60 RUBBER 



holders in 1909 interest amounting to 80, 165, even 

 300 per cent., and tongues will very quickly wag 

 into fame an industry that yields such enormous 

 profits. Also, the price of rubber was going up, and 

 people began to talk about the large number of new 

 uses to which the material was being put. It was 

 now widely believed that there would be such a 

 shortage of rubber in the near future that the supply 

 would fetch famine prices, and consequently the value 

 of rubber shares would rise by leaps and bounds. The 

 fact that some people thought they stood to make 

 money by a judicious purchase of shares in certain 

 estates, about the working of which they had some 

 knowledge, was now quite sufficient to persuade people 

 who had never given a moment's serious attention 

 either to the industry in particular or to speculation 

 in general that they could quickly make a fortune by 

 investing in any so-called Rubber Company. Whilst 

 these ideas were spreading like wildfire, the price of 

 rubber was going up and up, until at last, in the 

 spring of 1910, the moment came when a feverishly 

 excited public made that historic run on rubber shares 

 which is known as the " Rubber Boom." 



CHAPTER XIII 



THE RUBBER BOOM 



The boom was a very big gamble, in which men and 

 women of all classes and nationalities took part. The 

 great game was to buy shares, which is to say, partner- 

 ships, in companies that went in for rubber-growing, 

 and to sell them within a few hours, or days, at a 



