The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-12-22
AS TO RUBBER


view of the advance in prices and the
growing demand for the product, that
4he figures prepared by the Depart
r,ent of Commerce and Labor regard
inc. the quantity and value Of rubber
,mported into the United states dur
sng the current year and for several
years past, viii anticipate common
local inquiry. These figures show that
n both quantity and value the imports
of the year about to end will probably
exceed those of any earlier year Inc
largest importation in any complete
asca1 year is 55,250,0o0 pounds in the
fiscal year 1901, and the highest value
IN anv earlier year is s31, 707,630 IN 1883.
the calendar year about TO end, how
eyer. the indications are that the guam
5ttv imported will reach 10000, ooo
mounds and the value more than saw
eoN. GOO. In the ten months ending with
October the quantity of crude rubber
imported is practically 5oOoO,O0o pounds,
or, to be exact, 49,s51,326 pounds, and
the value was s34,315,1SO.
In the latest month for which figures
are available, October, the quantity I'M
ported was 5,s97,9s pounds, and the
value SO. $50, $40: so that if the figures
of October are an index to the pros
pective figures for November and De
eeuber. it seems likely that the total
quantity of india. rubber imported dur
ing the calendar year will reach 6o,eoe'-
600 pounds, and the value exceed $4o'-
10000.
In addition to this, sundry substitutes
for crude rubber are, in very recent
years. being brought in in large guam
titles. "Gutta joolatong," or East In
dian gum" a product of Borneo. which
is used in conjunction with india rab-
her in certain lines of manufacture, has
in recent years been imported in rapid
ly increasing quantities. The rapid IN
crease in it's use is indicated by the
fact that the quantity imported into
the country had been so small that the
Bureau of Statistics made no separate
record of it prior to 1899, when only
600. 900 pounds were recorded as hav-
ing been imported. In 1900 the quanti-
ty was S,7o1,7 pounds; in 1908, 1884
s17 pounds, and in the ten months OF
the present calendar year for which
figures are available the quantity i'm
ported was 1926. sol pounds.
Under modern methods much of the
india rubber used in shoes, garments, +
and otherwise may now be recovered
and by certain processes made fit for
further use, and the extent to which
this is nov being done is indicated by
the fact that the importations of odd
and scrap rubber fit only for remanu- /
facture,' which amounted in 1894 to !
less than 100000 pounds. were in the
fiscal year 1904 over 20,OOO,0O0 pounds.
While Brazil furnishes much larger
share of the rubber imported into the
United States than does any other
country, the share that country con-
tributes of the grand total of our inn ,,
ports of that article is probably not
so large as generally supposed. The
figures of the Bureau of Statistics show
that of the 1885,, 1926 pounds of crude
india rubber imported into the United
states during the ten months ending
with october, 1904. 2s.2s2.456 pounds
came from Brazil, while Africa, Central
America, certain other of the South
American countries, and the East indies
the remainder. Practically all
of the rubber which originated in Afri-
ca came by way of Europe, being ac-
credited to various European countries,
though of course in no case produced
in those countries.
The reports of the Bureau of Statis-
tics credit the United Kingdom with
over 6 Ooo. 600 pounds and other Euro
pean countries with over 100000
Mounds. none of which of course was
produced in those countries, since in
dia rubber is solely a tropical product
Most of the 100000 pounds credited
TO Europe comes from the African colo
MES of certain European countries,
though in some cases from colonies in
the East Indies.
The rapid growth in the importation
and use of india rubber in the United
states is shown by the following table,
which gives the quantity and value OF
rubber imported at fve-year intervals
from 1874 to 1903:
IMPORTS OF INDIA RUBBER AND
GUTTA-PEECHA,C CRUDE, INTO
THE UNITED STATES AT QUIN-
QUENNIAL PERIODS. 1874 TO
1904.
Fiscal year Quantity Nalue,
Pounds. Dollars
1s74 IA. 191. $40 e.196. 72s
1S-o S4S.5s4 6.06S, 0S
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