August i, 1908.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



357 



tories each consuming more rubber than is produced in 

 all Ceylon and Malaya, and others are likely to increase 

 their consumption as more plantations are opened. 



We do not overlook the fact that Castilloa and other 

 rubber species than Hevea are being cultivated success- 

 fully, but not in this generation does it seem likely 

 that their product will more than offset the exhaustion of 

 natural supplies of rubber at the ordinary rate from trees 

 of the same species. 



THE MANY BOOKS ON RUBBER. 



Tl" the making nf many books on rubber should con- 

 tinue long at the present rate, we may expect to 

 see Mr. .Andrew Carnegie called upon to supply a 

 library building large enough to hold them all. The 

 present volume of the literature of rubber is all the 

 more notable when compared with the condition wdiich 

 existed in the early days of The India Rubber World, 

 when to repeated inquiries for books treating of this or 

 that branch of the rubber interest the answer had to 

 be made that no such works exi.sted — or at least noth- 

 ing practical. 



One result of the coming rubber exhibition at Lon- 

 don is likely to be some important additions to the 

 world's stock of printed matter pertaining to rubber, 

 just as happened when Ceylon, two years before, held 

 a rubber exhibition with such marked success. And, 

 as will be seen on another page, the annual prize award 

 by the Colonial Museum of the Netherlands is tO' go 

 next year to the author of the best essaj- on india-rub- 

 ber or its applications. The honor of possessing a 

 medal from the museum at Haarlem is not to be 

 lightly esteemed, so that we may expect the prize com- 

 mittee to have to deal with the w;ork of many competi- 

 tors in making the award on rubber. 



The rubber interest in every branch is to be con- 

 gratuated upon the growing habit among workers in 

 rubber of writinig on the subject. The greatest ad- 

 vancement is made in that industry in connection with 

 wdiich there is the freest exchange of experiences and 

 opinions, and the rubber trade has been handicapped 

 in the past by a too general disposition on the part 

 of workers in it to guard mysteries, many of which 

 doubtless had better have been discarded. We do not 

 doubt t.hat the success attained by the Ceylon and 

 Straits rubber planters has been due in large part to the 

 open-minded spirit of co-operation manifested by the 

 planters. Not one of these, we are sure, is worse off 

 to-day by having helped his neighbor planter in getting 

 a start in the new business of rubber culture, while 

 the whole world is benefited by the results of the 

 planters' work, \^'e hope to see the exchange of facts 

 and theories grow — whether in the manufacturing or 

 cultural branches of the rubber interest — and the more 

 books the better, so long as based upon intelligent 

 and hmiest effort. 



A RUBBER "trust" IN RUSSIA, siich as is reported to have been 

 formed, seems about the natural thing in the world. There the 

 government seems disposed to regulate everything, and the reg- 

 ulation of one big concern in a given industry probably is simpler 

 than having to deal with more. It is hardly to be expected, how- 

 ever, that the government will seek absolutely to prevent other 

 rubber factories from being started in Russia, in which event we 

 may expect to see history repeated in Russia, as elsewhere, and 

 new factories coming upon the market for sale. 



Since The India Rubber World has done its share in giving 

 publicity to the plans of The Amazon Trading and Development 

 Co. (Cleveland, Ohio) — and without any charge — it is rather 

 disappointing to have to note that, as far as heard from, the 

 rubber trade of the world has not yet been revolutionized. The 

 company's prospectus has been discussed in our exchanges from 

 points as far apart as Rio de Janeiro and Kuala Lumpur, in all 

 of which rhe people are impatiently waiting to see the company 

 send the price of rubber up to $1.50 a pound. 



There is no indication of trade depression in the details of 

 rubber goods e.xports from the United States during the first 11 

 months of the fiscal year beginning July I last. The figures are 

 larger for eveo' class of goods specified, and the total for tihe 

 period is li per cent, greater than for the corresponding months 

 of any previous year. The gain was most marked, however, in 

 rubber footwear. 



PRIZE FOR AN ESSAY ON RUBBER. 



IN accordance with a resolution adopted at the annual meeting 

 of the board of directors for 1908, the managing committee 

 of the Colonial Museum of Haarlem will award a gold medal, or 

 a sum of 150 florins [= about $60], for the best essay on the 

 subject of Caoutchouc or Rubber. 



The committee wishes to make the field to be covered by this 

 prize essay as broad as possible, and parties submitting essays 

 need not, therefore, confine themselves to the cultivation, of 

 caoutchouc and subjects connected therewith, such as the gath- 

 ering of the milk sap, the coagulating and drying, inasmuch as 

 technical essays dealing w'ith the further industrial preparation, 

 manufacture and application of rubber goods will likewise be 

 considered. Finally, the committee will likewise be pleased to 

 receive reports of scientific investigations on the subject of rub- 

 ber, both chemical and botanical, including determination of the 

 commercial value of the product, and intends to exclude from 

 competition only such essays as consist merely of extracts and 

 recapitulations derived from the current literature on the sub- 

 ject of rubber. The committee consequently requires all essays 

 to contain at least some addition to our present knowledge of 

 rubber, or else to add to the many purposes for which this crude 

 material is adapted, some novel application for industrial or 

 domestic use or for purposes connected w'ith the fields of hygiene, 

 sport, etc. In this connection the committee urgently requests 

 that attention be paid to the fact that an International Rubber 

 Exposition will be held in London in September, 1908, and 

 that it W'ill, therefore, be advisable for the parties who intend to 

 enter this present competition to duly consider, in composing 

 their essays, the results and publications of the said exposition. 



In case it should be considered advisable, a geld and silver 

 medal (or 100 florins') will be aw-arded in addition to the first 

 prize, already referred to. Silver or bronze medals will, how- 

 ever, be awarded for all such essays as shall be considered to pos- 

 sess sufficient intrinsic merit. 



All essays, which may be either in the Dutch. English. Ger- 

 man, or French language, are to be addressed on or before 

 December 31, 19C9, to the director of the museum, at Haarlem, 

 Netherlands. 



