November i, 1907.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



55 



THE MEXICAN RUBBER PLANTERS. 



TN response to a circular of invitation mentioned in the last 

 ■^ issue of this paper (page 18) a meeting of rubber planters 

 was held on October 9-10 in the city of Mexico in the club room 

 of the Mexica7i Herald building. The first session was opened 

 with an address of welcome by Paul Hudson, general manager of 

 the Herald and a member of the invitation committee, followed 

 by an address from Olegario Molina, minister of fomento of the 

 republic. 



William Vernon Backus was elected chairman. Two days 

 were devoted to addresses and papers relating to rubber culture 

 and discussions thereon,, except for the time during the second 

 day taken to form a permanent organization, under the name 

 Rubber Planters' Association of Mexico. The first regular meet- 

 ing is to be held in the city of Mexico on February 12, 1908. On 

 the evening of the first day of the planters' conference they 

 attended a banquet, at a leading Mexican restaurant, at which 

 the guest of honor was Andres Aldasoro, under minister of 

 fomento, who, speaking in behalf of the government, said that 

 all the necessary guarantees and every possible aid would be 

 extended in the development of rubber culture in Mexico. 



Dr. Olsson-Seflfer, in a lengthy paper on "The Present Condi- 

 tion of Rubber Culture," said that there were in Mexico 118 

 plantations, embracing approximately 95.000 acres, devoted wholly 

 or in part to rubber culture, and representing an investment of 

 $60,000,000 Mexican, or about $30,000,000 gold. 



James C. Harvey spoke on "Cacoa as an Adjunct to Rubber 

 Culture," and H. Wegge on "Manuring the Rubber Tree." 

 Ignacio Carranza opened a discussion on "The Rubber Planter 

 and the Labor Supply." He favored the importation of laborers 

 from southern Europe, and the general sentiment of those who 

 spoke was adverse both to the Japanese and the American negro 

 for plantation work in Mexico. 



The suggestion was made by J. P. Taylor that the government 

 should establish regulations for the. control of trading in rubber, 

 for the reason that the Indians, who now are "stealing about 

 three-fourths of the wild rubber of Mexico," may be expected 

 sooner or later to begin stealing rubber from cultivated trees. 



The selection of officers of the Rubber Planters' Association of 

 Mexico resulted as follows: 



Presidnit — O. H. Harrison, La Zacualpa Rubber Plantation Co., San 

 Francisco. 



First Vice President — J.\mes C. Harvey, Mexican Mutual Planters' Co., 

 Sanborn, Mexico. 



Second Vice President — Pehr Olsson-Seffer. 



Secretary — [To be named by the directors.] 



Treasurer — William A'ernon Backus, interested in 3 number of plant- 

 ing companies, Mexico City. 



Directors — W. C. Gruels, O. V. Petterson, A. E. Coates, L. A. Ostien, 

 Ignacio Carranza. 



The names of those taking part in the planters' convention are 

 reported as follows by the Mexican Herald, to which journal 

 credit is also due for most of the details in this report. It is 

 understood that the test is not a complete one : 

 Delegates From States. 



Carlos Garza, from Tamaulipas. 



Manuel Casares Escudero, from Yucatan. 



Deputy Ignacio Munoz, from Veracruz. 



Luis Oettinger, from Guerrero. 



Deputy Domingo Leon, from Tabasco. 



Representing Planting Companies. 



St. Paul Tropical Development Co. (St. Paul). — Professor L. A. Ostien. 



Tabasco Plantation Co. (Minneapolis). — F. W. Moore and George E. 

 Davis. 



Mexican Imperial Plantation Co. — William Vernon Backus. 



Mexican Mutual Planters' Co. (Chicago). — James C. Harvey. 



The Mexican Rubber Co., Limited (London, England). — H. E. Levesley. 



Nebraska Plantation Co. — Professor V. O. Petterson. 



The Obispo Rubber Plantation Co. (New York). — Maxwell Riddle. 



Rock Island Tropical Plantation Co. — Prof. V. O. Petterson. 



