO. THE CHICAGO "TRIBUNE" 

 Articles. By Frederick Starr. Chicago: Forbt'S & Co. 1907. [Cloth. 

 8vo. Pp. vm + 129. Price, $1.] 



THE author of this book asserts that its title was not of his 

 choosing, though he believes his statements all to be true. 

 It is written in a convincing manner, at any rate, and well cal- 

 culated to hold the interest of the reader. Professor Starr, whu 

 is at the head of the anthropological department of the Chicago 

 University, first became interested in the Congo through seeing . 

 at tlie St. Louis exposition three years ago a group of natives of 

 that country brought over by Mr. Verner, wdio is now in the 

 Congo Free State in the interest of an American rubber com- 

 pany. The professcr next got hold of some Congo Reform As- 

 sociation documents and decided to see for himself the alleged 

 horrors they depicted. He says that he paid his own expenses, 

 making his journey as the representative of no institution or 

 society, and feels free to speak his mind. 



Our author while in the Congo saw floggings, chain gangs, 

 prisons, heavy taxation, enforced labor, depopulation — but no 

 frightful outrages. For instance, he saj's flogging is general 

 throughout the Free State, as it was before the Belgians ever 

 went there ; the state flogs the black man, the traders do it, the 

 missionaries do it. Did he not hear a missionary speak of some 

 native boys who had been "flogged into the kingdom of heaven"? 

 Xot that they had died as a result of flogging, but had found sal- 

 vation through its means. The chain gangs Professor Starr saw 

 did not seem to him worse than those in the southern United 

 States. The population appears to be falling ofif, but this is 

 explained by our author as not being due to wholesale murder 

 by the State, as has been alleged. 



Professor Starr saw rubber trading mainly at stations of thj 

 Compagnie du Kasai. He saw people come in singing and danc- 

 ing with baskets full of balls of rubber on their heads, their chief 

 being carried in state at the head of the procession. The rubber 

 being weighed, the gatherers hurried to the store to be paid in 

 goods from an abundant stock at the regular price of 1.2s francs 

 per kilogram, or a little less than 11 cents a pound. All labor, 

 however, is not performed so cheerfully. The native as a rule 

 doesn't like to work, and Professor Starr doesn't see why he 

 should not idle. But the State in forcing him to work for it 

 doesn't cause him to neglect any private interest more pressing 

 than drinking, dancing and palavers. 



It only remains to say that the author was unable to verify 

 the stories of Congo atrocities in Mr. ^Morel's "Red Rubber" and 

 other books of its kind. He does not appear as an apologist for 

 King Leopold, but he does charge that the hubbub about misrule 

 in the Congo has been raised by Britishers for selfish reasons. 



CANADA'S CENTURY: PROGRESS AND RESOURCES OF THE 

 Great Dominion. Notes, with Snapshots and Other Illustrations of an 

 Extensive Tour in British North .America. By R. J. Barrett, F. R. 

 G. S., Editor of the Financier and BiiUionist. London; The Financier 

 and Bullionist. Limited. 1907. [Clcth. 8vo. xiv -\- 538. Price, 

 6 shillings, net.] 



The marked development in progress in the great Dominion 

 to the north of us has prompted Sir Wilfred Laurier, her pre- 

 mier, to remark : "The nineteenth century was the century of the 

 United States; the twentieth century will be Canada's century." 

 This remark has suggested the title of the book before us, made 

 up of a series of letters written for a leading London financial 

 journal by its editor, who spent several months in personal in- 

 vestigation in preparation for his work. Mr. Barrett crossed the 

 continent on Canadian railways, availing himself of every oppor- 

 tunity to inform himself of the resources of the country and 

 what the people are doing to develop them ; from all of which he 

 concludes that one can hardly be too optimistic regarding the 

 future of the Dominion. It must not be overlooked that Canad-i 

 is considerably larger than the United States (excluding Alaska), 

 with a wide variety of mineral and forest resources and agricul- 

 tural possibilities, the greater part of which remain to be devel- 



oped. But the work of settling waste lands has been progressing 

 rapidly of late, encouraged by the building of railways for pros- 

 pective traffic — just as was done in the opening up of the western 

 LTnited States — and the new population is not only of a high type, 

 but cannot fail to afford a greatly widened field for Canadian 

 manufactures and commerce. Mr. Barrett believes in the closer 

 binding together of British dependencies, and looks forward to 

 the time when the all British route from England to Australia 

 via Canada will play an important part in the development of the 

 imperial idea. Apart from the interesting character of the facts 

 summarized in this volume, it is most entertainingly written, 

 while the numerous pictures, based upon "snapshots" taken by the 

 author, serve to bring the scenes described nearer to the reader 

 than mere written words could have done. 



