The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-05-07


| almost impossible for soldier. You see 1t is
so hot in this country that his money Is contln'
uallv burning holes in his pocket
Writing in Ainslee's about n familiar auicle
| II. L. Armstrong says: The "ofld was io,is
| tim, learning the uses and value OF rubber. For
| two centuries after the Spanards saw the gum
| in the hands OF Latves Of the new world IL
WAS little more than u, curiosity. Old ierrea,
| wh, went with Columbus on his second voyage,
made note Of an elastic bal. which was n'oluso
from the gum of tree. At their games tue
| nude Haytians made it bound high in the atr
The .iatccs familiar with the gum ana
called it ue. and from them the SpaniaroS
learned 10 smear it on their coats to Keep out
the wet They had crossed the seas Tor gold
and never dreamed of time when the sticky milk
the uncouth Indians drew from strange trees
would be worth more than all the treasure OF
the Hills ION Feb. :.3, 1899, ship carrying a
cargo OF Il61 tons OF rubber valued at S22lo,ooc
sailed from Para, for New York. leaving 200
tens behind on the wharfl jose, King Of Por.
tugal, in lji5, comes down to us as the "earef
of a pair OF boots Gent out to Para to be GOV.
clcd with waterproof gum, Yet three hundred
wears were to elapse before Connecticut lan'
lac should make \ pair OF boots Of rubber which
would not dccolnpoSc. pr, Priestly, author OF a
work CT .PerspcCtiNe, nulN forgotten, recorded
that caoutchouc pronounced 'kachock) was
useful in small cubes for rubbing out pencil
inarh5--hcnco tile name rubber. The lndla
linked with it refers 10 the saNagcS who gathered
it in the Amazon wilderness pr. friestly's
cubes were half ali inch long and sold Tor three
shilines, or IS cents, apiece A stih price,
fer the nnest rubber today is dollar pound.
Its price for ten years has ranged rom 81 to
sl.on. The conversion Of the gum to useful
PURPOSES made but slow heidway. The inst
waterproof clnth in 1907 WAS the work OF an
EEglishman 1t Was tentative, and, OF course,
it would not stand heat. In 1873 Charles Mack
intosh, ci Glasgow, discovered naphtha, and.
dissolving rubber in 1t, produced varnsh which,
when spread on clpth, made it really impervious
to water At late as $50 the importation of
rubber into England amounted only 10 $1,000
pounds. In l.0o ~ less than lo,o75,5si pounds
consumed in that country, and the con-
sumption in the United States reached 5l,6O6'37
pounds. Most Of the rubber used in the world
still comes from equatorial South America and
the forests where the Indians gathered ule are
as dense today and almost as little known 10
white men in til. time OF LorteZ "
one hundred years ago. notes Cyrus T. Jones,
IN success, Washington, who made all things
possible 10 America, had been in his grave sin
teen months. simon Bolivar, whom destiny
had chosen TO blaze path TO freedom in South
America, was a law student in Madrid Mexico
was a savage province. The later republics
of Central America were bandit lairs. The
West Indies were piraticai. south America was
darker THAI Airiua The United states had hfe
million people and seventeen states, largely along
the borders Of the Atlantic and the Cult Cal
iiolna was a terra inrognia, Tie Mississippi
was mystery, uring the hful brain oI Aaron
Burr to dreams OF ,mpile Canada except for
E..sn. .,