340 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[April 1, 1916. 



plies two-thirds of the world's copper, and ought to set the 

 prices, because it deals with our producers as individuals and 

 plays one against the other. 



We don't export much coal, but we sell a great deal to for- 

 eign ship-owners to bunker tlieir vessels which call at our ports. 

 At Newport News the Pocahontas and New River operators 

 of West Virginia are dumping some of the finest coal in the 

 world into foreign bunkers. The price is set for a year by a 

 combination of English brokers. Last year it was $3.30 per 

 ton but this year, in the face of rismg labor costs, the combma- 

 tioii was able to cut that price to $3.10 because it could get 

 certain mine operators to make low bids. When freight and 

 other charges are deducted that nets $1.38 to $1.43 per ton at 

 the mine, an average of 6 to 7 cents per ton under that charged 

 our own manufacturers. And that advantage will be handed 

 to foreign ship-owners on nearly 2,000,000 tons of West Vir- 

 ginia coal this year. 



A LESSON IN CONSERVATION. 

 When conditions arise to threaten waste of the natural re- 

 sources of our commercial rivals, prompt remedial measures 

 are undertaken. Several vears ago the German potash miners 

 were competing between themselves and selling potash to for- 

 eign countries at a ridiculously low price. Finally they formed 

 a cartel to regulate prices, and were encouraged by the (jerman 

 Government. After this cartel had been in existence for sev- 

 eral years a difference of opinion developed and several mem- 

 bers 'withdrew and started negotiations with American buyers 

 for the sale of their potash. One of the largest opened up 

 negotiations with Armour & Co., of Chicago, and a contract 

 was made with this firm below the cartel prices. After the 

 contract was sealed, signed and delivered, the German Govern- 

 ment notified the independent potash producers that they would 

 have to break the contract; that the prices quoted to Armour 

 & Co were too low ; that while the individuals were the owners 

 of the mine they were in reality the trustees for the German 

 people, and that the selling of potash to American packers at 

 the price quoted affected every man, woman and child in Ger- 

 many; that when the potash was gone one of the most valuable 

 resources for Germany's future was destroyed. 



That is what Germany does with one of her natural re- 

 sources. We have a precisely similar opportunity. Down in 

 Tennessee and Florida, and out in the Rockies are the greatest 

 known deposits of phosphate rock, a fertilizer material even 

 more essential to general agriculture than is potash. We pro- 

 duce nearly half the world's output of phosphate rock, and 40 

 per cent of our production, made up of high grade, goes 

 abroad, chiefly to Europe. Under normal conditions we send 

 1,000 tons to Germany every day of the year. Do we follow 

 the wisdom of Germany, charging the prices we ought, and 

 conserving our limited supply of this vital natural resource, 

 so necessary to the future of our agriculture and the low cost 

 of living here? You know the answer. We are selling the 

 best we have as fast as we can at Europe's price. 



There are many instances where foreign nations have taken 

 governmental action to prevent waste of natural resources. 

 Italy thus saved its sulphur industry in Sicily from ruin, 

 threatened by overproduction and unbridled competition. Ru- 

 mania has sa'feguarded its rich oil fields in the same way. 

 OUR DISADVANTAGE EITHER WAY. 

 The outstanding fact that confronts us is this: When we 

 buy abroad we are at the mercy of the foreign seller, and when 

 vve sell abroad we are at the mercy of the foreign buyer. In 

 the language of the street, they "get us a-comin' and a-goin'." 

 And the reason is that the European industries are organized 

 scientifically to capture foreign trade and to get all there is 

 out of it, while we in America have suffered the consequences 

 of this one-sided organization. 



Our method of disposing of our natural products, containing 

 our valuable raw materials, and constituting the chief wealth 

 . of our country, should be stopped by the adoption of some 

 practical, reasonable business method. For every dollar's worth 

 of additional wealth that we receive for these products the 

 people of the United States profit, and when we do not receive 

 a fair price for the products that we ship abroad we are im- 

 poverishing our people, and our country is that much poorer. 

 AMERICA'S CH.iiNCE AFTER THE WAR. 

 Competition is the same the world over, and it will be par- 

 ticularly keen when the business of peace is resumed among 

 the nations. America's chance at the trade of the world will 

 be helped beyond what it was before by reason of a new, even 

 start with the others in the race, but we must be prepared to 

 match systematized industry against the effective systematized 



industries of our competitors. We must meet conditions as 

 they exist. 



In European countries manufacturers and merchants, aided 

 by their governments, have developed a high state of efficiency, 

 which enables them to sell their goods in the markets of the 

 world. Our buyers, seeking raw and finished materials in for- 

 eign countries, who formerly had a free competitive field from 

 which to receive bids, now find that the great manufacturing 

 industries have been formed into combinations or cartels; and, 

 instead of receiving bids from several concerns, the American 

 buyers now have to do business with central selling agencies, 

 each representing a whole industry. But when the foreign 

 buyer seeks material here he finds our unsystematized market — 

 much to his own satisfaction. 



If the American manufacturer and merchant are forced to 

 purchase their materials abroad at a higher price because of 

 the elimination of the old competitive system, is it fair that 

 our business men engaged in the foreign trade should be sub- 

 jected to the ruinous features of the old system here at home? 

 When the foreign buyer seeks material here he has hundreds 

 of firms to bi«l on his order. When the first bid is received, 

 back comes the cable: "Your price is too high." Then our 

 business men start to cut prices in their endeavor to get the 

 order, particularly if domestic business is dull. And so. in- 

 stead of setting a fair price on his product and selling at a 

 profit, the American business man takes what the foreign buyer 

 dictates, frequently at an actual loss. 



WORK OF THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION. 



The Federal Trade Commission will have a report ready in 

 the next few weeks to submit to Congress showing further 

 facts regarding our foreign trade conditions. 



It is my belief that the time has arrived for some definite 

 concrete action, and I feel confident that the sentiment is most 

 favorable for some practical immediate relief. 



Within the next few weeks the commission will mail to each 

 corporation in the United States a letter and a list of ques- 

 tions, and the success of our efforts will in a measure depend 

 upon you gentlemen. We are going to mail each trade paper 

 in the United States a copy of this letter, as well as the ques- 

 tions, and we would like very much to have each trade paper 

 endorse and urge the business men in their industry promptly 

 to fill out the form and send it to the Federal Trade Commis- 

 sion. I wish particularly to call your attention to the fact 

 that we are compiling this information for the business men 

 engaged in every industry, and that our whole thought is to 

 do the work in a manner that will be helpful to all. 



A SERVICE TEST. 



Electric storage battery jars must be made ot an extremely 

 tough compound to stand hard usage without breaking. 

 Storage batteries are now used 

 by thousands of electric, pleas- 

 ure and commercial vehicles. 

 Storage batteries are hauling 

 coal from the mines, lighting 

 railway trains, operating railway 

 switches and signals ; indeed they 

 are now used in every field of 

 electrical development. 



In the illustration an "Exide" 

 hard rubber jar is shown sup- 

 porting a 217-pound man, wlio 

 holds a complete "Exide" baliy 

 battery of 48 pounds in his hands. 

 This jar, while badly bent by 

 the weight of 265 pounds, was 

 not broken or cracked. It was 

 taken from stock to demonstrate 

 the extraordinary strength, tough- 

 ness and flexibility of "Exide" hard 

 rubber storage battery jars. — [The 

 Electric Storage Battery Co., 

 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.] 



Replete with information for rubber manufacturers— Mr. 

 Pearson's "Crude Rubber and Compounding Ingredients." 



