Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-02-24
atlistellaneuus Beading.
ROMANCE OF RUBBER.
Discovery of vulcanization Involved
Heartbreakins Experience.


Para make light of the Nicaraguan
and Mexican rubber plantations
why cultivate rubber" they say,
when you can go into the forest and
get it?" They declare that millions
of trees in the Amazon basin and the
Congo Free State have never been
tapped and will endure generations.
Nevertheless. the Congo government,
by a decree of February 25, 1899, re-
quires that for every ton Of rubber
taken out annually $50 trees shall be
planted Nicaragua offers a pre-
MUM for the cultivation Of rubber,
and has interdicted the gathering Of
il in the national forest for exporta-
ton. In Peru the "caucheros' have
destroyed so many trees that imports
from Iquique have greatly declined.
In the East Indies restrictive legisla-
ton is general. But, after all, the
question with the planter is whether
cultivation will pay. Such is the de-
mand that he can sell every pound
he produces.
The uses of rubber are illimitable
In Mexico and Central America the
tree grown is the Castilloa elastica OF
the native forest, which flourishes in
a rich but not a wet soil, like the
smaller Hevea brasiliensis Of Anna
zonas. Senior Jose Horta Of the city
of Guatemala, an experienced agri-
culturist, calculates that ten-year"
old plantation will produce double
the amount expended during thac
time" taking into account that for
seven years there is no yield Of milk.
He says that the net annual product
will be much more remunerative than
that which coffee under the best and
most favorable circumstances can
yield. During the seven years Of
waiting he advises the cultivation Of
vanilla simultaneously. a plantation
in Mexico produced in 1899 10000
pounds Of rubber. In the neighbor-
hood Of Bluefelds, Nicaragua, there
are some promising plantations. cur
rent expenses are light, for labor Is
cheap and the trees require little care.
But cash and patience, great deal
of each, are needful for success. Our
department of agriculture, 1t is worthy
of note, is preparing to give its at
tention to the cultivation of rubber
in the Philippines.
The world was long time learning
the uses and value of rubber. For
two centuries after the Spaniards saw
the gum in the hands Of the natives
of the New World it was little more
than a curiosity. Old Herrea, who
went with Columbus on his second
voyage, made note Of an elastic ball
which was nodded from the gum of
a tree. At their games the nude Hey
tians made 1t bound high in air.
The Aztecs were familiar with the
gum and called il ule, and from them
the Spaniards learned to smear 1t on
their coats to keep out the wet. They
had crossed the seas for gold and
never dreamed Of time when the
sticky milk the uncouth Indians drew
from strange trees would be worth
more than all the treasures Of the
hills. con February %, 1899, a ship
carrying a cargo of 1,167 tons Of rub
Der. valued at $2,210,0O0. sailed from
Para for New York, leaving 200 tons
behind on the wharfD Jose, king Of
Portugal in 1855, comes down to us
out to Para to be covered with wa
ter-proof gum. Yet 500 years were
to elapse before a Connecticut Yam
kee should make a pair Of boots of
rubber which would not decompose.
DR.. Priestley, author Of work on
Perspective" recorded that caout-
chouc was useful in small cubes for
rubbing out pencil marks-hence the
name of rubber. The India linked
with it refers to the savages who
gathered it in the Amazon wilderness.
Dr.. Priesley's cubes were half an inch
long and sold for three shillings, or
rs cents, apiece. A stiff price, for the
finest rubber today is dollar pound.
Its price for ten years has ranged
from SO cents to $l.09.
The conversion of the gum to use
full purposes made but slow headway.
The first waterproof cloth in 1897
was the work of an Englishman 1t
was tentative, and of course 1t would
not stand heat. In 1923 Charles Mack
intosh of Glasgow, discovered naph-
tha. and dissolving rubber in it pro-
duced varnish which, when spread on
cloth, made it really impervious to
water. AS late as 1880 the importa-
ton of rubber into England amount
ed only to $4,000 pounds. In 1899 no
in that country, and the consumption
in the United States reached 51.606,-
1877 pounds Most Of the rubber used
in the world still comes from equi-
torial South America, and the forests
where the Indians gathered ule are
as dense today and almost as little
known to white men as in the time of
Cortez.
Rubber has done a good deal for
civilization, and civilization has done
a great deal for rubber, but both are
indebted to Charles Goodyear.
Goodyear was Connecticut Yam
kee, born at Naugatuck, December
29.1SOO; those now living who re-
member him in the flesh knew him as
a frail little man with soulful eyes
and a sympathetic nature. Goodyear,
after devoting the energies of his life
to experiments, discovered vulcaniza-
ton, a process which neutralizes the
adhesiveness Of rubber, while hard
ening it, so that heat does not dissolve
it or cold impair it's elasticity. The
chemists had sought the great secret
in vain. Triumph was reserved for a
man who was always in debt and
sometimes in prison, and occasionally
reduced to the most pitiful shifts to
keep the wolf from the door.
Goodyear was originally hardware
dealer in a small way, but he got in
terested in rubber when it began to
make a stir in the world with the first
importation of shoes from Brazil.
They were soon being made in New
England, but the business tumbled
to ruin when the rubber decomposed
in hot weather and gave out an often
sive odor. No one had a good word
to say for the stuff-it sold for 5 cents
a pound in the general disgust-but
Goodyear, although without money
or credit, set to work to rehabilitate
the reputation Of gum elastic, as he
always called it. He thought Of rub
Der all day and dreamed Of 1t all
night. and it adhered to his hands
and clothing so that they were one
and indivisible. IF you meet man,
said some one who wanted to de-
scribe the inventor. who has on an
India rubber cap. stock, coat, vest and
shoes, with an India rubber purse
without a cent of money in it, that
is Goodyear"
In chasing what seemed to his
friends q will-o'-the- e-wisp Goodyear
was often in the pawnshop. He once
left his umbrella with Cornelius Van
derbilt for some ferry tickets, and at
n1l h oh &.