Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1903-10-17

country every year, and about half
of this total is in the form of boots
and shoes. So great is the demand
of India rubber for use in manufact-
uring than not only has the importa-
tion grown from 2 million pounds in
1862 to over so million annually at
the present period but in addition
to this the forests of the East Indies
are called upon for several million
pounds annually of new substitute
for guttapercha. known as "gutta-
joolatong," while at the same time
the highways and the byways of
Europe and other countries are ram
sacked for cast off rubber manufac-
lures from which the rubber is ire
claimed" and reused l., conjunction
with the new rubber from the forest
of Brazil, Africa, and the East In
dies.
They show that during the past
few years the importations of crude
rubber have ranged from 50 to So
million pounds, of gutta-j oolatong
from to Is million pounds, and of
"old and scrap rubber. fit only for
remanufacture, from 10 to 20 odd
million pounds per annum, and the
gutta- percha half million pounds.
The industry of importing and "re-
claiming" India rubber for sense in
manufacturing is comparatively
new one, and while it utilizes large
quantities of worn out rubber boots
and shoes and other articles of this
character from the scrap heaps, of
the United States, it has only ex-
tended to other parts of the world
in recent years. In 1893, for exam
pie, the total Importation of "old and
scrap India rubber fit only for
remanufacture' was less than mil
lion pounds. In 1896 is was over 3
millions, in 1898 more than 8 mil
lions, in 19OO,19 millions, in 1902, %
millions and in 1908, 24,659,3 1894 pounds,
valued at 81, 516,137.
Gutta-j oolatong is another COM
paratively new material which may
be utilized as substitute for or in
conjunction with India rubber. 1t
is a product of the East Indies,
chiefly the island of Bornee, located
not far from our Philippines. and in
the form in which 1t is imported is
described as ''whitish in color, look
ing something like marshmellow
candy, smelling strongly of petrov
leum, and oxidizing on the expose to
the air, becoming hard" The same
description says: ut is not sub
stitute for gutta-p ercha or India rub
Der, but is used chiefly as filler in
manufactures of India rubber gum,
and gutta-percha." The importation
of this newly developed aid in the
manufacture of India rubber has in
creased from 6 IL million pounds in
1899 to IA million pounds in 1908.
A very large portion of the India
rubber imported into the United
States is produced in Brazil. Over
one-half. of the total is imported
direct from Brazil, while consider
able quantities come from the United
Kingdom, presumably the pro-
ducts of her colonies, and from Bel
GUM, chiefly the product of the Con-
go Free State, which is under the
Belgium Government and it's indus
tries of this character controlled by
the people of that country. Recent
reports received by the Division of
Consular Reports of the Bureau of
Statistics show that experiments in
the East Indies have shown the en-
tire practicability of producing the
best Para Rubber in territory i'm
mediately adjacent to the Philippines
from trees transplanted from South
America, and suggesting the posi-
bility that the Philippine Islands
may in time supply at least part
Of the growing rubber consumption
of the United States.