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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[May I, 1908. 



A HALT IN RUBBER PRODUCTION. 



THE production of plantation rubber, despite its small 

 volume as compared with the forest product, already 

 has had an appreciable effect upon prices. Last 

 year the actual shipments from Ceylon and Malay States 

 plantations amounted to 1178 English tons. This is not 

 a large figure as compared with, say, 70,000 tons, the 

 ■estimated total rubber production of the world, but it is 

 something. Not only this, but it is high grade rubber, 

 with a slight percentage of shrinkage, so that 1178 tons 

 •of plantation rubber are equal to 1500 or 2000 tons of 

 forest rubber, according as it is compared with Para, 

 centrals, or the lower grades of Africans. It is an addi- 

 tion to the long established sources of production, simul- 

 taneous with an unusual increase in the scale of output 

 from the Amazon. Is it reasonable, then, to assume that 

 the Ceylon and neighboring production has had no effect 

 upon prices? It is to kept in mind that the plantation 

 rubber has competed with fine Para, the prices of which 

 have declined more sharply than for established grades 

 from the Congo, for example. 



The question now is how far the Eastern product may 

 be expected to bring down prices. Ceylon and the Malay 

 States exported last year 2,640.365 pounds of plantation 

 rubber, against 1,355,816 pounds in 1906 — ^an increase of 

 practically 100 per cent. The exports from Ceylon alone 

 increased in five years just thirteenfold. At the same rate 

 of increase the Far East would soon be producing more 

 rubber than the world's total to-day. . But this is not to 

 be looked for. If we take, for instance, the Vallambrosa 

 estate, which during its first year produced only 39,000 

 pounds, with a gradual increase to 156,922 pounds in 

 1906-07 and 225,281 pounds in the year ended March 13 

 last, we find that about half their acreage has been 

 planted not over 3 years. The increase in yield up to 

 ■date has been due to more trees coming into bearing each 

 year, and a gradual increase in the rate of yield. But 

 many of the trees now probably have reached their maxi- 

 mum yield, and some time must elapse for the newer 

 planting to become productive. Or if the Highlands and 

 Lowlands company is considered — producing 193,389 

 pounds in 1907 and 134,285 pounds in the year before — 

 we find that only 27 per cent, of their acreage was planted 

 as far back as 1903, and 46 per cent, of it in 1906 and 

 1907. They, too, will have a period of waiting for the 

 development of new plantings before their output of rub- 

 ber can show another great increase. 



It would be surprising if the current lower prices for 

 rubber should not result in a smaller output, for a time 

 at least, from the Amazon, though for reasons already set 

 forth in these columns the Brazilians will not go out of 

 the rubber business altogether, no matter how low prices 

 may fall. What may be counted upon, therefore, is a 

 ■somewhat reduced production on the Amazon, and for 

 a while a reduced rate of increase in the output from the 

 Far East, while the extensive planting of the last three 



years is developing. By the time all the millions of new 

 trees have come into bearing it may be that conditions as 

 yet unthought of will control the market for crude rubber, 

 but it can be considered as certain that the total demand 

 for rubber will not be less at any time, but constantly 

 greater. This is the chief essential. 



We look for more systematic and more economical pro- 

 duction of rubber, and a better product, both on planta- 

 tions and in forest exploitation, which will tend at the 

 same time to (1) assured profits for producers and (2) 

 lower prices for rubber and a corresponding extension of 

 its uses. The production of native Hevea rubber ought 

 to increase for a long time to come, if human intelligence 

 continues to be applied to the subject, as we believe that 

 it will be ; but this increase seems likely to be offset by an 

 inevitable decline in the product of rubber from those 

 species which die with the giving up of their valuable 

 content. Ultimately, therefore, the actual net increase in 

 the world's supply of rubber must come from plantations. 



STANDARDIZATION OVERDONE. 



THE importance as a factor in modern industrial 

 progress of the principle of standardization of proc- 

 esses and products can scarcely be overestimated. 

 We may go even farther, and consider those improve- 

 ments in the standards of living which are termed a 

 growth of civilization as based directly upon industrial 

 progress. It is a comfort and a satisfaction that practi- 

 cally universal fittings exist, say for hose — garden, fire, 

 air brake, and the like — and the same is true of rims for 

 motor car tires, and in a thousand other lines of produc- 

 tion. Xot alone is there added convenience for this rea- 

 son, but with uniformity of product is associated the 

 manufacture of a vast number of articles exactly alike, 

 much more cheaply than under the old regime, when 

 every one, even to a pin, had to be manufactured sep- 

 arately, so that consumption has enormously increased. 



Yet it is possible that the idea of standardization may 

 be carried out too far. To recognize no limit to it is to 

 consider perfection to have been reached, and the neces- 

 sity for any improvement past. It is desirable that fire 

 hose, for example, should possess such uniformity, in 

 itself and its accessories, together with the apparatus on 

 which it is used, that one may be substituted for another 

 with a minimum of time and effort. But this need not be 

 inconsistent with the continual improvement of fire appa- 

 ratus, such as is all the time in progress. And while two 

 lengths of hose may have the same diameter and work 

 satisfactorily with the same couplings, the two may dift'er 

 materially in quality. 



If a certain quality of fire hose has been in use, the sub- 

 stitution of another less good should not, of course, be 

 thought of. But the tendency of some modern e.xponents 

 of standardization would seem to narrow the possibility 

 of a better grade finding a place. They call for hose 

 made of a fixed quantity and quality of materials, com- 



