290 



[October, 1911. 



GUMS, RESINS, SAPS AND EXUDATIONS. 



THE PHILIPPINES AND RUBBER. 



(From the Manila Bulletin.) 



Statistics go to show that the United 

 States purchased from abroad in 1910 

 about §106,860,000 worth of raw rubber, 

 more indeed than the aggregate used by 

 any two countries in the world. Of this 

 amount the Philippines are not credited 

 with producing any part, the supply 

 being secured from the Congo, South 

 America and Malaysia. The United 

 States went outside her own territory 

 to purchase, while hundreds of thousands 

 of acres ot rubber lands in the Philip- 

 pines are lying idle. 



It would appear that the American 

 manufacturers not only prefer purchas- 

 ing their supply from foreign countries, 

 but are willing to pay the export duty 

 added by the rubber-producing coun- 

 tries, while Philippine rubber could be 

 secured without this addition to first 

 cost. Every rubber-producing country 

 collects an export tax on the product 

 except the Philippine Islands. 



If there be any doubt as to the quality 

 of Philippine grown rubber, there is 

 plenty of evidence to prove that no 

 better product is grown anywhere in 

 the world. 



The report of an expert in Hamburg 

 on a small shipment ot rubber grown by 

 the Basilan Plantation Company, and 

 forwarded by Messrs. Behn Meyer & Co., 

 under date of January 11, 1911, says : — 



"The sheets were thin, medium colour- 

 ed, transparent and of very good 

 quality. It has good nerve, and is well 

 prepared. Such rubber will always find 

 a good sale here. 



"The price of fine hard Brazilian para 

 is five shillings two pence per pound 

 to-day, and I appraise this Philippine 

 rubber at 11 "50 marks to 11 '70 marks per 

 kilo." 



So much for quality. The Basilan 

 plantation is near Isabela, Moro pro- 

 vince, and is the most advanced of all 

 rubber plantations in the Philppines. 

 Two shipments have already been made, 

 and the quantity will increase as the 

 trees mature. 



Japanese capitalists have been pur- 

 chasing large tracts of land in Malaysia, 

 and the Japanese manufacturer is mak- 

 ing headway in putting the finished 

 product on the market. The represent- 

 ative of the Goodyear Company compli- 

 mented the Japanese last year on their 

 splendid exhibit of rubber goods at the 

 exposition at Kobe. Why have the 

 Japanese passed up the Philippines and 



taken up land in Malaysia, and why are 

 we so ignored by the American manu- 

 facturer and capitalist who are also 

 becoming interested in Malaysia rubber 

 lands ? 



There is something wrong somewhere. 

 We have the soil, the climate and the 

 labour. We have no export duty and the 

 quality of rubber is as good as any pro- 

 duced, but we remain non-producers. 



It is not improbable that we have not 

 given the widest publicity to the advant- 

 ages offered by the Philippines to the 

 prospective rubber grower. That we 

 should be ignored were the truth about 

 the islands made known generally in 

 commercial centres in the United States 

 and Europe, we do not believe. That the 

 United States should spend 1106,860,000 

 abroad for a product, the whole of 

 which can be supplied from American 

 territory seems very improbable, 

 nevertheless it is true. 



We believe this subject should be 

 given special attention by the Merchants' 

 Association. Rubber Manufacturers in 

 the United States and Europe, capital- 

 ists interested in the growing and 

 manufacture of rubber should be fur- 

 nished with all the data available in 

 some attractive form. We must spread 

 our rubber gospel where it will do the 

 most good. A competent publicity man 

 should be put on the job and sent 

 among the Philippines to preach Philip- 

 pine rubber. Our slogan in the United 

 States should be " We need that 

 $106,860,000 rubber money to swell our 

 annual receipts, and we will not be 

 happy until we get it." 



BRITISH GUIANA AND INDIA- 

 RUBBER. 



By the Editor op " The India 

 Rubber World." 



(Prom the India Rubber World, Vol. 

 XLIV., No. 4, July 1, 1911.) 



Second Letter. 



Again the Climate. — A Boston Boy 

 Planter.— The Bete Rouge.— Getting 

 acquainted with the Sapium Jenman's 

 Description of the Tree. — Sapium Plant- 

 ations. — The Macwarrieballi.— Brittle 

 Balata.— Balata back in 1883. — Notes on 

 Balata Gathering.— Some Balata Statis- 

 tics. 



Speaking again of the climate of 

 British Guiana, I want to affirm that of 

 all the tropical countries I have visited 



