February 1, 1915.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



243 



WOULDN'T SOME PHILIPPINE RUBBER HAVE 

 BEEN MOST CONVENIENT? 



PKi M'.ABLY never before in its history has the rub- 

 ber trade of America been so impressed with it - 

 absolute dependence upon foreign sources of supply 

 as during the two months of the English embargo. 

 With all British sources closed to us and all the other 

 sources quite inadequate for our needs, what a relief 

 it would have been to the situation if there had been 

 a few hundred thousand acres of bearing rubber trees 

 somewhere on American soil — in the Philippines, for 

 instance! It is close to seventeen years now since 

 Commodore Dewey remarked nonchalantly "You ina\ 

 fire when ready, Gridley" — and the Philippines passed 

 under our control. What progress in rubber planting 

 might not have been made in that time, instead of the 

 few paltry, feeble experiments which have constituted 

 our total rubber planting achievements in those 

 islands. 



However, it must be confessed that, with one of the 

 great political parties evidently bent on handing the 

 Philippines over, bag and baggage, to the head-hunt- 

 ing Moros at the first possible opportunity, the in- 

 ducement for American capital to enter upon Philip- 

 pine development has not been altogether irresistible. 



WHAT RUBBER GOODS COST THE BREWER. 



AV/'HILE the article appearing on later pages of this 

 "" issue on "The Uses of Rubber in the Brew- 

 ery" will doubtless prove of interest as showing the 

 multifarious purposes for which rubber is used in the 

 brewing industry, information as to the amount annu- 

 ally expended by brewers for rubber goods is of more 

 material interest. Figures courteously placed at our 

 disposal by members of the brewing trade enable us 

 to furnish this information, at least approximately. 



Three brewers, the aggregate of whose sales for 

 last year was 1,769,780 barrels, purchased during that 

 period rubber goods of all kinds — hose, packing, etc. — 

 to the value of $74,813. During the latest year for 

 which authentic returns are available — the fiscal year 

 ending June 30, 1914 — the brewers of the United States 

 produced and sold 66,105,444 barrels of malt liquor. 



This output is likely to be increased, at least to the 

 extent of the greater part of the 146,549 barrels of beer 

 imported from Austria, Germany and Belgium during 

 the last fiscal year. This, during the continuation of 

 the war, the home brewers will doubtless have to supply 



Assuming that in the production of this aggregate 

 the total purchases of rubber goods were in the same 



proportion to output as thi figures given above — not 

 an unreasonable hypothesis, considering that the pro- 

 cesses and apparatus employed by brewer.- are essen- 

 tially similar — the brewing trade expended, during the 

 t u i \\ e month- heir quoted, m round figures, £3 ,000,000 

 for rubber goods. 



THE RUBBER CLUB'S ANNUAL BANQUET. 



Till. Rubber Club of America, since its inception as 

 the New England Rubber Club, has enjoyed an un- 

 broken series of mid-winter banquets. It is interesting 

 and significant to note that in the minds of the club mem- 

 ber- the last banquet has always been the best. 1915 has 

 proved no exception to this rule. Instead of calling the 

 club member- together and feasting sumptuously them- 

 selves, they feasted by proxy: that is, they sent money to 

 the sufferers in the great war. The supposititious at- 

 tendance at tin- banquel was about 26.000. 



An imaginative illustration of this Sixteenth Annual 

 Banquet appears on another page. 



THE PASSING OF A PIONEER. 



IN the death of J. C. Harvey, Mexico loses one who did 

 much for the betterment of all those with whom he 

 came in contact. His efforts to help the planters in Vera- 

 cruz and Oaxaca, his plans for botanic stations on the 

 Isthmus of Tehuantepec, his essays, journeys, counsels 

 — all for the betterment of the Americans and English 

 who had settled in the "hot country" — will not soon be 

 forgotten. His frail body could not stand the energy of 

 his eager pioneer spirit, and he has gone, but from peon 

 to planter those who remain will long hold him in loving 

 remembrance. 



S \II> A MANUFACTURER OF RUBBER GOODS WHO IS ONE OF 



the big buyers of crude rubber: "I do not like the 

 word boycott, but as soon as I learn that any rubber 

 importer or broker is sending crude rubber out of the 

 United States 1 intend to drop him for good and all. 1 

 shall do this because in encouraging embargoes he is 

 directly working against my interests. He should pro- 

 tect his customers, not handicap them. As far as I 

 can learn, that is the feeling of many other manufac- 

 turers as well." 



After a lapse of several months we are delighted 

 to welcome again that excellent review "Le Caout- 

 chouc & la Gutta-Percha" — back numbers and all. We 

 trust that this means that the publication is to be con- 

 tinued. 



In a brief note explaining the delay the publishers say : 

 "Events having deprived us of many collaborators and 

 workers, we have not been able to give our review its 

 usual importance. We therefore request our friends 

 to excuse us, as we are reorganizing rapidly to over- 

 come this difficulty." 



