August I, I91o 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



387 



iGi'Tw-Pa'^ 



R»» Dnlte"! Slat.-s Pit. Off 



rnlted Kingdom. 





Published 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING GO. 



No. 25 Wesl 43th Street. New York. 



Telsphone— Bryant !676. 



CABLE ADDRESS: IRWORLD. NEW YORK. 



HENRY C. PEARSON. Editor 



Vol. 54 



AUGUST 1. 1916 



SuBScmPTiONS: $3.00 per year, $1.75 for six months, postpaid, for the 

 Lrnited States and dependencies and Mexico. To the Dominion 

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COPYRIGHT. 1916, BY THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING CO. 

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



TABLE OF CONTENTS ON LAST PAGE OF READING. 



PREPAREDNESS— LOOKING BACKWARD. 



E.vtract from a letter -uritteii by to a friend 



.hi ''list 1, 1920. 



D 



\R M- 



iicc ni\- last, things liavc moved rapidly if ndt 

 pleasantly \>>y (uir country and for the ruhlicr trade. The 

 ■war, o*ir fir^t with a really first cla.ss ])()\ver, has now 

 been on f.>r six month.s — a half year of disaster. Such 

 preparedness as we had indult,'ed. rendered ineffective 

 by fjraft, incompetence and politics, availed us hardlv 

 at all. ruir navy defeated, (iiir soldiers on tiie defensive, 

 we are in sore straits — yet llie whole country is rallyinj; 

 for real defense in a manner that promises a final tri- 

 tini[)h no matter how loni^^ delayed. 



Aside from the scarcity and consequent hifjii price of 

 etude rubber, the trade is doinr; well. The factories on 

 the .\tlantic Coast have established headquarters cither 

 in Cleveland or Chicago. Manufacturers in the Middle 

 West have taken over the work of some Eastern mills, 

 while others have simply closed their doors. 



1 he arrival of a merchant submarine at New Orleans 

 witii a thousand tons of rubber cheered the manufactur- 

 ers exceedingly. They gladly paid the price, $5. a pound, 

 and made the intrepid captain a substantial present be- 

 sides. It is believed, by the way, that the i)resent price 

 i ; high water mark and that within a few months three- 

 dollar rubber is a ])ossibility. This belief is founded 

 upon the supplies of guayule that are begiiming to ar- 

 rive, ."^exeral plants ha\e also I)een erected in Colorado 

 and are able to extract rubber |)rofitably from the 

 fieradeiiia. which is very ai)undant. Central rubbers 

 have begun to come in, a.s Mexico, and the countries 

 south of her, rising to the bait of high prices, are tapping 

 everything tliat contains latex, and the aggregate is con- 

 siderable. W itJi the coni]>letion of the motor truck rail- 

 way from ( ,n,iteni;ila to ranania. and the linking up 

 with tile road frnni C olombia to Ilolivia. .^outli .\merican 

 rubber will come overland, provided, of course, we con- 

 tinue as in the past, to hold the ranama Canal. 



It is s]ilenclid to note the cheerfulness with which ail 

 respond to tlie gener;il call for economy in the use of 

 niljl)er gomls. '1 lie nintor cars i.if the millionaires run on 

 tires that long since failed t,. hold ;iir and are fille.l with 

 "tire fillers" and often covered with leather to hold core 

 and carcass together. Rubber clothing has disappeared 

 and slickers of a new, odorless type have taken its 

 place. Cit\ biiililings stripped of their rubber tiling and 

 matting ha\e added much to the vast quantit\- of scrap 

 needed when the crude rubber supply w as first shut oft". 

 Trench boots arc the only goods turned out bv the great 

 footwear factories. Indeed, all .of the rubber in the 

 country is practically at the service of the government. 

 It is most interesting to note the anger expressed toward 

 our former agricultural dei)artment because they allowed 

 lis to lie so long dependent upon foreign sources for our 

 crude rubber. Experiments begun in the last few months 

 show concliisixely that there are several rubber producers 

 that cmild be grown within our own borders. Not the 

 kind- that produce latex, but those of the guayule and 

 grass rubber sort, that contain rubber itself. 



It is said. also, that certain scientists are experimenting 

 with the r.kanda root to see if by a process of selection 

 a variety cannot be obtained that contains a larger amount 

 of rubber milk. Could this percentage be increased 

 tnough. it might result in a great industry not unlike 



extracted product. 



The only im|iortant coniixiundiug ingredient that the 

 war has cut ott is whiting, but there are so main- earth\- 



