324 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[July i, 1908. 



f ACTORY Plant of The West Coast Rubber Co.. 



[On the left is the Creamer; in the center th»* Rrl'<;, made at a 

 on the right the Press.] 



The Natic-Nal Railroad. 



An event of great importance to the development of Gnatsmala 

 was the recent completion of the Northern Railroad of Guate- 

 mala, which extends for 195 miles from Puerto Barrios, on the 

 gulf coast, to Guatemala city, the capital of the republic. Beyond 

 the latter city a previously existing line runs to San Jose, on the 

 Pacific coast, thus giving Guatemala a transcontinental railway. 

 Hitherto Guatemala has been singularly inaccessible. Rather than 

 attempt the journey from the Atlantic coast overland to the 

 national capital, a New Yorker, for example, who desired to 

 visit that city would journey to San Francisco by rail, taking 

 a ship thence down the coast, the time required to reach Guat- 

 emala city being 20 to 30 days from San Francisco. Puerto 

 Barrios is only 5 days from New York by steamer, and 2V2 

 days from New Orleans, to which must now be added only 195 

 miles of travel by rail to reach the capital. 



The construction of the Northern Railroad of Guatemala has 

 been very expensive — something like $12,000.000 — owing to the 

 engineering difficulties to be faced, but it is anticipated that the 

 benefit to the nation will render it a profitable enterprise. It 

 was constructed by the Guatemala Railway Co.. a New Jersey 

 corporation, of which the president is Minor C. Keith, a former 

 Brooklyn man, who has done so much for the development of 

 Costa Rica and is now vice president of the United Fruit Co. 

 The vice president of the Guatemala Railway Co. is Sir William 

 C. Van liorne, K. c. m. g., chairman of the Canadian Pacific 

 Railway Co.. and president of the Cuba Railroad Co. Ship- 

 ments of freight from Guatemala to the United States have 

 been largely from the Pacific coast via the Panama railroad, 

 but much cf this traffic will now, it is thought, be carried over 

 the new all rail route across the republic. The advantages of 

 the new transportation facilities naturally will tend to en- 

 courage many forms of industry in Guatemala, including plant- 

 ing interests. 



The Rubber Interest. 



Consul Nadeau describes Guatemala as among the wealthiest 

 Central .\merican republics. Outside of agriculture its natural 

 resources have been developed very little as yet., but its coffee, 

 cacao, rubber, spices and sugar interests are large and growing. 

 Imports of .American goods are extensive, but the bulk of the 

 exports goes to Europe, Germany taking most of the coffee 

 produced. 



Native rubber {Castiltoa clasliira) has long been exploited in 

 Guatemala, the quality being favorably regarded in the ni.irkets. 



IN Gu.\TEMALA. 

 Guatemala foundry, and 



The exports still include native 

 rubber, in addition to which the 

 produce of plantations is begin- 

 ning to be offered, .\ccording to 

 recent consular reports the ship- 

 ments of rubber for eight years 



Pounds. 



In 1899 520,993 



In lyoo 529.984 



In 1901 495,040 



In 1902 428,212 



lu 1903 



I" 1904 445.045 



111 1905 373,152 



In 1906 393.533 



The first rubber plantations es 

 tablished in Guatemala were in 

 connection with coffee planting, 

 and have come into the control 

 largely of German mercantile 

 houses interested in the coffee 

 trade. Such a plantation is "El 

 Baul," on the Pacific coast, from 

 which a large specimen of crude 

 rubber was taken to the Paris 

 Exposition of 1900, being award- 

 ed a medal. [See The Indi.\ Rubber World, July i, 1902 — 

 page 314.1 



More recently several companies have been organized in the 

 United States for the purpose of planting rubber in Guatemala, 

 either alone or in connection with other crops, or in connection 

 with grazing or the marketing of valuable native woods. One 

 such coiTipany is La Nueva Providencia Rubber Co., incorporated 

 in Rhode Island, of which Mr. Leo F. Nadeau, of Providence, 

 R. I., already mentioned in this article, is secretary and treasurer. 

 They have planted rubber extensively, and are devoting atten- 

 tion to other sources of income while awaiting the development 

 of the rubber. Their property is in the district of Escuintla. 



The West Coast Rubber Co., incorporated under the laws 

 of New York state, and having headquarters in New York city, 

 also have an estate — Plantation "Punian" — in the district of 

 Escuintla. On this property a great many rubber seeds were 

 sown in the forest lands by farm owners, with the result that 

 a considerable number of trees are now large enough to yield 

 rubber, and the product is being marketed. Several other Am- 

 erican companies have been organized to plant rubber in Guat- 

 emala, but the extent of their developments is not now known. 

 A Belgian enterprise, formed a year or two ago, is the Cie. 

 Franco-Beige du Guatemala, capitalized at 2.000.000 francs, and 

 designed for planting rubber as well as exploiting the native 

 product. 



The American consul general at Rio de Janeiro. Mr. George 

 E. Anderson, reports that the decline in rubber prices has led 

 to financial stress in the Amazon states, not alone among the 

 rubber trades, but in every line of business. He says : "The 

 general situation is reflected at large by the fact that the ship- 

 ments of rubber in 1907 brought in Brazil a total of about $63,- 

 200,000. At the prices for the gum obtaining in 1906 this sum 

 would have been about $78,000,000, and at the prices obtaining at 

 the present time and apparently likely to continue most of the 

 present year, the income from rubber on the basis of last year'.* 

 shipments will amount to only $47,000,000, or $15,000,000 less 

 than last year's income, and about $30,000,000 less than that of 

 the year before, which the governmental world had come to 

 regard as normal." 



The dividends of the Amazon Sleam Navigation Co., Lim- 

 ited, for the business year 1907 amounted to 5 per cent., after 

 having been only 4 per cent, for several years. 



