The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-03-13
LONDON PEOPLE
 ARE RUBBER MAD Worlds Supply Is Far Below
 the Demand SOME WILD SPECULATION Plans for Reception of Theodore Roose- welt Are Going Forward Rap- idIy-Indian Cotton Produce tion Is Being Increased
SOME WILD SPECULATION

exchange craze which has not been
 equaled since the days of the Kaffirs
 boom has set in. which has sent the price
 of rubber shares kiting and have made | hundreds of quick fortunes on paper.
 The reason Is simple. The supply of
 rubber is not equal to the demand and prices of the raw article. have increased
 2s Sd two years ago to about Ss I'd now.
 According to the speculators the world
 wants all the rubber it can get. The
 present areas of supply, though large,
 are not nearly large enough. The for
 ests of Brazil cannot cope with the de- 'mand. Ceylon, Maylay, Java, Borneo,
 Sumatra, must be ransacked. A thousand
 companies with limited liabilities, of
 course), must, if necessary, be formed to
 do the work. and it is the shares of these
 companies that afford the medium of the
 wild speculation.
 Today the rubber market at the stock
 exchange presents a babel of confusion l Spectators crowd into it's 40-feet square | until there is not even standing room. l Companies achieve existence with the
 rapidity of mushrooms. By the score they
 arise, and some have already declared | huge dividends.
 Nothing seems impossible when the | price of the raw material shows so big | @ margin over the cost of production l Widows bitten with the fascination sink | their mites in plantations with outand- l ish names in lands hitherto unheard of l by them. Two firms of dealers are credi- | ited with having made R100,0O0 apiece out of the boom. Dozens of smaller men are | making more than ever they made in their lives before. AS for the public, their demand for shares is overwhelming. Those who had and sold a few months back are clamor- ing to buy again. for twice as much if necessary. What though the estate be in Ceylon or Brazil? It matters not to them.
 Many will doubtless find that they have bought shares in property which has never seen and never will see a rubber tree. But they heed not caution. Tell them that in two years the worlds rubber supply will be doubled and the value of their shares be halved and they will reply that the worlds demand will in the same time increase twofod. Nevertheless, many brokers are now refusing to advise the purchase of any particular share, even though that often means loss of business. They frankly confess that they do not even recognize the weird names, much less the nature of the companies whose shares their | clients, are anxious to buy. But rubber 1 is a magic word now. It is difficult to | hold back even the most wary.
 | The rush to apply for shares in the new companies has led to curious incl dents. At one bank queue of 20 mpa- 1 tfent applicants waited while the patient | cashier showed raw countryman where | to sign his name. Just as the operation | was successfully finished 8 messenger hurried from the managers office with | large board, List closed.n The cashier declined to accept any more applications, and the disappointed score of spectators glared at the countryman who had caused the fatal delay as though they would rend him to pieces. For the shares were 12s. Cd. premium in the market. Plans for the reception of former Pres ident Roosevelt are being carried forward with enthusiasm. It is definitely decided that the city of London will tender him a formal Guidhall reception parade and all and will present him the freedom of the city in a golden casket I under stand that MT. Roosevelt has consented to the arrangements so far as they have been made.
 Alfred Vanderbilt is considering the question of changing the route which his coach will take to Brighton in the coming season. Hitherto it has run via Relgate, but the suggestion under consideration is that it should traverse the districts of Epson. Leatherhead, Miclsleham and Dorlxing, going thence by way of Hor- sham. Efforts are being made by some of the towns on the suggested alternative route to induce MT Vanderbilt to make the change and there is a prospect that he may do so. The coach would then pass through some of the prettiest Surrey scenery.
 The baronets have got their way at last, and the impostors are to be weeded out. Four years ago the real baronets protested against the sham baronets who had succeeded in climbing into the baron- etage over the wall and not through the proper gate. They got committee ap- pointed and now the King has issued a royal warrant to safeguard their status There is to be a roll of baronets, and no one who does not satisfy king-of-arms can be described as baronet on any of- ficial document without successful ap- peal to the highest legal authority. Quite a lot of baronets will be turned down.
 MT. A. Schmidt, secretary of the Inter- national Cotton Federation, in a report which he has issued on his recent visit to India, states that Indian experts con- fidently assert that the annual cotton crop of India could be increased In four or five years to 100000 bales. or nearly double the existing crop, an increase which would have a powerful influence in checking American speculation All the conditions are favorable, and recent efforts to improve the quality of East In- dian cotton have been very satisfactory. MT. Schmidt recommends the establish ment in India of buying agencies similar to those in Africa that more seed farms be established by the government; that the agricultural banks be increased; that export duty on cotton grown in most of the native states be abolished. and that some of the additional capital which the British Cotton Growing association is en- deavoring to obtain be used in develop ing the great resources of India as a cot ton growing country.
 In a case in the divorce court in which Mai Charles Spencer Hall. late of the Oxford Light infantry, obtained the dis solution of his marriage with Mrs. Mary Madeline Hall, an interesting side light was obtained as tc American divorce law. It appears that the lady. who has $50,000 a year, while the husbands in come was s2500, obtained an American domicile and was granted a divorce at Rhode Island in June, 1908, on the ground of neglect to provide
 As MT. Grazebrook who represented Major Hall, said while it seemed that the ground of Mrs. Halls divorce at Rhode Island "nerlect to provide.' was a good | one there, it was a little bit of a farce when her income was considered.
 Lost-On last Thursday, on South 10th street car line, two