64 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[NoVEMI 



willing to pay the higher prices, have niade tills year's 

 business decidedly an excellent one. 



The dealers in rubber toys, however, are unable to 

 get much-needed supplies, and yet there is nothing 

 to replace the goods that used to come from Ger- 

 many. Colored balls, especially, would command stiff 

 prices, but they are not to be obtained. 



Leather used for soles in footwear is more and 

 more being replaced by rubber to the great satisfac- 

 tion of the wearer. One does not hear any more the 

 old complaint : "The soles don't last." On the con- 

 trary, people begin to ask: "Will the upper last as long 

 as the sole?" 



The plans of the Government for manufacturing ar- 

 tificial limbs on an extensive scale are also contribut- 

 ing to the improvement and stimulation of a portion 

 of the rubber trade. In other fields, notably in that 

 part of the bicycle supply trade concerned with cov- 

 ers, tubes, etc., there is serious fear of an approaching 

 shortage. 



As to the tennis shoes and other light footwear, 

 large quantities could be sold if they were available, 

 but the outlook for increasing supplies is far from 

 encouraging. Generally, rubber manufacturers are 

 too busv with war necessities to handle other trades. 



1918 it was 14 cents per pound. Mr. King's broker 

 overcharged him. 



PICKING ON PONTIANAK. 



ANDREW H. KING, who writes interestingly and 

 often for "Chemical and Metallurgical Engineer- 

 ing," gives some surprising information concerning 

 Pontianak in the August issue of that excellent jour- 

 nal. To avoid error we quote : 



The supply of Pontianak is to-day almost exhausted. 

 This is due solely to the wasteful and extremely prime- 

 val methods used by the natives in securing the gum. 

 Where thev might have tapped the trees and built up 

 a steady business they felled and bled them at many 

 different points. The method produced quick results 

 but the procedure reminds one of the old fable about 

 killing the goose that laid the golden egg._ In 1909 a 

 good grade of Ponti could be secured at 5 cents per 

 pound. The market price is now around 30 cents per 

 pound, making Ponti no longer a profitable purchase. 



Did we say to avoid error ? Accurately, it should be 

 to correct errors. 



The fact is that few Pontianak trees {Dyera costu- 

 lata) are destroyed by native gatherers. The British 

 and Dutch authorities long ago stopped all that. As 

 for the supply being exhausted, the United States 

 received 23,000,000 pounds in 1917. Schidrowitz fig- 

 ured that there were 160,000,000 pounds in Sarawak, 

 the Dutch East Indies and the Federated Malay 

 States. More than that amount has already been con- 

 sumed, and Pontianak still arrives, or would if it were 

 not war-time. 



As for the price being around 30 cents per pound, 

 with all respect, that seems high. Taking Bandjer- 

 massin as a typical grade, its average price for 1917 

 was 13 cents per pound ; for the first eight months in 



■COMMERCIAL CAMOUFLAGE." 



GERMAN rubber goods after the war are likely to 

 bear American, English, French, Swedish or any 

 trade-marks other than German. This is stated by the 

 "Economic Gazette" of the Central Powers which thus 

 advises German exporters: 



After the war German trade will be possible only 

 through neutral countries. All marks of German 

 origin will, therefore, have to be obliterated from all 

 wares exported. Considerations of international 

 morality must be brushed aside. 



It will be a very long-handled brush thai will enable 

 the German to get within reach of morality of any sort. 



FISH-SCALE RUBBER. 



THE inventor of fish-scale rubber, unless he be a very 

 modest man, is likely to be dazzled by the bright 

 light of publicity thrown upon him by "The Scientific 

 American" and "The Literary Digest." Mention in such 

 high-class publications is likely to cause him to add at 

 least $1,000,000 to the asking price for the usual half in- 

 terest. As a friend to all who strive to add to the world's 

 supply of rubber whether it be natural or artificial, plan- 

 tation or synthetic, we trust he will keep his head. Suc- 

 cess in making rubber from fish-scales is but a beginning 

 and he owes it to the world that he continue. It is evi- 

 dent that rubber made from the scales of the tender 

 minnow will show neither the tensile strength or the 

 resilience shown by that made from the fighting tarpon. 

 He should, therefore, establish grades of fish scale rub- 

 lier. Furthermore, as the pioneer scalyoptomist it is his 

 duty to exploit scales to the uttermost. Fish are not the 

 iinly scalebearers. Scales are abundantly found on bird 

 and beast, at present waste material, perhaps recover- 

 al)le, possibly rubbery. Then as a last resort come 

 scalene triangles and the chromatic scale. 



The fact that one is an expert in the sale or 

 use of a commodity does not prove complete knowledge 

 of it. As an instance in point one of the old-time big 

 operators in Caucho always sold it as "Cow chow," sug- 

 gesting mixed pickles. This leads to the query as to 

 whether the word "Joolatong" for Jelutong is not from 

 a source, able commercially, but of indifferent philological 

 attainments. 



Several months ago the War Department 

 authorized the statement that American gas masks were 

 efifective against all German gases. Major H. W. Duffy, 

 of the British-American gas service, now declares that 

 the fumes of American gas shells penetrate even the 

 most modern of German masks. Apparendy we have 

 worsted the Hun at his own game both going and 

 coming. 



