Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1901-02-15
BIG OUTLAY EoR RueeER.
Millions of Money Are Spent Every
Year for tho Product.

Millions of Money Are Spent Every
Year for the Product.
1t will astonish the people Of the
| United States to learn that during the
last four years $100.C0O,0OO worth of
India rubber has been brought to this
country Ten years ago the annual i'm
portations of india rubber amounted to
about $15,000,u00: now they exceed
| $3O,O00.O0U and are steadily increas-
ing. Practically all of the mportations
| of rubber come in crude form for the
use OF manufacturers. who are con
stantly extending its application to va
;'ious new lines OF industry. Northern
Brazil. southern Mexico, the West
indies. central Africa, India. the
Straits Settlements and the Dutch East
Indies supply this increasingly import
ant feature of our importations. Prob
ably no single article has made Il more
.'apid growth in it's relations to manu-
iactures, and consequently commerce
in the last few years than rubber. As
Il consequence, attention is now being
given to the cultivation and systematic
trees from which it can be produced
The above statement is suggested by
the receipt by the treasury bureau of
statistics of Il publication detailing the
systematic efforts being made for the
cultivation OF india rubber trees and
plants in the British colonies, especial
ly those of central and south Africa.
that our own Department of Agricul-
lurc has already begun experiments
and inquiries in this line in the island
territories of the United States, adds
greatly to the interest in this question
and to the possibility that the $3O,CO0,.
900 Il year which we are now sending
out OF the country for this product may
be expended under the American flag
and among American producers.
India rubber is not, as is generally
supposed, the product of IL single tree,
but, on the contrary. is produced from
variety OF trees and plants. Some of
these flourish only in IL moist soil and
atmosphere. While others thrive on
stony soil. provided they receive ample
though intermittent rainfall, though in
all eases IL tropical or sub-tropical eli.
mate is requisite. Most of the India
rubber of South and Central America
and India is from trees, but in the
Islands of the Indian archipelago the
Suppy of rubber is chiefly from a gigan-
tic crceper, which in five years growth
attains Il length of 200 feet, and from
twenty TO thirty inches in circumfcr-
encc. and which yields annually from
fifty to sixty pounds of caoutchouc
Java. Sumatra, Penang, Singapore
and French ln(io- China are already
large producers of crude india rubber
or caoutchouc, and its production in
the West Indies has been sufficient to
Indicate the entire practicability of its
being made an important industry in
Cuba or Porto Rico. as we'll as in the
Hawaiian, Philippine and Samoan
Islands.
The following table shows the value
of the importations CT crude india rub.
her and guttl percha into the United
States in each fiscal year from 1890 to
1890:
1890. .$l4.So4,51 1896. .S1G7S1, $50
1891. 80. 1S.02o.S04 1S97.... 1865, ,153
1S92.... 1883 900 1898. 25,545,391
1893. 90. 17,oG4.667 1899. 31,S75,2 ,2O7
1884. 90. 5.1622,33333 1900.... 31,555, ,4Sa
1895. -. 1S,lI5,3S2