ii4 THE RUBBER INDUSTRY 



tural enterprise generally were attended by complete 

 failure, in spite of the lavish expenditure incurred. 



In great measure the law of January, 1912, proved 

 abortive, on account of the lack of knowledge of the 

 characteristic features of the Amazon territories. It 

 provided for immigration for the purpose of creating 

 agricultural settlements, although the prevailing con- 

 ditions are such as to render the establishment of small 

 isolated communities futile of any benefit to the settlers 

 themselves or to anybody else. Provision was made 

 for the betterment of the sanitary state of the popula- 

 tion, without realizing the magnitude of a task of this 

 nature. None of the methods embraced by the new 

 law were of any practical value as remedies to counter- 

 act the effects emanating from Oriental competition; 

 therefore, after its application had been attempted for 

 eighteen months, it was abandoned, and the department 

 of the Defesa de Boracha suppressed. 



It is possible for the Federal Government to afford 

 effective and immediate relief to the rubber industry 

 by taking action in two directions : the first by an 

 agreement with the States interested to suspend the 

 export duties, and the second by temporarily rescinding 

 all charges levied upon the necessities of life imported 

 into the Amazon Valley. So far as the first suggestion 

 is concerned, the equitable basis for any such arrange- 

 ment is for the Federal and State revenues to bear the 

 loss equally. This would entail an annual subsidy of 

 an aggregate sum of 1,000,000, approximately, from 

 the Federal Treasury to the States of Para, Amazonas, 

 Matto Grosso, and the administration of the National 

 Territories ; for the local Governments concerned, the 



