September i, 1908.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



395 



The Guayule Rubber Situation. 



AT no time and in no country lias the production of crude 

 rubber ever increased at such a rate as in Mexico since the 

 exploitation of the guayule plant began there on a commeT- 

 cial scale. Mexican rubber has been known to commerce since the 

 beginning of the rubber industry, and the Indians have continued 

 year after year to carry to market the fruits of their robbery of 

 the forest, but in recent years the amount of rubber from this 

 source has not been considerable. In one year in the last decade 

 — before plantations of Castilloa were formed — the total export 

 of Mexican rubber was reported by the customs at 55.478 kilo- 

 grams [^122,052 pounds]. During the calendar year 1907 the 

 Mexican export of guayule rubber alone reached 11,487,678 

 pounds, while during the first half of 1908 the figure was 6,959,281 

 pounds, or at the rate of over 6300 metric tons a year. The 

 Amazon region never produced so much rubber in a twelvemonth 

 before 1870, and so much has never reached the Antwerp market 

 in any one year. Mexico suddenly has come into second rank 

 among the rubber producing countries, Brazil remaining first. 



As The Indi.\ Rubber World has told, rubber from the 

 guayule plant has long been known. A specimen of such rubber 

 was shown at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition in 1876, 

 and a manufacturer at New York imported a shipload of the 

 shrub, from which he extracted good rubber. Many were the 

 attempts, for some years, to utilize the new rubber, but generally 

 by people with limited capital or lack of business acumen, so 

 that only failure resulted. The really successful introduction of 

 guayule rubber came with a rush' — backed by ample capital to 

 secure the cooperation of the most capable men in every depart- 

 ment of the work to be done, from collecting the shrubs to sell- 

 ing the product to rubber factories. It was brought to the notice 

 of possible users in a practical way, and really good qualities 

 were demonstrated so clearly that a wide demand at once 

 sprang up. 



It may seem singular to some that, whereas business depression 

 has prevailed in Mexico during a year past, the same as else- 



where, the output of guayule rubber continues to grow. Not only 

 this, but the shipments to the United States have increased 

 steadily, although the whole world has been told of the slump in 

 American financial conditions and of the consequent falling off 

 in the consumption of rubber here. Official statistics do show, 

 indeed, a reduced total importation of crude rubber into the 

 United States, but more Mexican rubber than ever before, and 

 Mexican rubber is for the most part guayule. Here are the 

 latest figures from Washington — imports for three fiscal years, 

 ending June 30, of crude rubber: 



1906. 1907. 1908. 



Total imports /io«;irfi 57,884,345 76,963,838 62,233,160 



From Mexico 1,705.915 7-175.097 9.269,443 



We bought less rubber last year from Brazil, less from other 

 South America and Central America, less from Europe, less 

 from every country save Mexico. Has guayule rubber, then 

 become so popular? 



\\\ explanation which has been oflfered is that conditions in 

 Mexico have had more to do with the case than the demand for 

 rubber in the United States. The guayule shrub is found upon 

 haciendas owned by Mexican landed proprietors, usually on a 

 vast scale. The method of acquiring the shrub has been its pur- 

 chase from the owners of the land, or the securing of options or 

 rights to gather guayule. In any event the Mexican has consid- 

 ered himself entitled, under the contracts, to a regular revenue — 

 so much per month or year. And this revenue must be paid, 

 regardless of whether or not the guayule is collected, the fac- 

 tories work, or the rubber finds a market. 



Since not every guayule company has been in a financial posi- 

 tion to permit of paying the landowners and allowing the shrub 

 to remain on the soil until wanted, the work of collection has 

 gone on just as if there had been no panic. In fact, the financial 

 depression made the shrub owners more insistent upon having 



An E.\f.\nse of Gu.wule L.xxlj. 



.\. I!.\LE OF Glavcle Shrub. 



