

THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



I J. iv 1. 1915. 



RUBBER SUBSTITUTE TRADE IN SPAIN. 



Most of the rubber substitutes employed in Spain are floating 

 qualitii re principally used in the manufacture of bottle 



rings, bicycle tires and the like. Sulphurized oil is the base of all 

 The usual black sort is used in manufac- 

 turing pneumatic tire- and tubes; the white quality in all sorts of 

 technical I ods. 



Tin qualities were formerly furnished bj German 



firms, in 2.000 to 20,000 pound lots, at prices varying from $9.50 

 to $10.12 per hundredweight. The ordinary brown qualities were 

 furnished by these firms at prices varying from $6.19 to $7.74 per 

 hundred pounds, and the white qualities were sold at from $8.09 t. . 

 $9.23 per hundredweight. 



At the present time Spanish manufacturers are experiencing 

 lerable trouble in obtaining rubber substitute. Many who 

 made their purchases in Germany and France are obliged to get 

 what they can from England, as both German and French manu- 

 facturers have ceased exporting rubber substitutes; and exports 

 of these substitutes from England are only alb. wed under condi- 

 tion that the Spanish manufacturer intends to use them for 

 his own needs and will neither cxp. irt the raw material nor the 

 finished article manufactured therefrom. 



Most of the Spanish rubber factories are in Barcelona, and 

 vicinity; there is only one factory in Madrid. This is the firm 

 of I.. Paris y R. Catin, 64 Calle Zurbano, which is now working 

 night and day to supply the needs of that city, which is epiite a 

 large market for rubber goods. An important Barcelona firm is 

 G. Klein, 61 Calle Princes 



A FRENCH EXPLANATION OF THE GERMAN RUBBER SUPPLY. 



Under the heading "The Key to a Mystery." a French con- 

 temporary says: "The Germans have been cut off from crude 

 rubber supplies for over six months and their stock of this ma- 

 terial was small in August, 1914. yet they continue to use rubber 

 tires freely. The secret of this is said to be in their application 

 of a process for reclaiming rubber invented by a Frenchman, 

 E. Ronxeville, whose discovery never reecived the serious at- 

 tention of French rubber interests ' 



GERMAN RUBBER EXPORTS TO THE ORIENT. 



Before the war broke out Germany did a considerable business 

 in rubber goods with the Balkan States and the Orient. Accord- 

 ing to German reports, this trade was continued on an extensive 

 scale until the German government placed an embargo on ex- 

 ports of rubber manufactures, only coming to a dead stop with 

 the attack on the Dardanelles by the allied fleets. Most of the 

 -ales were made from goods in stock when the war broke out. 

 and these were disposed of at very good prices. The fact that 

 these German rubber manufactures could be sold at premium 

 prices in spite of the difficulties of trade gives German rubber 

 manufacturers great encouragement for the future of their export 

 trade. 



Their only serious competitor appears to have been an Italian 

 firm which was offering goods at normal prices until the German 

 manufacturers experienced difficulties in making deliveries, when 

 tin Italian firm increased its prices from 10 to 15 per cent. Out- 

 side of considerable quantities of rubber sold in Bucharest and 

 Sofia, there was practically no competition on the part of Russia, 

 and there was little or no French or British competition. Neces- 

 sarily many shipments were made in foreign neutral bottoms, and 

 this increased the freight charges from 4 to 6 per cent. German 

 sellers assumed these extra expenses, while war insurance was, 

 as a rule, charged to the purchaser. The usual course of settle- 

 ment was to have the purchaser pay by check to the seller's agent, 

 allowing a suitable discount for cash. Shipments with bill of 

 lading attached wire also made in a considerable number of 



Fluctuations of exchange are always a difficulty in Oriental 

 trading, but a particular complication for German exporters was 

 the disposition of Orientals to do all their business in French 

 gold. Orders on Paris would not have been paid to German or 

 Austrian holders, and only a limited number could be obtained 

 on Swiss and Italian banks. But by some sort of mutual agree- 

 ment between the German sellers and their Eastern customers. 

 the drafts came to Berlin and Vienna for settlement. Very 

 few Oriental purchaser- look advantage of moratoriums, and no 

 difficulties were experienced in collections. When the allied fleets 

 attacked the Dardanelles and put an end to sea shipments, prac- 

 tically all the Oriental trade of German rubber manufacturers 

 came to an end. Shipments by rail are few and far between, 

 for the difficulties anil dela\s are too great for this traffic to be 

 practicable. 



RUBBER IN THE EUA0PEAN WAR. 



The great conflict now raging is distinguished from all former 

 wars not only by reason of the vast area it covers and the unpre- 

 cedented number of men involved, but in many minor ways as 

 well. For instance, in no former war has rubber played any con- 

 siderable part, but in this war it is a factor of commanding im- 

 portance. The huge armies now facing one another rely on rub- 

 ber for their own transportation as well as for the transportation 

 of their food, ammunition and other supplies. Their immense 

 automobile transport system could not exist were it not for 

 rubber tires. Despatch riders rely on automobiles, motorcycles 

 and bicycles. The commanding officers no longer travel on horse- 

 back, but in motor cars ; and the wounded are carried to the 

 rear in auto ambulances made easy by pneumatic tires. Rubber 

 plays an all-important part in the balloons and aeroplanes that 

 are the eyes of modern armies, and it is used in insulating the 

 thousands of miles of wires of the intricate telephone systems 

 which link together every detachment of the vast armies. 



The extensive trench fighting which characterizes this war 

 would have claimed the lives of many more men had it not been 

 for the possibilities of rubber. Rubber boots and socks, rubber 

 trench capes and coats, rubber ground sheets and rubberized 

 tents have made it possible for men to exist with comparative 

 health and comfort under most unwholesome conditions. The 

 European soldiers are using folding rubber water buckets and 

 rubber horse-troughs. These are but a few of the hundreds of 

 uses to which rubber has been put in this war. 



RUSSIA'S IMPORT DUTY ON RUBBER GOODS. 



According to the tariff schedule of March 13. 1915, the follow- 

 ing rates of duty are imposed on imports into Russia: On crude 

 rubber and gutta percha, also rubber waste unfit for use as 

 manufacture. 1 ruble 80 kopeks per pood (2.57 cents per pound) : 

 on rubber-covered wire containing wire not less than 1 millimeter 

 in thickness. 6 rubles 16 kopeks per pood (8.78 cents per pound) ; 

 containing wire of less than 1 millimeter in thickness. 7 rubles 70 

 kopeks per pood (10.98 cents per pound); wire tissues in the 

 form of a hunch or cable, covered with gutta percha, etc.. with 

 diameter of the separate wires 0.2 of a millimeter or more, 17 

 rubles 80 kopeks per pood (24.26 cents per pound), less than 0.2 

 of a millimeter, 19 rubles 47 kopeks per pood (27.77 cents per 

 pound). On silk covered wires 50 per cent, is added to the above 

 duty. On electric cables of all kinds the rate is 7 rubles 37 kopeks 

 per pood (10.48 cents per pound). 



A conference was recently held in Petrograd to determine the 

 amount of foreign credit that will be required by Russia in the 

 near future for her industrial undertakings and certain trading 

 houses. Estimates then made — based on imports for the year 

 1913 and for the first six months of 1914 — of the value of the 

 goods of paramount importance that would he required, in- 

 cluded rubber to the value of 40.000.000 rubles, or $20,600,000. 



