August 1, 1917. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



629 



Reg. United States Pat. Off. 



Reg. United Kingdom. 



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Vol. 56 



HENRY C. PEARSON. Editor 



AUGUST 1, 1917 



No. 5 



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table of contents on last page of reading. 



I'on healthy Para rubber trees coming into bearing in our 

 own territory in and about Mindanao. (There is room 

 for hundreds of millions.) Such rubber would not bear 

 an English, Dutch or American tax, either export or im- 

 port. It would come to our factories at a market rate of 

 25 cents a pound less than British and Dutch, or indeed 

 Brazilian rubber. 



Or why stop at 10,000,000 trees? $42,000,000 invested 

 in Hcvca trees would mean 42,000,000 trees just com- 

 ing into bearing with an increase that would in a very 

 few years make the Southern Islands of the Philippines 

 one of the great rubber plantation sections of the world. 



TU CHUNG RUBBER IN AMERICA. 



IT has been definitely established that the rubber-pro- 

 1 ducing Eucommia ulmoides, the tu chung tree of 

 China, can be readily acclimated in other temperate 

 countries and that it is perfectly hardy in Massachusetts. 

 \\'hether the product of its bark, leaves and fruit is to 

 be regarded as rubber or gutta percha still remains a 

 moot question. In either case, however, it is valuable, 

 gutta bringing 21^ to 3>^ times as much as Hevea first 

 crepe or ribbed smoked sheet in the present market. As 

 a feasible future supply, even though only partial, but 

 grown within the borders of the United States, it may 

 yet rank in importance with guayule, and deserves the 

 attention of practical investigators as to its character, ex- 

 traction and possible commercial uses. The tree being 

 hardy in Massachusetts, it is reasonable to expect that it 

 will also thrive elsewhere in America where suitable 

 soils occur and the mean annual temperature corre- 

 sponds to that of its Chinese habitat. Suitable regions 

 are therefore clearly indicated by an isometric map 

 showing the line of 59 degrees Fahrenheit across the 

 United States. Moderately high valleys of the Alle- 

 gheny, Blue Ridge, Rocky, Cascade and Sierrh Nevada 

 foothills suggest themselves as localities where alti- 

 tude, soil and rainfall are likely to be particularly 

 favorable. 



FORTY MILLION HEVEAS IN THE PHILIPPINES. glXTY MILLION TIRES ANNUALLY AFTER 1920. 



FORECASTING the future is a fascinating employ- 

 ment, and the crude rubber situation is a very 

 tempting field in which to let one's fancy wander. There- 

 fore not to prophesy but just to imagine, suppose Eng- 

 land were obliged to put an export duty of 20 cents a 

 pound on her plantation rubber, it would cost the rubber 

 trade of the United States say $25,000,000 a year. Sup- 

 pose that Plolland, having sufifered cruelly through the 

 war, also imposed a tariff of 20 cents a pound. It would 

 cost American manufacturers $4,000,000. Moreover. 

 suppose the powers that be at Washington put, say, 5 

 cents a pound import duty on crude rubber. That would 

 be an added tax of $13,400,000, making a total of $42,- 

 400,000. 



All of the above are at least supposable. On the other 

 hand, suppose American capital had some five to ten mil- 



I T is not surprising that automobile tire manufacturing 

 l has become the principal department of the American 

 rubber industry. Fully 4,000,000 cars are in operation 

 in the United States to-day, a number more than four 

 times the total for the rest of the world, and still the 

 demand for machines keeps well ahead of the 40 per 

 cent average yearly increase of past years. Time alone 

 can tell what effect, if any, the war may have upon this 

 demand, but once prices regain their normal level the 

 result is certain. The proportion of pleasure cars is 

 large, but motor trucks in ever greater numbers are re- 

 placing the shortage of horses caused by the war, both 

 in peaceful occupations and warfare itself. Leading 

 automobile men assert that the point of saturation will 

 not be reached until every family having an income over 

 $1,000 owns a car. This means not less than 10,000.000 



