THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



1, 1915. 



WILL THERE BE A "DUMPING" OF RUBBER 

 GOODS? 



MANY iep<>n>. have cmue irom Washington of late to 

 tlie effect tliat our statesmen, now scattered abroad 

 over the country hut soon to re-convene at the national 

 capitol. are cunsidcrinii tlie ])i>ssihle effects upon the 

 American market of liu- cessation of hostilities across 

 the waters. A considerable number take the attitude 

 that Europe will be in such dire straits, and it will be 

 so necessary for her tu rehabilitate herself industrially 

 that she will be willing to forego all profits and all 

 luxuries, and even the comforts of life, in order to re- 

 open her factories and find purchasers for their prod- 

 ucts. As a consequence, they fear a great dumping 

 of cheap Euro])ean goods on the American market. 



Others take an opposite view and maintain that 

 when the war is over luiropeans will be so exhausted 

 in men, morale and material that they will be totally 

 unable to compete with the healthy economic condi- 

 tions which obtain in this country, and that American 

 manufacturers will have nothing to fear from Euro- 

 pean products. 



Probably both of these extremes are wrong. Un- 

 doubtedly the truth lies in st)me middle ground. There 

 is no question that Europe will be in a very sad state 

 industrially and that she will liend every energy 

 towards re-entrance into her former markets ; but 

 that these efforts will be sufficient to flood the United 

 States with extremely low-priced products seems 

 hardly probable. It is likely, however, that in a short 

 time after the conclusion of hostilities, American im- 

 ])orts of European goods will equal, if they do not sur- 

 pass their volume prior t(} the outbreak of the war. 



How will this situation affect the rubber trade ? In 

 footwear and mechanical goods probably very little. 

 In the tire trade and in hard rubber, druggists' sun- 

 dries, clothing, sporting goods and toys the effect is 

 likely to be more noticeable. For instance, after the 

 enactment of the Underwood tariff', which reduced the 

 duties on tires from 35 to 10 i)er cent., there was a 

 noticeable increase in the imports of this article. Dur- 

 ing the first seven months of 1913 manufactured rub- 

 ber imports into the United States equaled in value 

 $720,5-W. During the first seven months of the fol- 

 lowing year, after the new tariff had gone into force, 

 these imports increased nearly 50 per cent., and, un- 

 doubtedly, had it not been for the war, imports of 

 tires and the other kinds of rubber goods mentioned 

 above would have continued to show a substantial 

 growth in volume. 



Accordingly, in view of the situation immediately 

 antedating the European outbreak, it seems alto- 

 gether reasonable to anticipate that when peace is 

 restored there will be an increase in irnports of rub- 

 ber goods, which, while not necessarily alarming, will 

 at least be worthy of attention on the part of Amer- 

 ican manufacturers. 



THE GROWING RANKS OF RUBBER IMPORTERS. 



Ir wa> not so nian\ years ago that a man with the normal 

 number of (ligit> could count the .American nnporters 

 of crude rubber on the fingers of one hand — with possibly 

 some slight assistance from the other hand. Of brokers, 

 pure and simple, there were still fewer. Hut all that has 

 been changed. A fairly careful listing of the companies, 

 firms and individuals now engaged in the pursuit of 

 importing crude rubljcr into the United States shows their 

 number to be 115, while of brokers there are 23; making 

 a substantial total of 138. This growth in the number of 

 the importers' ranks is certainly a noteworthy feature of 

 the general development of the industry. 



To be sure, the manufacture of rubber goods in the 

 United States is vastly greater now than it was a few- 

 years ago and the importation of crude material naturallv 

 is much larger. By way of comparison, 20 years ago the 

 entire value of the annual production of rubber goods in 

 this country did not exceed $75,000,000. and the annual 

 consumption of crude rubber was not over 18,000 tons. 

 The year 1915 will unquestionably witness a production 

 of rubber goods exceeding $400,000,000 in value, or over 

 five times its value of two decades ago ; while crude 

 rubber imports will be close to 60.000 tons if they do not 

 exceed that figure. L>ut even so, with all this great gen- 

 eral growth, the increase in the number of importers and 

 brokers has been iirojiortionately much more rapid and 

 presents an interesting phenomenon. 



AN OVERSEAS TRUST TO INSURE NEUTRALITY. 



THE American Overseas Corporation, which bids fair 

 to be in operation within a very few days, seems 

 on the surface to be an excellent idea — so excellent, in 

 fact, that it is surprising that it has not been suggested 

 before : as it is a simple arrangement for avoiding the 

 delay and irritation of the constant surveillance of 

 American cargoes by the belligerent powers. 



Briefly, the plan is to form an organization of large 

 exporting and financial interests to guarantee that 

 American exports shipped to neutral countries are in 

 reality designed for neutral consumption. While the 

 United States Government will not be officially re- 

 sponsible for the conduct of the enterprise it has, through 

 Secretary Redfield, given its approval of the project and 

 agreed to render it substantial assistance. 



It is stated that the British Government is ready to 

 give recognition and approval to this new movement. 

 This is quite lo-:c'cal, as it would relieve the British 

 authorities of a great deal of irksome police duty. In- 

 stead of being obliged to keep constant oversight over a 

 large number of exporters, great and small, it will be 

 able to deal with one responsible organization whose 

 standing will place its good faith beyonii question. While 

 to American commerce it means a welcome relief from 

 irritating interference, with not infrequently costly delays. 



