Los Angeles herald., 1910-08-12

1909, had as little to do with 1t as
had the movement of the tides.
I'm 1902 the price of fine Para rub
ber was 20 cents a pound; in April,
1910, the price reached SO a pound, the
present price being about $40 a
pound If the price has been affected
at all by the product of the Inter
Continental Rubber company ana the
other kindred rubber producing com
panies it has been to impede the ao-
vance by furnishing a new source OF
supply.
"Crude rubber is, and has been. on
the free list of our tariff, and there
has been no movement or suggestion
from any source to place it on the du-
table list. If this important raw ma
teriaI. which competes with no do
mestic product, should be placed upon
the dutiable list, the duty would clear
ly be added to the cost of the rubber
to the manufacturer or the consumer,
and would not affect the producer,
whose price clearly would still be con-
trolled by the market price of the
world.
SAYS STATEMENT RIDICULOUS
"Of all the ridiculous statements
made by the Kansas senator, none is
quite so ridiculous as that in Whlch
he states the Inter Continental Rubber
company absolutely controls the crude
rubber supply The worlds produc-
tion of crude rubber in 1909 was about
175, 100000 pounds, of which the United
States took about 93,000,OO0 pounds. The
production of the Inter-Continental
Rubber company and it's subordinate
companies was about 10,OO0OOO pounds,
or less than 6 per cent of the whole.
GAS l have already stated, the Inter-
Continental Rubber company has never
had any relation with the other pro-
ducers and has never controlled, or at
tempted to control, or influence the
production or the price of crude rub
ber ANY one who has ordinary in
telligence must understand how futile
such an attempt would have been, If
made.
"To say the advance which took place
from month to month in the price of
crude rubber throughout the world,
from zoe in 1902 to SO in 1910, was owing
to an unimportant increase of from 80
to 80 per cent, in August, 1909, on i'm
portations affecting less than per cent
i'm value of the total product of rubber,
displays a depth of ignorance which
has rarely been reached.
DECLARES CLAIM UNTRUE
1.-THE claim that this same change
Of from 80 to 35 per cent enabled
party who never had any interest
whatever or any Connection with any
one engaged in the manufacture OF
rubber, to advance the price of all
rubber products, and to make enormous
profits out of such advances, discloses
a marvellous aptitude for fiction in mar
ratiVe.
"As to the dividends paid by the In
Continental Rubber company on Its
preferred stock in the early months of
this present year, | will say that these
were deferred payments of cumulative
dividends; deferred, as the earnings or
the company had heretofore been
used in the development of it's business.
Not one mill of the earnings from
which dividends were paid could be
attributed as / have already stated,
to the tariff of the United States, or to
any change in tariff rates.
1.-THE change in the tariff on manu-
factures of rubber not otherwise pro-
vided for, from 80. to S5 per cent, in
paragraph 463, was not made or rec
commended for protective purposes, or
at the instance of, or for the benefit of,
any domestic manufacturer. 1t was
made upon the recommendation of the
treasury, experts, solely for adminis-
trative purposes.
AMERICANS CONTROLLED MARKET
"The fact is that at the time the
tariff act was passed the American
for most classes of goods
had undisputed control of the Ameri-
can market, and in a number of cases
the domestic producer was able to ex-
port some portion of his product to
other countries.
''The statistics submitted by the
finance committee to the senate in
A prl, 1909, showed a value of manu-
factured products in the country in
1904 of $148,v.O,OOO and exports in 1907