December I, 1915. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



105 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING GO. 



No. 25 West 45th Sheet, New York. 



Telephone — Bryant 2576. 



CABLE ADDESS: IRWORLD, NEW YORK. 



HENRY C. PEARSON, Editor 



Vol. 53. 



DECEMBER I. 1915. 



No. 3 



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COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING CO. 

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



TABLE OF CONTENTS ON LAST PAGE OF READING. 

 THE CRUDE RUBBER GUESSING CONTEST. 



T~"RO.M a normal and fairly satisfactory price level of 

 *■ 62 cents. First Latex Crepe has suddenly risen 

 to S3 cents, and that without apparent cause. Those 

 who buy, and eke those who sell, particularly the latter, 

 are trying to tell the reason why. These guesses, for 

 as yet they are nothing else, are of more than aca- 

 demic interest. They follow along in order about like 

 this: 



The Suez Canal is closed, or ai)out to be closed, dc- 

 Hecting or holding up rubber cargoes for some weeks. 



Several of the great tin and rubber carriers have 

 been torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean. 



The British Government has suddenly comman- 

 deered five to ten thousand tons of rubber. 

 ^_ British firms having German affiliations have placed 

 5f> large orders for rubber, thus incidentally suggesting 

 an early peace. 



A longer delay in the clearing of the Panama Canal 

 than was expected. 



Serious conditions in Ceylon and the Malay States 

 because of native uprisings. 



The presence of big rubber buyers in the Far East 

 who are placing large orders for future delivery. 



The fact that the big manufacturers have been out of 

 the market for months and that they have at last be- 

 gun to buy largely. 



-Ml of the above are gucs.ses, and as such are equally 

 valuaijle. 



The fact remains, however, of the unexplained ad- 

 vance in plantation sorts, and the sympathetic rise in 

 the prices of Brazilian rubber and rubber scrap. 



Verily, with higher rubber, more costly cotton and 

 compounding ingredients at prohibitive prices, some 

 slight advance in prices of manufactured goods is in 



UAI 



waw 



DEARTH OF COMPOUNDING INGREDIENTS. 



y^^.VX the .American rubber trade face the new year con- 

 ^^ fidently so far as chemicals and compounding in- 

 gredients are concerned? Will our sources of supply 

 suffice in V)\i^, and will the i)rices be reasonably steady? 

 These are questions that have been asked frequently of 

 late ; and we have made a survey of the field and sought 

 the opinions of men qualified to speak authoritatively. In 

 our columns elsewhere the results are given at some 

 length; and the prospect for some of the important 

 materials is decidedly unpromising. 



However, there is this to be remembered : none of the 

 ingredients that are becoming so scarce and costly are 

 absolute necessities. Other colors, different compounds, 

 a great variety of substitutions will enable the rubber 

 manufacturers to turn out goods just as acceptable as of 

 >ore. And in due time all of the high-priced ingredients 

 will lie made in our factories. 



RUBBER AND COMPOUNDING RESERVES. 



SOME time ago the price of crude rubber reached the 

 high mark of three dollars a pound. There were 

 those, chiefly rubber producers, who believed that it would 

 remain there for a period of years at least. Just at that 

 time, however, there came into the market enormous 

 quantities of rubber scrap, notably motor tires, which 

 under improved reclaiming processes became crude rub- 

 ber and proved one of the great factors in driving the 

 price down to a reasonably low figure. Thus the rubber 



