OcT.mER 1, 1915.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



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Pat. United States Pat. 



Reg. Pot. United Kingdon 



Published on the 1st of each month hy 



THE liNDlA RUBBER PUBLISHING GO. 



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Telophcne— Bryant 2676. 

 CABLE ADDESS: IRWORLD. NEW YORK. 



HENRY C. PEARSON, Editor 



Vol. 53. 



OCTOBER 1. 1915. 



No. 1 



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COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING CO. 

 Entered at the New York postofiice as mail matter of the second class. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS ON LAST PAGE OF READING. 



'ENGLAND'S DICTATORSHIP.' 



T\\( ) of the .\'e\v York dailies, belonging to the type 

 of journalism usually classed as "sensational." de- 

 \()teri much space in their issues of September 21 to 

 w liat they chose to call the British seizure of the .\merican 

 rubber trade. They quoted at length — as live news — the 

 articles of agreement entered into last January Ijetween 

 the British government and the ruliber manufacturers of 

 the L'nited States, which were set forth in detail in the 

 I'cbruary issue of The Indi.\ Rubber World. This be- 

 lated and extensive exploitation of the conditions which 

 have governed rubber imports from British ports during 

 the last eight months was occasioned by the protest of 

 the German Embassy at Washington to the State De- 

 |)artment concerning the control, or at least partial con- 

 trol, which England holds over various raw materials, 

 including rubber, needed by the American manufacturer. 

 One of these dailies stated that an investigation was 

 b> being urged to learn "if civil or criminal action should 

 p> not be brought under the Sherman Act to end Great 

 , Britain's complete control of the rubber trade of the 

 - L'nitfd States." 



Just what civil or criminal action could be brought, 

 and against whom or what, it would be highly interesting 

 to learn. If the English choose so to guard their rublicr 

 as not to let it be used to aid their enemies they certainl\- 

 appear well within their rights; and if American manu- 

 facturers want British rubber so much that they are 

 willing to subscribe to the conditions laid down — the con- 

 ditions per se involving no impropriety — they are surely /.,., 

 justified in their course. *J-tvj 



The other journal which gave so much space to this '* 



subject made this statement in conspicuous headlines: 

 "Rubber Club as agent for Empire dictates terras to 

 manufacturers." Nothing could be farther from the 

 facts. The Rubber Club is not the agent of the British 

 Empire nor has it dictated to any manufacturer or to 

 anyone else. 



When, last November, the embargo was placed on rub- 

 ber shipments from British ports it was obvious to every- 

 one that the American trade was confronted with a 

 situation bound to be embarrassing and liable to prove 

 extremely serious. It was evident that something had 

 to be done and done at once. The most representative 

 organization in the trade is the Rubber Club, and its 

 officers, at great sacrifice of time, and fully appreciative 

 of the burden they assumed, took up the task of finding 

 the best and quickest means of securing for our manu- 

 facturers their normal and necessary supplies, and as a 

 result of their efforts the embargo was removed. The 

 instant relief to the rubber trade and the freedom from 

 further vexation which it has since enjoyed is the best 

 proof of the excellence of their work. 



How necessary it was to comply with the terms of the 

 British government, not onl)' for the good of the trade 

 but for the general welfare of the public, is shown by 

 the import figures of crude rubber during the present 

 year. Since the first of February, when the embargo 

 was lifted, to tiie first of August, the crude rubber im- 

 portations at the port of New York amounted to 11,364 

 tons from Brazil and 25,000 tons from London, all of 

 this excepting 128 tons being plantation rubber. In other 

 words, over two-thirds of our supply of crude rubber 

 during the last eight months has come from London, 

 none of which would ever have reached an American 

 port except through compliance with the conditions laid 

 down by the British government. 



If no such agreement had been made and no rubber 

 received by American manufacturers except the very in- 

 adequate supply coming from Brazil, the price of crude 

 rubber would undoubtedly have remained at the high 

 figure reached in the early days of the war, and might 

 even have gone to the two-dollar mark, as has been the 

 case in those European neutral countries which refused 

 to comply with British conditions. In that event the 

 price of rubber goods to the consumer would inevitably 

 have mounted with great rapidity, and those journals 

 which now decrv "JMigland's control of the American 



