CHAPTER IX 

 COST OF PRODUCTION 



Export duties Total charges levied before shipment Actual 

 average minimum cost of production per pound of rubber 

 Average value per pound in January, 1914 Necessary measures 

 for the Brazilian industry Production during past eighty-six 

 years Rubber industry and general prosperity of Brazil Defesa 

 de Boracha Why Government measures of relief are barren of 

 results How the Federal Government can afford immediate 

 relief. 



r I ^HE export duties and other charges levied on 

 A rubber shipments from Brazil have been the sub- 

 ject of much controversy during the last two years. 

 The Federal Government has urged the State adminis- 

 trations of Para, Amazonas, and Matto Grosso, to make 

 an immediate and substantial reduction in the duties, 

 and at one time even suggested a suspension of all 

 these taxes for an indefinite period. The State 

 Governments, however, argued that the suppression of 

 these charges practically entailed a condition of bank- 

 ruptcy, especially in the case of Para and Amazonas, 

 where 80 per cent, of the public revenue is derived 

 from this source. A counter-proposition put forward 

 was that the Federal authorities should make good any 

 loss of income resulting from an abatement in the toll 

 on exports ; but this was rejected on the grounds that, 

 if any such principle was applied for the relief of 

 industrial enterprise in the Amazon Valley, a corre- 

 sponding concession would be demanded by every 



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