NOTES ON RUBBER CULTIVATION; WITH SPECLAL REFERENCE 

 to Portuguese India. By J. A. Wyllie, F. R. G. S., and Octaviano 

 Guilherme Ferreira, ^1. R. H. S. Madras; Higginbotham & Co. 1907. 

 [Cloth. 8vo. Pp. XIV -j- 131. Price, 4.50 rupees.] 



These "Notes," the preface states, were intended originally for 

 publication in Portuguese only, with a view to stimulating the 

 planting of rubber in Goa, the Portuguese possession on the 

 western coast of India. But since they appeared equally ap- 

 plicable to the surrounding British districts, it was decided to 

 bring out simultaneously the English edition now before us. Of 

 the joint authors. Lieutenant Colonel Wyllie gained considerable 

 experience in rubber while in charge of the government rubbe;' 

 plantations at Rangoon, Burma [see The Indi.\ Rubber World, 

 April I, 1902 — page 210], while Senhor Ferreira is director of the 

 national library at Nova Goa. The "Notes" are offered mainly 

 as a resume of results in rubber planting recorded by others, 

 with an occasional observation based upon personal experience. 

 They relate to the principal rubber species, of each of which a 

 fairly good description is given. The sources of information are 

 fully credited. The Indi.\ Rubber World being quoted a number 

 of times. As a compilation this is a creditable book, and it is 

 worth a place in the rubber planter's library. There are 16 capi- 

 tal half-tone views of rubber trees and tapping and other 

 processes. 



THE SCIENCE OF PARA RUBBER CULTIN-ATION. A SERIES 01- 

 Lectures Delivered in Ceylon and London. By Herbert Wright, 

 A. R. C. S. Illustrated. Colombo: .\. M. & T. Ferguson. 1907. 

 [Paper. Large 8vo. Pp. iv -|- 57. Price, 3s. 4d. ] 



Five of the six lectures here collected were delivered before 



planters, including one at the Ceylon Rubber Exhibition. The 



series relates to practical questions, such as distance in planting, 



pruning, tapping, manuring and the like. All the lectures have 



been published before, but their value is enhanced by bringing 



them together in convenient fonn. 



IN CURRENT PERIODICALS. 



SuR FExploitation des guis a Caoutchouc de rAnieriqne Centrale. [The 

 rubber producing mistletoe.] By O. Labroy. — Journal d'Agricultiire 

 Tropicah, Paris, vii-72 (June, '07). Pp. 163-167. 



L^ber den Gegenwdrtigen Stand und die Assichten den Guayuleindustrie. 

 [The present condition of the guayule rubber interest and its prospect.]' 

 By Dr. Rudolf Endlich. — Dcr Tropcrfianzer, Berlin. xi-7 {.Tuly, '07). 

 Pp. 449-469. 



Etude des Variations Botaniques ft Physiologiques de I'Hcvca Brasilicnsis 

 Appliquec a la Selection. By Georges Vernet. — Journal d' Agriculture- 

 Tropicale, Paris, viii-73 (July 31, '07). Pp. 195-203. 



Novel Use of a Hot Water Bottle. — A story comes from 

 Wichita, Kansas, of the ingenuity of a farmer's wife, which was 

 signally demonstrated on the occasion of the death of a setting 

 hen to which had been entrusted some fancy eggs. The lady in 

 question didn't want to buy an incubator for only 14 eggs, but 

 she did have a rubber hot water bottle, and by keeping this at 

 the right temperature, day and night, she had the satisfaction in 

 due time of welcoming a fine brood of new chicks. 



Rubber C.\stors. — Rubber and leather castors are now fre- 

 quently put upon furniture which is to be placed on a hardwood 

 or stained floor. Some housekeepers and decorators, however,, 

 recommend instead the castor cups. 



