THE ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION OF RUBBER 
EXPLOITATION 
The economic organization of the exploitation of rubber in 
the Amazonic valley still remains in its rudimentary condition, 
continuing almost exactly on the same lines as those adopted 
when the production of this article—one of:the principal sources 
of the wealth of Brazil—first began to open up. 
This unaltered condition of affairs in the modifying of the 
economical processes, is the consequence of the continuance of 
certain conditions such as the existence of vast regions still 
entirely unexplored; the progressive penetration of the serifi- 
gueiros guided by the course of the rivers into far away regions 
where rapid mearis of communication are completely lacking, 
the scarcity of labor, and the necessity of capital being embarked 
in the extraction of rubber, 
The régime of private property is still limited, and does not 
extend beyond a few kilometres into the Interior, starting from 
the banks of the’rivers, since the greater part of the lands still 
continue to be the property of the States either of Amazonas or 
of Para, and—in the territory of the Acre—of the Federal 
Government. 
With the object of peopling ide rubber- Sroitictae regions 
endeavors are being made’ to facilitate the acquiring of prop- 
erties by furnishing their owners with adequate guarantees of 
protection, special Public Departments having ‘already been 
created in the State of Amazonas and’ Para devoted to the fiscali- 
zation of the régime of lands; and the régime of lands in the 
Acre Territory is about to be regulated at once by the Federal 
Government in accordance with the determinations set forth in 
the new economic measure known as the Rubber Defense Act. 
The proprietory question originated itself in the concession 
of lands granted‘ under ¢ertain ‘conditions such as that of its 
effective exploitation and cultivation, colonization, etc., and by 
the legitimation of the possession. These last were established 
in the following'manner:  — 
The explorer who penetrated into the forest in search of 
geringaes, examined the ‘banks of the ‘river by which he went 
up and when he verified the existence of a favorable zone, he 
landed and after a careful exploration: under the direction of 
specialist-workmen called ‘‘‘matteiros” (foresters) he settled 
down and' gave himself up to the exploitation of the ‘ ‘seringal” ‘he 
selected. 
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