0/U 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[July 1, 1917. 



returning from the Philippines were of the same opinion. But 

 they, too. couUI not say why; at least, if they did give a reason it 

 did not appear to be sound. 



We paused at Honolulu a few hours only, just long enough for 

 one of my long-time friends, Fred Waterhouse. to take us 

 about the city in a motor, visit the Golf Club, and meet at lun- 

 cheon numbers of delightful 

 people. He and his family liave 

 large rubber plantations in tlic 

 Federated Malay States, so 

 there was much to talk about. 



Just a word about our boat : 

 Eastern transportation experts 

 had scofied at the idea of com- 

 fort on any Pacific boats other 

 than the big Enghsh or Japan- 

 ese liners. They evidently did 

 not know the "Venezuela." of 

 the Pacific Mail, and owned by 

 Americans. She was a new, 

 sturdy, perfectly equipped pas- 

 senger boat, a bit slow, thirteen 

 knots being her best. An oil 

 burner, she was unusually 

 clean, and with the American 

 and Scandinavian officers, her 

 tidy Chinese stewards. Filipimi 

 band, and passengers bound for 

 all parts of the Orient, the set- 

 ting was full of variety and in- 

 terest. English boats as a rule are noted for the spirit of cama- 

 raderie that exists and that shows in the deck sports in which 

 all take part, while .-Vmerican boats have in the past been sing- 

 ularly lacking in this. The "Venezuela," however, was an ex- 

 ception. Deck golf, shuffleboard, and dozens of sea sports were 

 in full blast all 

 day long, and old 

 and young partic- 

 ipated with the 

 greatest enthu- 

 siam. I wanted 

 to be absolutely 

 fit w hen I got 

 ashore, so I fair- 

 ly lived on deck. 

 If, as the Rom- 

 ans believed, the 

 seat of the intel- 

 lect is in the 

 stomach, a three- 

 weeks' voyage on 

 the heaving Pa- 

 cific is at least 

 conducive to an 

 open mind. I 

 felt after the 

 first week that I 

 was approaching 



my subject absolutely empty of prejudice. 

 As a preliminary to my investigation I posted up on the history 

 of the islands. It is this as far as we are concerned : 



Discovered by Magellan in 1521. 

 Recovered by Dewey in 1899. 

 Covered by the Republican Party in 1900. 

 Uncovered by the Democratic Party in 1912. 



That there was a great war in progress we hardly realized. 

 That unusual precautions were being taken, the care with which 

 passports were issued proved. Then, too, when we visited Japan- 

 ese ports our few German passengers went ashore only in the 



care of dapper Japanese detectives. Our wireless news was 

 scrappy and unsatisfactory. The majority of the passengers be- 

 lieved in the final and deserved triumph of the .\llies. and those 

 who did not kept it to themselves as far as they could. 



At Yokohama another old friend, Kenzo Okada, who some 20 

 years a.yo worked in the .^psley factory in Hudson and the Home 



factory in Trenton, and who is 

 now at the head of a large rub- 

 ber mill of his own, gave us a 

 luncheon ti la Japanese. It was 

 delightful. Okada had also 

 been interested in a rubber 

 planting scheme in Formosa 

 which he reported had not 

 been a success, the island lying 

 loo far north to grow Hevea 

 successfully. 



Did 1 say our boat was a 

 rubber carrier loading big car- 

 goes at Hongkong and dis- 

 charging at San Francisco? 

 .Also that the smoking room 

 crowd contained men that knew 

 much of plantation companies 

 and affairs in Singapore, and 

 the Malay States? To talk 

 with some of them was almost 

 as good as a visit to the great 

 plantation countries. 

 Fhe Shufflebo.'^rd Fin.\ls. d^5 a rule the talk was the 



shipping situation, and that there was not in sight a fleet of cargo 

 carriers big enough to take care of the rubber accumulating on 

 the plantations and in the rubber ports. Said one of them : 



"Xew York is bound to be out of it for a while at least. Ger- 

 man submarines in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic are get- 

 ting too many 

 ships. The result 

 is that all of the 

 nations w hose 

 boats ha v e been 

 sunk are steadily 

 w i t li d r a w i n g 

 freighters from 

 the Pacific and 

 using the m at 

 home. Japan is 

 of course increas- 

 ing her fleet, but 

 she will be called 

 upon to send car- 

 go carriers to 

 the danger zones 

 ere , long. Even 

 then the United 

 States cannot de- 

 pend upon Lon- 

 don for rubber. 

 Not only is this so, but it must be 



The bT£.\.\isHip "Venezuel.v. 



but must look to Singapore 

 boats that come to United States ports, for the Canadian rail- 

 roads are bound to be congested and unable to handle our rub- 

 ber. The godowns in the rubber ports are carrying more rubber 

 than ever before. Then there is the question of permits which 

 is hard to arrange so that they coincide with available cargo 

 space. And beyond all this is the difficulty in financing purchases. 

 What we need is an American line of direct boats, perhaps 

 touching at Manila, and we need them in a hurry." 



Curiously enough it was ships, ships and more ships that all 

 were talking, and, getting ahead of my story, from December 

 to April in the Pacific, in the Sulu sea, in Manila and in San 



