March 1, 1917.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



315 



.GUTIA-Ptf^ 



CA>6 



Eeg. United States Pat. Off. Reg. United Kingdom. 



Published on the 1st of each month hy 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING GO. 



No. 25 West 45th Street, New York. 



Telephone — Bryant 2576. 



CABLE ADDRESS: IRWORLD. NEW YORK. 



HENRY C. PEARSON, Editor 



Vol. 55 



MARCH i, 191.7 



No. 6 



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

 United States and dependencies and Mexico. To the Dominion 

 of Canada and all other countries, $3.50 (or equivalent funds) 

 per year, postpaid. 



Advertising: Rates will be made known on application. 



Remittances: Should always be made by bank draft or Postoffice or 

 Express money order on New York, payable to The India Rubber 

 Publishing Company. Remittances for foreign subscriptions should 

 be sent by International Postal Order, payable as above. 



Discontinuances; Yearly orders for subscriptions and advertising are 

 regarded as permanent, and after the first twelve months they will 

 be discontinued only at the request of the subscriber or advertiser. 

 Bills are rendered promptly at the beginning of each period, and 

 thereby our patrons have due notice of continuance. 



COPYRIGHT. 1917, BY THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING CO. 

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



TABLE OF CONTENTS ON LAST PAGE OF READING. 



RUBBER AND SUBMARINE WARFARE. 



THE declaration by Germany of a submarine blockade 

 of the British Isles has become not only a serious 

 menace to the commerce of the world but a matter of 

 peculiar interest and concern to the American rubber 

 industry. 



As the financial and commercial center of the world, 

 London has been generally regarded as the world's great 

 rubber market, and will probably continue to be as long 

 as the bulk of plantation rubber is grown on British soil, 

 even though Germany should temporarily succeed in 

 isolating the United Kingdom from the rest of the world. 

 Since the outbreak of the war, however. New York 

 has been rapidly measuring up to London as a commer- 

 cial center. Its increasing importance as a rubber market 

 is indicated by the fact that of our total 1916 rubber 

 imports amounting to approximately 115,609 tons, or 

 about 65 per cent of the world's production, not far from 

 70 per cent came through the port of New York. Only 

 25,647 tons, or a little over 22 per cent, came by way 



of England, and the balance of approximately 89,962 

 tons, representing our direct rubber imports, were 20 

 per cent greater than the total rubber imports of the 

 United Kingdom for 1916, amounting to about 75,240 

 tons. Therefore, the ordinary London stocks on hand, 

 averaging about 10,000 tons, do not figure to any con- 

 siderable extent in the American supply, and double 

 normal and even greater cargo rates, together with 

 recent increases in war risk insurance of 125 to 900 per 

 cent, will tend still further to encourage direct rubber 

 shipments to New York via the Panama Canal and to 

 augment greatly the noticeably growing imports at 

 Pacific Coast ports, through which nearly 30 per cent 

 of our 1916 supply came. 



While the submarine blockade is primarily one of 

 British waters it has brought about a virtual tie-up of 

 all transatlantic shipping of neutral nationality in Ameri- 

 can ports, and a long continuance of this situation cannot 

 but resfult in a far reaching disturbance of the industrial 

 life of 'the -United States. Indeed, on February 15 it 

 became necessary for 30 railroads to declare an embargo 

 on export Shipments through eastern ports until the vast 

 accumulation, awaiting sailings can be taken care of. 

 From the standpoint of the rubber industry, therefore, 

 exports are more seriously affected than imports, the 

 situation in respect to raw materials being better than 

 in certain other lines of manufacturing. There may be 

 a temporary shortage in New York crude rubber stocks 

 with consequent speculation and upward price fluctua- 

 tions, but the dull January market indicated that most 

 manufacturers have sufficient supplies on hand to tide 

 them over this period. Our principal crude rubber sup- 

 ply routes still remain unaffected, but a considerable part 

 of our exports of manufactured rubber goods, which 

 amounted to nearly $35,000,000 for the year 1916, are 

 seriously menaced. 



The policy of the United States in this commercial 

 crisis has not been determined, and what England as 

 mistress of the seas can do to alter the situation remains 

 to be seen. At the time of writing the program to isolate 

 her completely by submarine destruction of shipping at 

 the rate of a million tons a month has fallen far short 

 of fulfilment. Reported sinkings to date have not aver- 

 aged half that. British officials express the belief that 

 through the capture of undersea craft, convoy of mer- 

 chant vessels and the establishment of strongly guarded 

 ocean shipping lanes the British navy will have the sub- 

 marine menace well in hand within two months and do 

 not anticipate being obliged to resort to the cargo sub- 

 marine in a struggle for existence. Unless the past rate 

 is exceeded it will take approximately V/2 years to 

 destroy the present British merchant marine totaling 

 about 15,850,000 tons, and every British shipyard is run- 

 ning to full capacity day and night replacing lost ton- 

 nage. Since the outbreak of the war this has amounted 

 to 4,000,000 tons, of which 3,000,000 tons is said to 

 have been more or less adequately replaced. 



