Gums, Resins, 



[October, 1010. 



A narrow street running from the 

 water front up into the city, known as 

 " Well Street," is where most ot the 

 rubber purchasing is done. When a 

 steamer arrives with rubber for the 

 various aviadores they gather on this 

 street or in an open room that leads 

 off from it, and the representatives of 

 the big buyers being present, the various 

 lots are disposed of. There are brokers, 

 but they do only a fraction of the 

 business. 



Each of the rubber houses employs a 

 very capable body of men who receive 

 the rubber, cut and examine it, and 

 pack it in boxes for shipment. The 

 cutting of the rubber is an absolute 

 necessity, as some lots are badly adul- 

 terated. This adulteration takes three 

 forms : One in which a milky juice 

 called " tabatinga " is added to the 

 latex, giving a short fibered rubber 

 that is wholly without nerve. The 

 second is the addition of "farinha," 

 which increases bulk and weight, but 

 also makes the rubber very short and 

 pasty. The third is a mixture of sand 

 and farinha, which is perhaps the worst 

 of all. Wherever farinha is present, if 

 the rubber has stood for any length of 

 time, myriads of little ants are found in 

 the pelles, living on the starchy contents. 

 All of these adulterations are quickly 

 detected by the cutters, who are 

 very expert and who promptly throw 

 out a ball that contains layers of this 

 sort. 



The "Wall Street" op Para. 

 To refer again to " Wall Street," time 

 was when all the rubber-buying was 

 done in a saloon there, but that is a 

 thing of the past, and while some is still 

 sold in the "street" most of the pur- 

 chasing takes place in the offices of the 

 great operators. Most of the rubber is 

 shipped in cases made of American pine. 

 I saw a few boxes made of native wood, 

 but the lumber was heavy and brittle 

 and not to be compared with the import- 

 ed pine, either for safety or ease in 

 working. 



The rubber warehousemen are perhaps 

 the best paid of any labourers in the 

 city. They receive about $4 a day, and 

 extra for night work and Sundays. 

 When rubber is arriving they work 

 willingly night and day, often drenched 

 to the skin by the heavy tropical 

 downpours, which they don't seem to 

 mind in the least. But the labourers 

 are not the only hard workers. When 

 the gum is arriving the exporter, if he 

 is in the market, is kept exceedingly 

 busy. A single small steamer coming in 

 from the Islands, where she stopped at 



perhaps a hundred landings, may have 

 rubber from 200 or 300 shippers, con- 

 signed to 75 or to 80 different houses. 

 All of these interests, seringueiros and 

 aviadores, knowing more or less about 

 the market, are intent on getting the 

 best price and also on the passing of 

 any doubtful rubber without question. 

 To do his own house justice and to 

 satisfy the sellers keeps the exporter 

 very busy, and often works nights, but 

 not out in the pouring rain. 



The price at which rubber is sold in 

 Para and Manaos dominates the spirit 

 of the people, and in boom in times, 

 when money is plenty, it is spent most 

 lavishly. A rich Brazilian, even if it is 

 only temporary wealth due to a sudden 

 rise in the rubber market, will buy any- 

 thing, from an automobile to an opera 

 troupe, and plank down the cash with 

 joy. 



Para, being the mother of rubber ex- 

 port, has not been without twinges of 

 jealousy over the wonderful develop- 

 ment of her daughter Manaos, She 

 never wished the child to come out of 

 swaddling clothes, because she saw a 

 decrease in rubber revenues as a result. 

 Therefore "Manaos is unhealthy and 

 not a place to visit," "everything in 

 rubber worth seeing can be seen at 

 Para," et cetera. 



Manaos also affects to scorn Para. 

 " She is old fashioned and conservative," 

 "her rubber forests are rapidly being 

 exhausted and so on. Then when the 

 representatives of these two great cities 

 meet they are good friends and patriotic 

 Brazilians. Their attitude reminds an 

 American of the rivalry between Chicago 

 and St. Louis. It harms no one, and it 

 makes both cities more alert and 

 aggressive. 



It doesn't take very much perspicacity 

 to figure out the fact that the rubber 

 market is not made on the Amazon, but 

 in the great outside centres, like Lon- 

 don and New York. During the crop 

 season in Para the operators are in 

 constant communication with their 

 principals in Europe or America and in 

 semi-constant touch with their houses 

 at Manaos. Each firm has its own 

 cipher. None of them know each other's 

 cipher ; whether they know the rest of 

 the numerals it is hard to say. 



The houses that really do the bulk of 

 the business are about a dozen in num- 

 ber, including Gruner & Co., who 

 represent Heilbut, Symons & Co.. of 

 London, and Poel & Arnold, in New 

 York Commercial Co.; Gordon & Co., 

 who represent the General Rubber Co., 

 of New York, and William Symington 



