530 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[July 1, 1915. 



lower levels. Accordingly, they will read with pleasure 

 the letter which appears in a later part of this issue 

 from a correspondent in Manaos, who paints a far 

 brighter picture of that part of the world than we have 

 been accustomed lately to see. He is a man who has 

 been familiar for many years with the rubber industry 

 of the Amazon and speaks from a thorough knowledge 

 of the subject. This note of optimism where of late there 

 has been so much gloom is genuinely cheering. 



He admits at once the financial hardships through 

 which that section has been passing, but he states — which 

 is undoubtedly the truth — that the chorus of complaint 

 has been greatly swelled by those who hoped in this way 

 to secure a larger volume of assistance from the federal 

 government. But while one part of the Amazon has 

 been dolorously clamoring for help, there has been an- 

 other element, consisting of men of a more robust mold, 

 which has accepted the situation as it is, conceded all the 

 discouragements and sought to work out some way of 

 salvation. The first step in this highly needed reform 

 movement has been a candid acknowledgment of the 

 wild wastefulness of the old methods pursued in the non- 

 competitive days, when plantation rivalry was looked 

 upon as an idle dream. These Brazilians who are seek- 

 ing to rescue the Amazon from the unhappy state in 

 which it has fallen have begun by trimming away the 

 parasites, of which there were many. They have suc- 

 ceeded in getting a substantial reduction in the excessive 

 charges hitherto prevailing in river transportation. They 

 have concentrated their work on the lower sections of 

 the Amazon affluents, where the work can be prosecuted 

 most economically. They have persuaded the seringueiro 

 that it is possible for him to work more than a hundred 

 days a year — which was formerly his limit — and they 

 have prevailed upon him to plant his own garden, instead 

 of looking to Manaos and Para for all of his supplies. 



The result has been most encouraging. The statistics 

 quoted by our correspondent show that, while the ship- 

 ment of supplies from Manaos into the rubber-gathering 

 country has materially decreased, the receipts of the best 

 variety of rubber have actually increased. His figures 

 are interesting. The shipments of merchandise from that 

 port to the interior in 1914 were 21,000 tons, or 35 tier 

 cent., less than during 1912; but instead of resulting in 

 a material falling off in rubber production, the Hevea 

 receipts for the nine months ending with March 31 last 

 showed an increase of 220 tons over those of the same 

 period a year earlier. As viewed by our correspondent, 

 the outlook for the Amazon country is by no means dark. 

 He concludes his letter as follows: "As there is a vast 

 forestal reserve of Hei'ca at hand all over the country — 

 only 5 to 10 per cent, of which is being explored at pres- 

 ent — there is no reason why Amazonian production of 

 Upriver Fine should not go on increasing, no matter what 

 the price of plantation rubber will be.'' 



No one who has the rubber industry at heart would 

 want to see South America eliminated as a source of 

 supply. Tf the Amazon should cease to gather rubber 



and any untoward fate befall the Eastern plantations, the 

 manufacturer would surely be in a sad estate. He needs 

 two strings to his bow. Besides, a proper amount of com- 

 petition is decidedly wholesome. Moreover, to allow the 

 rich rubber resources of the Amazon t< > fall into neglect 

 would be a churlish flouting of Nature, who has strewn 

 the banks of the great river so liberally with the indis- 

 pensable Hevea BrasUiensis. 



TWO PAN-AMERICAN SUGGESTIONS. 



' I 'HE Pan-American Conference held in Washington 

 A late in May was prolific in suggestions, but two of 

 them stand out quite conspicuously — for two totally dif- 

 ferent reasons: one being "daring and brilliant.'' as the 

 National City Bank of New York remarks in its June 

 bulletin, while the other must claim distinction solely 

 by reason of its plain, simple, homely common sense. 



The first was the suggestion of Secretary Bryan 

 that the United States should issue 3 per cent, bonds to 

 be exchanged for 4 per cent, bonds to be issued by the 

 Central and South American republics; the difference 

 of 1 per cent, in favor of the United States being turned 

 into a sinking fund which, in something like 50 years, 

 would be sufficient to pay up the indebtedness of the 

 southern republics. Here was something quite new. not 

 to say startling, in the ordinarily conservative world of 

 finance. 



The other suggestion came from a member of the 

 New York City administration and was to the effect that 

 the exhibits of the southern republics now forming a 

 part of the Panama-Pacific Exposition at San Francisco 

 should on the termination of that enterprise be divided 

 up and sent on a circuit through the larger cities. These 

 two suggestions may properly be mentioned in the same 

 paragraph because they are so totally unlike. The bank 

 bulletin mentioned above goes on to remark of Mr. 

 Bryan's suggestion that "it appeals to the imagination." 

 There is no doubt about that ; but financing that appeals 

 to the imagination is not generally the kind that appeals 

 t<> that prudence and sound judgment on which all per- 

 manently successful financing must be based. It is. how- 

 ever, an interesting, not to say piquant, idea that Mr. 

 Bryan has projected into Pan-American discussions and 

 i- bound to provoke a deal of comment, especially if the 

 next session of Congress should give it serious consider- 

 ation. 



The second suggestion, for the retention in this country 

 of the South American exhibits and their proper display 

 in one city after another, may be quite commonplace but 

 is eminently sensible and practicable. If a thoroughly 



