and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



595 



THE FUTURE OF PARA RUBBER IN 

 THE AMAZON DISTRICT. 



We direct attention to the article which we 

 here reproduce. Mr. Sandmann, the writer, 

 was sent out by the German Colonial Office to 

 the East in 1906 and to Brazil in 1907 to study 

 the rubber industry. In the September num- 

 ber of the Tropenpflanzcr a long abstract of 

 his official report appeared, and Dr. S. H. 

 Berkhout replied to this in the February 

 number. The tenor of Dr. Berkhout's paper was 

 to show the difficulties Brazil has to encoun- 

 ter in producing rubber, and her inability to 

 compete as regards cost of production with the 

 East. He concluded :" Just as South America 

 failed in the competition against cultivated 

 cinchona, so will its wild rubber be unable to 

 hold out against the plantation article. 1 ' It 

 will be seen from Mr. Sandmann's reply that 

 he differs from Dr. Berkhout considerably. 



An article with the above heading from the 

 pen of Mr. D. Sandmann appeared in the 

 Tropenpflanzcr for April. Mr. VV. J. Gallagher, 

 m.a., has kindly translated and annotated it 

 for us as follows : — 



Wild v. Plantation. 

 " Before I had visited the Amazon District 

 I was of the same opinion as Dr. Berkhout, 

 and in my report on the rubber; industry in 

 Ceylon I expressed the view that it will be 

 impossible for the collection of rubber in the 

 primitive forests to compete with Plantations. 

 Dr. Berkhout built on a very certain found- 

 ation when he assumed the conditions in 

 Surinam (Dutch Guiana) to be similar to those 

 in the Amazon region. I have reached an 

 opposite conviction, although I have never 

 been to Surinam, but have been informed of the 

 local conditions from Europeans resident there 

 for many years. Especially do the political, clim- 

 atic, and agricultural conditions differ consider- 

 ably from those in the Amazon. " Dr. Berk- 

 hout says : ' In the future it will be absolutely 

 necessary for the owners of cultivated rubber 

 for the production from Brazil to decline.' 

 I am of a contrary opinion though admittedly, 

 with a much larger amount of rubber thrown 

 on the world's market, the present high prices, 

 which give profits far beyond the normal, will 

 not be reached. With cheaper prices sufficient 

 to give well-cultivated plantations a normal 

 profit so many new applications of rubber would 

 arise that not only the present production of 

 70,000 tons but even several hundred thousand 

 tons per annum would be consumed. The main- 

 tenance of the Brazilian output is a dangeronly 

 to estates which produce their rubber dear and 

 of poor quality. 



" Dr. Berkhout agrees with mo that 1 kilo 

 (2 1/5 lb.) of rubber can be produced easily on 

 an estate for 2 marks (2 shillings). " [This is 

 equivalent to lid per lb. At least one estate has 

 to my knowledge laid rubbor down in London 

 at this outlay. Apparently the cost f.o.b. at 

 the nearest port is meant. In the P.M.S. this 

 varies from slightly under lOd to over 13d. Tho 

 higher figures refer to estates producing 



small quantities, and are of little value for 

 purpose of comparison. — W. J. G.] "When 

 Dr. Berkhout states that the cost of production 

 at the present day in the Amazon area is 5 marks 

 per kilo (2s 3£d per lb.) I must emphasise, as I 

 did in my report, that these 5 marks are not 

 money in the German sense of the word, but re- 

 present so much provisions and implements of 

 production which at the present time possess so 

 high a nominal value in the rubber producing 

 areas, but which under changed conditions, es- 

 pecially if produced locally, would fall consider- 

 ably. There is no ground for doubting that the 

 provisions and luxuries consumed in tho Amazon 

 area could easily be produced there. Indeed the 

 soil and climate are such that these articles of 

 consumption could be produced more quickly 

 and easily there than in most other regions. 



"In the present prices of rubber labour 

 is paid so high that all cultivation of food 

 products is left aside. After four to six 

 months' work of a 6 to 7 hour day, a tapper 

 is able, notwithstanding the high price of neces- 

 sities, to support himself, and with carefulness 

 ho can even cave something. This is also the 

 reason why the emigrants from Ceara will not 

 go, as Dr. Berkhout thinks they must in the 

 future, to districts in South Brazil where, to 

 support themselves, they must work not 6 to 7 

 hours a day for four to six months, but a 10- 

 hour day the whole year round. Further, the 

 Ceara people prefer the free life in the forest to 

 that on tho estates (cocoa and coffee) of Sao 

 Paulo or Pernambuco. 



" With the 



PRODUCTION OF FOOD CROPS 



in the Amazon region the conditions will imme- 

 diately change, because not only the male 

 labourers but their families also will immigrate 

 there. This would not alone lower the cost of the 

 journey but the working strength would be con- 

 siderably increased. Besides, the Seringuero 

 (rubber-tapper) has no yearning after big towns. 

 If the Ceara natives who immigrate to the 

 Amazon district worked their day of 6 to 7 hours 

 the year round, instead of for 4 to 6 months as 

 they do now, the production would be certain, 

 and the workers would still have shorter hours 

 in the pleasanter Amazon area (pleasanter to 

 them) than on the estates of South Brazil. 



" To decide the question it is necessary to 

 have studied the habits of these people on the 

 snot. Only when one has convinced himself how 

 satisfied with his life the Seringuero is, and how 

 he sees the dolce far niente as the greatest object 

 of his labours, can one understand that only 

 necessity will make him work more. 



" The variations in the quantity of rubber 

 exported annually also confirm this. I agree 

 with Dr. Berkhout that only in the following 

 year does a fall in price have an effect on the 

 production. When the price for years steadily 

 fell from 4s 3d and in 1902 reached its lowest 

 at 3s 2d, only then did the Seriugueros, when 

 need compelled them, do more work ; and the 

 expression of this is found in the export of the 

 year 1903 with 31,094 tons against 25,430 in 1S99, 



" I have already shown in my report (abs- 

 tracted in Trojicnpflanzer in September, 1908) 



