The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-06-04
TROUBLE IN SECURING LABOR
IN ADDITION THERE ARE FINANCIAL
AND PERSONAL DANGERS.
How the Plantations Are Owned and
Worked Something About the
Slaves of the Upper Amazon.


any other region on earth, and the greater
part of its product goes through Para. More
than hundred thousand pounds are shipped
from here every day, and the amount ex-
ported last year was so great that If 1t were
all loaded on wagons 1t would take forty
five thousand horses to haul 1t over macad-
amized 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 Zingu and
the thousand minor streams loads of rubber
are f1oated down the Amazon to the city at
its mouth.
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 1t under your
feet. Millions of pounds go into rubber
shoes. There is one factory in New Eng
land that makes thirty thousand pairs of
rubbers a day, and in one month in Boston
four million pairs of rubbers were recently
sold at auction. Some of you have it on the
ends of your pencils and others use it in
the shape Of rubber bands. 1t is estimated
that the school children of every one of our
towns Of twelve thousand inhabitants use
more than eight thousand rubber bands a
year. and the total weight of the bands
used in the United States is enormous.
Then take the suspenders. This Para rub
Der upholds the pantaloons Of millions. 1t
upholds the stockings of other millions of
the fairer sex, and both men and women
are coasting over the roads upon its bicycle
tires. 1t takes two pounds of Para rubber
to make a set Of tires. and it is estimated
that there are in the neighborhood of two
million bicycles now in use in the United
States and Great Britain. II 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 a great amount is swal-
lowed up in machinery and In the industrial
arts.
1t is rubber that has built up the city OF
Para. and it IS rubber which supports it
to-day. For every pound which is sent away
the exporter has to pay % cents to the state
government, and the result is that Para
is rich state and it's officials wax fat
The city of Para has about 100000 people.
1t is alive and enterprising. 1t has i'm
mense stores filled with all kinds of goods
for the rubber camps. II has great ware
houses where the rubber is packed up for
shipment abroad, and through it's streets
you see carts filled 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 it in all sorts
of shapes
The rubber-exporting parts of the city
smell like a 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
anG 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. 1 shall describe my visit to one of
them further on in this letter But first let
me tell you something about the rubber ter
ritory OF this great valley. The Amazon
valley is, you know, of vast extent 1t is 700
miles wide and more than 1900 miles long,
and a vast part of 1t contains rubber trees.
The trees grow over a territory one-third
as large as the whole of the United States.
They thrive best on ground that is flooded
a part of the year. A great part of the
valley is of this nature. The waters cover
the tops Of the trees. 1t remains about them
for months and then subsidies until the
floods come again.
The valley is cut UP by rivers and streams.
1t is almost altogether covered with woods.
and the only way of reaching different parts
of ii is by the streams. Almost all of the
land .along the streams is owned by some
one or other. If 1t is not owned it is claimed
and this is especially so Of those parts of
the valley which produce good rubber
Some of it Is owned by large companies.
The Rubber Trust controls much of it. The
Amazonas Rubber Estate Company of Lon
don has $1,000 acres On tributary Of the
Amazon. more than 1900 miles above Para.
1t has a capital of sl.5oo,0Oo. and runs a
steam tug between its estate and the city
Of Manaos, which is 1000 miles up the river.
There is another English rubber company,
which has been recently formed, with a
capital of 81, 25O. 0Oe, which owns about 10000
rubber trees, scattered over $4,000 acres.
This company has produced as much as
so tons of rubber year. and it will, It
claims, soon produce 800 tons annually.
Nearly every business man of prominence
in Para owns more or less rubber land.
Many of the big business houses have Hens
on the owners OF rubber camps from the
goods they supply 10 them, and 1t may be
said that the rubber lands of the Amazon
are practically mortgaged to Para. and its
connections.
TT is especially so Of the rubber country
south of the Rio Negro. On that river, not
far from its mouth, Is the town of Manaos,
which has 5000 people This Is also a rub
Der city, and its people are largely inter-
ested in the rubber forests further up. In
addition to the great companies there are
many small subber buyers and rubber hunt
ers. Some live In the wilds and work with
the Indians. others buy Of the Indians, and
others work or q system much like slavery.
enforcing their commands with revolyers
and rifles.
RUBBER AT N.eoo A POUND.
Some Of the best rubber Is made not far
from Para Il grows on the -tslands In the