Los Angeles herald., 1910-10-11
RUBBER PROFITS
REVEALED IN SUIT
Contest at GuayuIe Factories at
San Antonio Show Net Re-
Ceipts $1,000 a Ton
SHRUB GROWS WILD AS WEED
Court PIeadings Testify That Two
Plants Clear 100000
in Seven Months
SHRUB GROWS WILD AS WEED
rsnecial to The Herald

SAN ANTONIO, Tex, Oct. 10.-In-
teresting facts relative to the produc-
tion of rubber in the San Antonio
country have been developed in the
law suit of Otto Koehler of this city
against William H Stayton of New
York, president of the Texas Rubber
company and the Big Ben Manufac-
turing company. These two corpora
tions are allies and do an immense
business. The suit involves certain
contracts and the ownership of stock
representing several hundred thousand
dollars. In the proceedings 1t was
brought out that each ton of rubber
manufactured and sold by these con-
Germs showed a clean profit of nearly a
thousand dollars.
The rubber is made from shrub
called the Guayule plant. This plant
grows about eighteen inches in height
with a spread of equal dimensions The
leaf is long, narrow and light colored
with veins running to the top of it.
Above the plant are numerous lesser
stems that bloom and bear seed. 1t
flourishes best at an elevation of about
5000 feet and is found in great pro-
fusion along the low, rocky hills and
the high tablelands of the upper Rio
Grande in Brewster and Pecos counties.
The plant is gathered by Mexican
laborers, who pull the shrub up. 1t is
baled in the field like hay and hauled
to the factories. Here after careful in
spection it is put into a machine that
cuts it into powder resembling saw
dust.
RISES LIKE SCUM
This powder is then transferred to
the pebble mill, which is a revolving
drum containing over a hundred thou
sand pounds of flint pebbles about the
size of an egg. Water is added and
the whole mass is revolved for several
hours. The macerated pulp is then
transferred to a large vat, where chem
icals are added and the water heated
The rubber rises to the top in a sort
of scumlike molasses. This Is taken
off and carried to the cleaning depart
ment, where all impurities are removed.
The rubber is then pressed into sheets
and cut in sizes generally six inches
square by two feet long.
The rubber is then busted with soap
stone and wrapped In cloth and nailed
in boxes to fit 1t. The shrub delivered
at the factory costs about $35 a ton.
The factories run night and day, en-
ploying about 200 men, mostly Mexi-
cans. The factories are known as one
drum, two drum and three drum, and
their output varies according to the
number of drums used.
Some idea of the profit may be
gauged by the fact that in this suit II
is stated that between the first of last
November and the first Of May the two
plants mentioned above cleared over
100000 from manufactured rubber.
The enormous consumption of rubber
in othe United States, due to the ex-
tensive use Of automobiles and the in
PRODUCTION Of rubber into other COM
mercial uses, has already made large
advance in the price of rubber. AS
this price is steadily rising, the profits
of the despised Guayule plant that five
years ago was considered a noxious
weed and was burned up and grubbed
up by the ranchmen will be largely
increased. The Guayule shrub also
grows extensively in northern Mexico,
and there are a number of large rubber
factories in that country.