The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-06-04

And the Sap Prepared for the Mar
kets-An Ounce of Rubber Which
Cost $1OO-smoking Rubber-How
the Plantations Are Owned
Something About Rubber Slaves
of the Upper Amazon.
Copyright, 1899, by Frank G. Carpenter.
PARA, Brazil, May 22-Para is the chief
rubber port of the world. The Amazon
valley produces more and better rubber
than any other region on earth, and the
greater part of its product goes through
Para. More than 10000 pounds are ship
ped from here every day, and the amount
exported last year was so great that If
it were all loaded on wagons it would
take $1,000 horses to haul it over macada-
mixed roads. From every part of this
great Amazon valley, from the foot hills
of the Andes, from the wilds of Bolivia,
from the savage regions of Ecuador, from
the banks of the Orinoco, the Madeira,
the Zngu and the thousand minor
streams loads of rubber are f1oated down
the Amazon to the city at its mouth.
THE RUBBER AGE.
This is the India rubber age, and Para
is its handspring. From here goes out
the elastic material which moves the
world. Every man, woman and child
who will read this letter is using Para
rubber in one form or another. Some of
you have it under your feet. Millions of
pounds go into rubber shoes. There is
one factory in New England that makes
80, 900 pairs Of rubbers a day, and in one
month in Boston 100000 pairs of rubbers
were recently sold at auction. Some of
you have it on the ends Of your pencils
and others use 1t in the shape of rubber
bands. Is is estimated that the school
children of every one of our towns of
II, 600 inhabitants use more than 5000 rub
Der bands year, and the total weight of
the bands used in the United States is
enormous
Then take suspenders. This Para rub
Der upholds the pantaloons of millions.
1t upholds the stockings Of the fairer sex,
and both men and women are coaSting
over roads on its bicycle tires. 1t takes
two pounds of Para rubber to make
set of tires, and it Is estimated that there
are in the neighborhood of 100000 bicy-
cles now in use in the United States and
Great Britain. 1t takes more to cushion
the wheels of cabs and carriages, and the
vehicles being made in this way are now
| numbered by the tens of thousands.
Rubber is used in countless other ways.
| The rubber ink erasers Of the public
| schools of New York and Brooklyn
| amount to five tons year; tons of 1t
| are used by surgeons for rubber sheets,
| syringes and hot water bags. A large
| quantity forms the bases of false teeth,
| and great amount Is swallowed up in
| machinery and in the industrial arts.
IN THE RUBBER METROPOLIS.
| It is rubber that has built up the city
of Para, and 1t is rubber which supports
it today. For every pound which is sent
| away the exporter has to pay Is cents to
| the state government, and the result is
| that Para is rich state, and its officials
| wax fat.
| The city Of Para has about 100 900 peo-
| pie. 1t Is alive and enterprising. It has
| Immense stores filed with all kinds Of
| goods for the rubber camps. 1t has great
| warehouses where the rubber is packed
up for shipment abroad, and through it's
| streets you see carts filed with crude
rubber going to and from the stores and
| the warehouses. Much of the rubber is
| taken in trade for goods. A great deal is
| brought direct to the warehouses, and
| you see 1t in all sorts of shapes.
The rubber-exporting parts Of the city
smell like smoke house. The rubber
| Is brought In Jumps which look for all
| the world like four-pound hams. They
| smell like smoked hams and you would
| not know the difference without you saw
| them fall on the street At such times
| they bounce up and down and roll about
| like things alive, as pork hams could not
| possibly do.
| THE RUBBER TERRITORY.
There are many large rubber forests
near Para. shall describe my visit to
one Of them further on In this letter. But
first let me tell you something about the
rubber territory of this great valley. The
Amazon valley is. you know, of vast ex-
tent. 1t is 700 miles wide and more than
1000 miles long, and a vast part of 1t
contains rubber trees.
The trees grow over a territory one
! tniro as large as the whole United