Durango semi-weekly herald., 1905-10-26
Saturdays Rubber Meeting

urday afternoon. too late for The Her
aid 10 report that evening, while not
as largely attended AS 1t should have
been, developed more OF Interest 10
the industrial people than could have
been hoped for The history OF the
rubber industry. as discussed by MT
Dunbar. must present a volume OF In
terest to almost any one who reads.
and the following. which embraces the
abstract of the discussion, should be
preserved by the farmers or any VINO
may engage in kindred Industry
Mr.. Chairman. Ladies and Gentlemen
[ nave undertaken to give sou 1T
lie informal talk this afternoon on
rubber. When ! was little school
boy | remember my idea Of history
was a lot of hard stun that started
ont with America was discovered In
1892 by Christopher Columbus. ma.
tive OF Genoa. Italy. sailing In the ser.
vice OF the king and queen of Spain.
We have got TO start our history
of rubber with Christopher Columbus.
TOO. | trust that what follows wont
he all hard stun" OF all the trees
and plants that the discoveries Of the
latter part Of the fifteenth century
brought to the notice Of scientists OF
Europe from far-off America. none has
had more far-reaching and Import.
ant influence than that of the rubhre
tree. Columbus. who was man well
In advance of the scientific spirit OF
the time, was impressed with it's i'm
portance and mentioned the gum In
his reports to his king. hut the world
was not vet ready for the rubber are
and II was not still three centuries
had passed that this wonderful discov-
cry bore fruit. There had been the
stone age, the copper age, the iron
age was Just in its incipiency. and
the rubber age. although conceived
perhaps by few like Columbus, was
as yet unborn. This now is the rub.
her age. aud we are all rubberihg.
Rubber enters into the daily life OF
every one present 1t Is factor frrm
birth to death Think of this a min.
ute. You nurse as babe from a rub
Der nipple. or II wise Providence has
provided "a natural substitute, YOU NJ
least console Yourself during the
intervals that the governor of South
Carolina mentioned to the governor
of North Carolina with that rubber
soother of babes known as the all-day
sucker. As you grow older YOU use
rubber rattle OF rubber ball aud
1utap nu nf "a t-,th1,ar na.l
Your suspenders and garters are oil
rubber. 80 perhaps are your boot
heels, YOUR bicycle, II YOU are unfor
tunatc enough 10 have one. or your an
tomobilo. II YOU are fortunate enough
TO have one runs on rubber tires. You
wear rubber boots TO keep your fec,
dry and have a rubber coat to always
leave at home when II rains. Your
doctor bandages your sprained %.
with rubber bandage. your DENTS,
Nils the root cavity with rubber
plug, makes rubber plate for yoi,i
china teeth. and II he has to keep ths
moisture out while he is filling tooln
he uses rubber dam. I have noticed
that the rubber kind is not the only
dam that is used In the dentists
chair, by the way, And so ii goes
even after death you can not get away
from the rubber man, for the doctor
that conducts the post mortem wears
rubber gloves, If he is wise, or gets
blood poisoning il he isn't.
II You consider what | have just
been telling you, yon will not wonde
that the importation of rubber gum
has Increased from two millions o,
pounds in 1862 to 75 millions of
pounds last year. Sevepty-fve mil.
lions of pounds. Just think of 1t. a
pound apiece for every person In the
United States. And not only that, tLe
price has gone up from 10 cents in
1862 to sl.35 in 1905 for cleaned snl
dry Para gum. And the end is moi
yet. To go back to our history a
little, In 1886 a Spaniard with an un,
pronounceable name reported tnat the
natives of America played a game
called batos with balls of the gum OF
II tree. Two hundred years later. IN
1875, French scientist named La
'he' ihoue stuuN Oh tne gum
III Peru, and told OF the natives mal.
ing bottles from II and also pear.
shaped bottles in the ends of which
'hey Inserted wooden tubes. so THAI
ON hlling the bottles with liouid .
smart pressure on the bottle threw out
stream OF the liquid. From this
likeness to the European syringe tho
Tree was called sirinsa and the csthu,.
ers oi the gum are still called sir,ns
arios. La Condimine also stated ,ba
'he natives used the gum for shoe.
ana clothes to make them waterproof
scientific discoveries work out slow
ly, and In spite OF the facts mention
ed by La Condimine. il was not til |
l''z mat II was found that the gun,
was useful to rub out pencil marks |
ana was sold in London under the
name OF india rubber and in Paris foe
tue same purpose as peau de nerru
Or nigger-slSin. Abont 1850 there wa,
considerable talk about mineral rub
Der, Just as there Is the same kind
'i talk now in the Utah newspapers
'hd a noted French chemist showed
mem what the Utah people will short
ma out. that rubber and asphal.
tn, hf.I - l.