Trinidad Rubber Co. — "P.ui.Miaventura"' plantation (Los Angeles). — Clar- 

 t-ncc Harvey. 



Chiapas Land Co. — R. Olsson-Seffer. 



The Chilean Exploration and Development Syndicate, Limited (London, 

 England).— P. O. Bremer. 



El Palmar Plantation Co. — C. Miner and A. Reynaud. 



Continental Commercial Co. (St. Louis). — H. E. Levesley. 



Hacienda Providcncia — John Shelly. 



Mexican Gulf Agricultural Co. (Kansas City). — C. H. Precht. 

 Others Present. 



Dr. Pehr Olsson-Seffer, representing several planting companies; James 

 Gunder, of Vera Cruz; Ralph Rcot, of New York; K. C. Lock, W. D. 

 Shaw, W. S. Windock, Dr. J. H. T. Stempel, and W. C. Cressey. 

 * * * 



The Mexican Herald quotes Montgomery Tarr, described as 

 being exceptionally well informed on the subject, as predicting 

 the exportation during the current fiscal year (beginning July l) 

 of 100 tons more rubber from Mexico than during the preceding 

 year, owing to the development of the rubber plantations. 



THE "MANICOBA" RUBBERS. 



PEARLY in the past month Mr. Reginald W. Wickham, of 

 ^— ' London, was in New York, en route from a visit to Peru 

 and Bolivia, which took him 2,500 miles up the Amazon and its 

 tributaries, the Jurna and Gregoria, investigating rubber interests. 

 He reports finding some magnificent growths of Hevea rubber — 

 up to 14 feet 3 inches in circumference. 



Mr. Wickham at one time visited the "manigoba" rubber regions 

 ill the Brazilian state of Bahia, a description of which by Mr. 

 Ashmore Russan was reviewed in The lNDr.\ Rubber World for 

 October i (page 9). Mr. Wickham states that some rubber prop- 

 erties in Bahia have been marketed recently to a syndicate in 

 London. 



Another recent visitor to New York was Mr. William B. 

 Dulley, manager of The Dumont Coffee Estates, Ribeirao, Sao 

 Paulo, Brazil, after a visit to some Mexican rubber plantations. 

 The Dumont estates are owned in London, Mr. H. K. Rutherford 

 being interested, and it is partly due to the latter's suggestion 

 that rubber planting has been taken on. About 400 acres have 

 been planted within a year to Maiiihot Glazioi-ii, the rubber tree 

 of Ceara being preferred by Mr. Dulley to the Jequie or "mani- 

 Qoba" of Bahia after he had visited the region where the latter 

 is native. It was Mr. Dulley who sent to Kew the first material 

 for the study of the Bahia or Jequie "manigoba," now recognized 

 as different from the Manihot Glaziovii or Ceara "manigoba." 



Increased amounts of rubber from Bahia are arriving at New 

 York, the increase being namely in "manigoba." Only a small 

 amount of this rubber is the product of plantations, though 

 Jequie rubber is generally spoken of here and in Europe as 

 "plantation" rubber. 



The Brazilian Rubber Plantation and Development Co., in 

 which New Y'ork capital is interested, have a plantation of Mani- 

 hot Glazioi'ii in Ceara, regarding which they inform The India 

 Rubber World: "We receive manigoba of this latter description 

 from our own plantation from time to time, the quality of which 

 we expect will be very materially increased in a short while, as 

 we now have over 600,000 trees planted and employ over 200 

 hands on our property, the development of which is progressing 

 very rapidly and to our entire satisfaction." 



The largest automobile storage warehouse in the country is a 

 garage on Broadway, New Y'ork, in which there were housed 

 recently, for 236 regular customers, cars of the estimated value 

 of nearly $1,500,000, figured at less than first cost. The house has 

 150 employes. 



Fame for a Rubber Worker. — An Akron newspaper says : 

 "John Cary, foreman in a department of The B. F. Goodrich Co., 

 has achieved a large measure of fame in this city recently by the 

 publication of a song which he composed entitled 'Where the 

 Old Cuyahoga Winds Around the Bend.' " 



