366 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



I \l-RIL 1. 1915. 



THE CLEANLINESS OF PLANTATION RUBBER. 



npHERE i- one marked advantage which plantation 

 *■ rubber enjoys over all the varieties that come from 

 the forests, namely, the cleanliness with which it ma\ 

 be prepared. There will be found on another page of 

 this issue certain recommendations recently sent out to 

 the planters by the Rubber Growers' Association, of Lon- 

 don. Miciv arc twenty-three of these recommendations 

 and it will be noticed that six of them, or over one-quarter 

 of the whole, refer in one waj or another to the matter 

 of i leanliness. This show s that in the opinion of the asso- 

 ciation this phase cannot he emphasized too much. 



The necessity is pointed out not only of keeping all 

 chips, shavings and other impurities from the latex as it 

 comes from the tree, but of preserving all caps, utensils 

 and machinery in a constant state of cleanliness. In 

 speaking of the reception of the latex at the factory this 

 rule is laid down: "The latex should he received it pos- 

 sible on a verandah, so that there is no necessity for 

 coolies to enter the building, thus avoiding the presence 

 of dirt in the factory." This seem- almost finical, but it 

 shows the extreme care taken on plantations of the better 

 sort to preserve absolute cleanliness in their product. The 

 final injunction refers to the necessity of having the inside 

 ot the packing as clean as the rubber. 



These precautions can be carried out to the letter on 

 the plantation, but in the forest, where every seringueiro 

 is a law unto himself and where it is impossible to super- 

 \ ise him while gathering and coagulating the latex, it is a 

 different story. In cleanliness of product the advantage 

 is obviously with the plantation. 



ANOTHER CEMENTER OF SOUTH AMERICAN 

 FRIENDSHIP. 



STATESMEN, bankers and business men to the num- 

 ber of many hundreds gathered at the luncheon 

 given by the Pan-American Society on March 19 in 

 honor of ex-Senator Burton, of < >hio. who was to sail 

 the next day for a four months' tour of South America 

 for the purpose of additionally cementing the friendship 

 between the republics of the South and ourselves. The 

 term additional is used in view of the similar tour- of 

 amity promotion previously taken by distinguished Amer- 

 ican statesmen. 



Sinne nine years ago Mr. Elihu Root, then Secretary 

 of State in Roosevelt's cabinet, visited practically all the 

 South American governments on a tour of cementation 

 which proved to be a triumph. Later he was followed 



in this excellent work by ex-Ambassador Robert Bacon, 

 whose pleasing personality also made an agreeable im- 

 pression upon our South American friends. Nor should 

 we altogether omit mention of Mr. Roosevelt, who de- 

 voted several months to the South American continent 

 a year and a half ago to l« sure, not -<> much in the 

 interest of trade development as for the purpose of find- 

 ing a lew undiscovered rivers. I'm his visit served also 

 to develop South American enthusiasm for Xorth Amer- 

 ican characteristics. And. reciprocally, mam leaders 

 from the southern republics have visited us, notablj Dr. 

 Muller, who came 1 « > our shores a little less than two 

 years ago and graciously endured a volume and con- 

 tinuity of hospitality that would have senl a lesser man 

 to a sanitarium. 



It is no fault of the statesmen of either Xorth or South 

 America if the manufacturers and exporters of the United 

 States are not thoroughly alive to the opportunities await- 

 ing them in the southern countries. In fact, the business 

 men of this country as a rule do not require a great deal 

 m/ assistance t" discover opportunities. The reason they 

 have not made a vigorous attack on the South American 

 trade in the past is that they preferred to confine their 

 efforts to the home market as returning a better pro- 

 portion of profit on the outlay of effort. The Germans 

 and English have secured the South American market 

 because, needing all the markets they could get, they 

 were willing to do the necessary work — to extend long 

 credits, to conform to local customs and. in many cases, 

 even to develop the country's latent resources in order 

 that there might be business to get. 



Rut the war, of course, has changed conditions in South 

 America. The commerce in many of the republics has 

 fallen off disastrously and the commercial situation in 

 many parts of that continent is distressing, and South 

 Americans show an inclination, if not to meet Xorth 

 Americans half way, at least to come a reasonable part 

 if the distance, in an effort to get together. I )n the 10th 

 of May there will be a Pan-American conference at 

 Washington attended by the financial ministers and lead- 

 ing bankers of the South and Central American coun- 

 tries with the object of increasing commercial relations 

 with the United States: and it will be surprising if. with 

 all the efforts now being made in that direction, trade 

 relations between the two continents do not greatly in- 

 crease. To be sure, no visible beginning of such a trade 

 increase ha- yet been made, for during the first seven 

 months of the war — from the first of August, 1914. to 

 the end of January, 1915 — exports from the United 

 State- to South America decreased from $80,933,316 for 



