26 BULLETIN 1422, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
of the industry up the Amazon, the Rio Negro, and elsewhere. At 
the present day the principal rubber-producing districts are all far 
from the ports of Para or Manaos, and the transportation is one of the 
great factors in the high cost of production in South America. 
The price of labor and its scarcity are factors which are of the 
greatest import in the paralysis of the rubber industry of the Amazon 
Valley. Labor is cheaper there now than in the boom days of rub- 
ber — in money but not in relation to the price of rubber. The high 
cost of transportation also affects labor by increasing the cost of 
living. Everything which is shipped up the rivers doubles or trebles 
its price as it goes, and most of the supplies of the seringueiro have 
always gone up river. The rubber regions have never been food 
producers, so food must be shipped in at any cost. 
Some of this food, such as f arinha and pirarucu, is produced on 
the lower Amazon, but much of it, such as xarque, comes from the 
southern part of Brazil, making a very long voyage before it reaches 
the rubber-producing areas far up the rivers from the sea. 
The cost of transportation has not decreased in later years, because 
the source of the rubber has steadily retreated up the rivers, until one 
is amazed at the vast distances which must be traversed from the 
port of Para before a producing field of any note whatever is reached. 
Naturally the trees near the coast, first exploited, have been first 
to succumb, and collectors have been forced to go farther and farther 
afield. 
POSSIBLE IMPROVEMENT OF CONDITIONS 
It is easy to suggest means of remedying or at least alleviating the 
evils of the present situation; but it is much less easy, in fact, it may 
even be quite impossible, to put these methods into effect. Akers 
(1) made a series of excellent suggestions for improving conditions 
and that at a time much more promising than the present, but his 
suggestions have not borne fruit. The Brazilian Government 
passed a series of acts (37) for the purpose, but these laws have not 
been enforced. Lecointe (25) more recently has also prescribed a 
valuable regimen, which will likely avail little. Therefore the 
writer admits a feeling of trepidation in attempting to deal with so 
critical a state of affairs. 
The Brazilians frequently express the wish that the price of rubber 
could be brought a little higher and that it could be stabilized. At 
the present time (July, 1924) there is a general tendency to be unwill- 
ing to advance money for supplies for rubber gatherers whose collec- 
tions may be well-nigh worthless when brought in some months 
later. If rubber could be stabilized at 5 milreis per kilo in Manaos 
the industry could be saved, at least in some degree. But in view 
of present conditions there is little hope now that the price will become 
more stable. 
LABOR CONDITIONS 
A better supply of labor and cheaper labor would do much to con- 
tinue the rubber industry, but the supply constantly becomes less. 
For many years the rubber fields drew a stream of workers from other 
regions of Brazil, especially Ceara. Many of these workers were 
destined never to return from the land of the black gold, for the quest 
for this, like that of the yellow sort, was carried on at a high cost of 
life. 
