August 1, 1915.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



585 



The really clever work in naval operations during the 

 present European trouble has been done by tin sub 

 marines, and the only device for keeping an eye on the 

 submarine is the flying machine, and neither one <>i these 

 would he worth its salt without rubber. Without rubber 

 the submarine would he so full of leaks that it would go 

 to the bottom like a stone, and without rubber the aviator, 

 though he might succeed in getting up, would certainly he 

 afraid of coming down. 



But Secretary Daniels is onl\ feeling his way, Bj the 

 time his advisory hoard is completed it will doubtless in- 

 clude a couple of rubber representatives to see that the 

 ideas of the others will hold water. 



A FAMOUS CHANCE FOR A RUBBER DETECTIVE. 



BRAZIL is making an earnest and anxious March for 

 someone who knows which is which in rubber. 

 When he is found he will be assured a warm welcome and 

 doubtless substantial remuneration. As is known to ever) 

 student of South American affairs, the Brazilian govern- 

 ment has sought for a number of years to devise measures 

 to protect the rubber of the Amazon from the ever-in- 

 creasing encroachments of plantation rubber, which, it 

 will be remembered, had its origin in the seeds surrep- 

 titious!) abstracted by the impious Mr. Wickham. 



In furtherance of its campaign for encouraging the use 

 of Amazon rubber, the federal legislature of Brazil for- 

 mulated last year certain new tariff regulations for 1915 

 which, as far as home consumption was concerned, would 

 place articles manufactured from Eastern rubber at a 

 great disadvantage as compared with articles made from 

 rubber exported from Manaos and I'ara. For instance, 

 pneumatic tires and inner tubes for automobiles and other 

 vehicles, if made from Brazilian fine Para, were to be ad- 

 mitted, under this new schedule, with an ad valorem duty 

 of only 5 per cent., but if made of any other rubber tin 

 duty was to be ten times as much, or 50 per cent. : while 

 in the case of solid tires and various other articles manu- 

 factured from rubber, those made from Brazilian fine 

 Para were to pay only 100 reis per kilo., while those made 

 from rubber of foreign origin were to pay one hundred 

 times as much, or 10 milreis per kilo. 



Here was a differential tariff which would seem to pro- 

 vide adequate protection for the rubber gathered in th< 

 Amazonian forests. But when the new tariff went into 

 effect a great difficulty was immediately encountered. 

 No one connected with the Brazilian customs seemed 

 able by any of the five senses customarily accredited to 



man to detect whether the ho1 water bottle, tire or rain- 

 coal undei consideration contained the smoked latex from 

 the Vmazon jungles or the smoked latex from the Fa-tern 

 plantations; nor were the laboratory facilities of Para 



1 to the work of discovering which was which, 

 t onsequentlj the new tariff was held in abeyance, while 

 representatives of the government went forth into the 

 scientific centers of the world to find someone who could 

 sil at the Brazilian scat of customs and tell unerringly 

 where the rubber came from that entered into the article 

 offered for import. 



ii. as is quite probable, this problem is too much for 

 the chemists, will not the clairvoyants kindly come for- 

 ward ? 



THE TIRE ADJUSTER DOOMED? 



A.M( >S'l interesting and necessary personality is the 

 Tire Adjuster. Polite, persuasive, alert, he 

 soothes the ruffled, praises the fair-minded and blandly 

 rebukes the prevaricator. He saves money for his com- 

 pany and makes friends of complainers. That so pic- 

 turesque an individual should have his profession threat- 

 ened with extinction is a pity. Yet that possibility is in 

 sight. ( Ine of the great tire concerns is possessed of a 

 detector which, if it proves practical, will supersede all 

 expert estimating of mileage. It is a simple little ap- 

 pliance, buried in the head, that unerringly takes the count 

 for every rotation of the tire. The idea is novel; indeed 

 is excellent. It is also suggestive of wider application. 

 Why not adapt it to footwear? Why not conceal it. for 

 example, in rubber hoots, and put an end to false claims 

 as to wear? Would it not In- of value in rubber lulls. 

 secretly registering the day's work? Analagous to it 

 would he a tiny instrument to record the amount of water 

 passed through each length of tire hose: a self-registering 

 thermometer in hot water bottles proving the use of boil- 

 ing water, and so on. 



Whether or not such mechanisms come into use and dis- 

 place tire and other adjusters, certain it is that guess work 

 in rubber is swiftly becoming a thing of the past 



In the passing of the Hon. William M. Ivins, the 



rubber trade Fh-, one who in years past was one of its 

 most brilliant and forceful figures. His connection with 

 William I\. (.race, his association with the founders of 

 the United States Rubber Co., his presidency of the 

 General Rubber Co., and his active interest in the trade 

 during it- formative period, make him one of the founders 

 of the industry. lie knew the markets of Europe and of 

 South America better than most, and his vacation trips 

 were to the tropical rubber centers rather than over the 

 beaten tracks of the tourists. A brilliant and convincing 

 speaker, a fascinating conversationalist, the possessor of a 

 great store of knowledge, the trade and the country lose 

 a unique and commanding personality. 



