In its turn Para has had in the form of revenue collected in 
those years, the amounts of Rs. 19,039 :709$531, Rs. 20,255:- 
070$604 and Rs. 14,480 :716$176, the import-tax on rubber ren- 
dering Rs. 14,602 :759$269, Rs. 14,701:894$955 and Rr. 9,518:- 
716$267, or 76.69 per cent, 72.58 per cent and 65.73 per cent. 
' The taxes charged by Para are 22 per cent ad valorem for 
Rubber “fina,” “entre-fina” and “sernamby,” and 15 per cent for 
whatever other kind. Besides those there is an additional tax 
of 2.5 per cent in benefit of the Santa Casa de Misericordia 
charged on the exportation taxes. 
These figures seem to show the importance for those 
States of questions concering the production and .consump- 
tion of the world’s rubber, and with greater reason still for Brazil 
as a whole. The ruin of one of the most promising regions on 
the face of the globe, the profound depreciation of Brazilian 
finances and the dreaded commercial crisis with which the coun- 
try would have to fight, would be the disastrous effect of the 
indifference of the Federal and States Governments on such a 
matter. But that, however, is not the attitude of those Govern- 
ments; they are decreeing various measures now in course of be- 
ing carried out and which after minute studies were judged nec- 
essary, so that Brazil might continue to maintain her proud po- 
sition of importance for the precious “black gold” (rubber) in 
the world’s market. 
RUBBER-CONSUMING MARKETS — COMPETITION 
OF OTHER RUBBER-PRODUCING COUNTRIES 
New York, Liverpool, London, Hamburg, Antwerp and 
Havre are at the present time, by their order of importance, the 
principal world’s markets for rubber. 
New York, by virtue of the extraordinary development of 
North American industries, which in a steadily increasing scale, 
are consuming constantly greater quantities of raw material, re- 
ceives almost half of the rubber produced in all the world. 
Nearly 60 per cent of the rubber negotiated in New York is 
Brazilian. After this follow Central America and Mexico; but 
as rubber proceeding from all parts appears in the New York 
market it is evident that there is no specialty in this business. 
Liverpool, perhaps due to the fact of its being the port to 
which the lines of navigation that run to and from the Amazon 
are directed, has become the European emporium for Brazilian 
rubber. In fact, 40 per cent of the Brazilian production is di- 
40 
