The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-06-04
How TIE HlAptAtiops Ire Owned
Something About tie Rubber
SAvesof Upper AnAzop-
VIII There Be 1 Rub.
Der famipe1

hours, and IN the end had one Of the
rubber hams OF commerce about the pad.
die. This was now cut open with a knife
and the paddle taken cut. From the cut
part I could easily see the layers made
by the smoking. Il was q cut rubber ham.
looking much like cheese. In the smoking
the rubber loses It's beautifully white. II
turns yellow and brown. 1t looks greasy.
and It Is for all the world just like q ham.
Rubber Thieves.
Rubber -, you know. salable anywhere
II Is better than the wheat. and the rub.
Der planters and shippers have to watch
carefully to prevent its being stolen. The
custom house officers and the shippers.
1t - carefully weighed, being put up in
pine boxes, each Of which contains some
where between 800 and 100 pounds.
The boxes are watched as they 20 to the
ship. They must be carefully handled, for
II one il broken pieces are liable TO be
stolen. and the steamship company IL re-
sponsible for the loss. There il a great
deal OF rubber stealing at the ports to
which the rubber is taken. Bits are often
carried away by the sailors and traded
for drinks at the saloons. A sailor will
often give rubber worth ten times the
price OF . glass of whisky for q schooner
OF beer.
Rubber Slaves.
One Of the great troubles in the rubber
districts Il labor. 1t IL hard to get men
to collect the aap and smoke Il. Emit
grants are now being brought from Ceara
and other ports Of Brazil to work In the
rubber foreSta The places where the rub
Der trees grow are usually malarious and
otherwise unhealthy. Many Of the work.
men die, and on the upper Amazon many
OF them are kept at their work by fear
OF their masters. A great many are debt
slaves. They are supplied by their en-
ployers with food, and with some the ac-
counts arc SO manipulated that they are
kept In debt.
With others the men are 90 Shiftlese that
they do not work to get out Of debt. In
the upper Amazon am told that such men
are sometimes passed from one employer
to another. the last man paying a certain
amount per man as q consideration for the
exchange.
The question as 10 how long the rubber
will last Is unsettled. There Is a variety
OF opinions on the subject. At present,
however. there Is no reason for alarm.
The trees are more carefully worked now
than ever, and every tree, II not abused,
will produce milk in abundance for thirty
or forty years. There is no doubt but that
the trees can be grown, and eventually
theirs will be great rubber plantations.
owned By large companies. planted and
cared for "a long time investments.
There II no doubt but there Is a great
deal OF money In the business. The capital
lists make a big percentage on everything.
They sell their goods at the highest prices
and they charge enormous rates of interest
They weigh the rubber which they buy OF
the smaller gatherers so that the odd half
ounces are always in their favor. and. In
short. the only persons who do not make
money are the poor men who go from tree
to tree and do the work.
Still, the business Is fraught with great
danger, and should not advise any Amer.
ican to come down here without insuring
his life. The chances OF sickness and death
are many. and on the upper Amazon there
are Wild Indians. who delight in sending
poisoned arrows through their blow guns
at the white rubber lords.
FRANK G. CARPENTER.