January 1, 1917.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



229 



VARIETY OF MANUFACTURES. 



Spanish manufacturers are producing all kinds of rubber arti- 

 cles including mechanical goods, solid and pneumatic tires, 

 druggists' sundries, toys, toilet articles, insulated wires and 

 cables, cut sheet and molded goods of both hard and soft rub- 

 ber. 



TIRES. 



.Automobile tires furnish what is probablj' the largest single 

 item of our rubber trade. Our tire market was formerly sup- 

 plied by imports from France, Germany, England, Austria- 

 Hungary, Italy and the United States. Now the United States 

 and the domestic industry are getting the bulk of the tire busi- 

 ness, though France and England continue to supply small 

 quantities of both solids and pneumatics to their Spanish cus- 

 tomers. 



CRUDE RUBBER. 



Seventy-live per cent of the crude and washed rubber con- 

 sumed by our rubber factories is purchased in British markets. 

 The balance comes from Portugal, France, Brazil, Colombia, 

 Mexico and Africa. Prior to the war we imported small quan- 

 tities of crude rubber from Germany and Belgium. 

 CHEMICALS. 



The Spanish chemical industry also is centered around Bar- 

 celona. No other branch of our industries felt so keenly the 

 effect of the war at the outset and no other industry has been 

 more benefited by the war. 



Prior to August 1914, our rubber manufacturers obtained 

 their chemicals and compounding ingredients from England. 

 Germany and France. Now the domestic industry is supplying 

 much of the demand, but we continue to import such compound- 

 ing ingredients as golden sulphuret of antimony, zinc oxide, 

 rubber substitute and reclaimed rubber from England, the 

 United States and France. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN JAPAN. 



By a Special Correspondent, 

 IMPORTS OF RUBBER SHOES AND OTHER RUBBER GOODS. 



/^X account of the war, the Japanese importation of rubber 

 ^^ goods from the United States has increased, especially that 

 of rubber shoes and electric tape. A few years ago it was 

 estimated that Great Britain was leading in the exportation of 

 rubber goods to the Orient, but during the last two years Japanese 

 dealers have been supplied almost entirely' by the United States. 

 Below are the statistics for 1914 and 1915. 



1914. 1915 (to Mar. 1, 1^16). 



Rubber boots 4.434 pairs 5,960 pairs 



Overshoes 20.81 1 pairs 22,943 pairs 



Electric tape 23,045 pounds 42,399 pounds 



The tendency is toward reduced imports this year, as the 

 Japanese manufacturers are doing more skilful work, and are 

 almost equaling American goods in quality. 



INCREASED SHIPPING FACILITIES. 



The matter of much needed steamship facilities is being solved 

 in a measure by Japan, who has girdle'd the globe in her 

 bid for foreign trade. She has extended her steamship lines, 

 subsidized by the government, to every great port of call in the 

 world, and is taking steps to retain after the war as much as 

 possible of the great trade she has built up with Russia, China 

 and South America. Russia has recently become Japan's best 

 customer and is buying everything from munitions to boots and 

 shoes. In the month of August alone Japan exported goods to 

 Russia to the value of $5,343,600. In China she will probably 

 outrival all other countries. For the first nine months of the 

 year her total exports to China were $60,751,721, an increase of 

 $16,156,448 over the corresponding period a year a5;o, and during 

 the last ten days of September reached $2,446,309. With South 



America, too, her trade has nearly doubled, amounting to $1,036,- 

 660 in markets she hardly knevk' existed previously. Trade with 

 Australia has also been growing amazingly. Japan's largest 

 steamship company, the Nippon Yusen Kaisha, a firm in which 

 the imperial family owns a great part of the stock, has just added 

 two more vessels to its lines to the Antipodes, making a total 

 of 10 Japanese vessels which are now plying between this nation 

 and Australian ports. The Pacific Mail Steamship Co. is also 

 increasing its facilities for trade between America and Japan, and 

 this no doubt will be encouraged still further by the recently 

 inaugurated Marconi trans-Pacific wireless service. 



ORGAMZF.D LABOR J.IAKIXG PROGRESS IN JAPAN. 

 Japanese labor, always an interesting matter to Americans, is 

 responding to the propaganda for western methods. Both male 

 and female workers in Japan are taking up the organized labor 

 movement with vigor, according to Bunji Suzuki, president of 

 the Laborers' Friendly Society of Japan. At the recent conven- 

 tion of the American Federation of Labor he stated that the 

 membership of the society had increased from 10,000 to 30,000 

 during the last eight months. Japanese laborers on the Pacific 

 Coast, he said, are realizing American ideals and adopting Ameri- 

 can standards of living, and the influence is gradually affecting 

 conditions in Japan also. j 



THE TAHAI RUBBER CO. ' : 



The Tahai Rubber Co. was organized as a stock company, but 

 the charter members bought up all the stock before it was placed 

 on the market. After purchasing the Kobe Rubber factory, the 

 Standard Rubber factory, and seeking a site for another factory, 

 headquarters were established at Kobe. Thus far activities have 

 been confined to repairs and putting in new machinery. The 

 company will manufacture any sort of rubber goods most needed 

 in the market. The officers are as follows : Busuke Nishizawa, 

 president ; Shuhei Osaki, Ryosuke Nishioka, Zeno Tanakamaru, 

 Yeisuke Yamazaki, Shimokuro Yamamoto, directors. 



J.APANESE PLANTATIONS IN THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS. 

 How Japanese rubber plantations will be affected after the 

 war, it is impossible to foretell. These plantations are prac- 

 tically new, and, on account of the European war, rubber prices 

 have remained so low that there has been little or no profit in 

 them. Some of them, however, paid 15 or 20 per cent on their 

 common stock and, generally speaking, the rubber business has 

 been better than any other. The only difficulty has been that 

 there was some .speculation in order to make more profit than is 

 generally expected. 



Already the people have acquired a great deal of practical 

 knowledge regarding tlie rubber business, and they are paving 

 the way to establish w-ell organized plantations. The Japanese 

 Ruljber Men's Association has given out the following statistics: 



Land owned by Japanese ucrcs 63,531 



Cultivated bv tapanese 39,886 



Planted by Japanese 38,186 



These figures do not include the holdings of those not members 

 of the association, and for this reason the totals must be much 

 greater. It is estimated that $15,000,000 has been expended in 

 this section, which has not yet been tapped very rhuch, for the 

 plantations were not started before 1906, and so have not gained 

 sufiicient maturity to make it worth while. Probably by next year 

 a great deal of latex can be taken from these new trees, as they 

 will be just ready for tlie tapping season. For this reason it 

 would be fortunate for Japanese growers if the war should end 

 this year. They would be just in time to help supply the in- 

 creased demand which peace would bring. 



Thus far the Japanese have not lost anything on account of 

 low rubber prices due to the war. ■ While others have been facing 

 difficulties, and changing their plans, our growers have been 

 cultivating and making their new plantations ready for the 

 time when peace will bring increased activity in the rubber 



