The Washington herald., 1912-10-13
WITH PARA RUBBER GA THERERS ON AMAZON;
SEREING GUEIROS, THE LABORERS IN THE FIELD
Rubber Supply Of Brazil Can Be Increased Greatly
but General Agriculture Is Needed to Feed
the Workers in the Forest
By JAMES y. MORROW.

SllO vvV1 ACI
q BY JAMES =. MORROW.
Three years ago crude Para rubber o
the best quality vas worth $40 . pound
Or $500 . ton. A carload. therefore, va
valued 1t $4,000 London. always easel
for speculative opportunities In distan
regions, went rubber mad. Shares wert
svidiously sought in Ceylon estates
mostly wild land yet to be planted.
Forests. too. were purchased In Brazil
. and amateurs undertook their manage.
mint. Thus more money. belonging In
lost the moment II was invested. Also
rubber plunked In price. Quotations fell
on more than one-half Poetry went out
Of the business Romance vanished. But
the saving OF British shiliings went on
for yet another journey to the land OF
visions.
The supply OF rubber In the open mar
ket was reduced to about 800 tons durins
the year 1soe." George H. Pickereil. the
forcefui and euthusia site American con-
sui At Para. told me. prospective PLAN
tations at Ceylon were hastily plotted on
paper and sold to . ciamOring public.
There were only q few hundred acres
Of rubber trees on the island In lsss:
Nov there are said to be hundreds OF
thousands OF acres. The boom, then. did
considerable good after all But rubber ID
, a waiting and a growing proposition.
Trees should not be tapped until they
are about ten years old The English
spectators of 1903. I dare say. lost good
share Of their money.
''Plantations-tust wild trees In the
woods-were also bought In Brazil. They
had paid their native owners q good
profit. as returns are measured in that
country. The old owners understood the
hazards and intricacies Of the business
how to deal with the workers In the for
ests, how to buy supplies on credit and
how TO sell their product. Fine young
men came out from Ensland to superin-
tend the plantations. They were unac-
quainted with the problems of the ANA
1on River. the character Of the people
md the perils and secrets Of the rubber
:rade.
Brasflians Didn't Cheat Them.
"A plantation that had produced one
hundred tons of rubber dwindled to ten
tons and even less. Complaint was heard
In London that the Braxilians had trick
ed their English customers. The charge
was utterly groundless. blacksmith
can't build a house: q carpenter can't
shoe q horse. Rubber gathering. along
the Amazon. at any rate, is a complicated
enterprise.
Crude rubber went down In price from
H.l0 a pound on the wharves at Para
to Sl.3o Vessel owners going up the
river and buying rubber on the old basis
Of value. found themselves bankrupts. In
fact. when they returned with their car
goes. Para. financially. was on the brink
of ruin. Two thousand and four hum
dred tons Of rubber came out Of the for
ests and was piled up in the warehouses
along the banks Of the river. On the
face Of the market quotations. II showed
a loss Of 81. % pound. or a total shrink
age OF $6.O0o.000. The government. fortu-
nateiy. authorized the National Bank OF
Brazil to help the rubber producers and
merchants ride the storm. Indeed. the
government assumed most Of the burden.
All In all. It lost about S5,oeocoo. but 1t
saved Para. It's ship owners. brokers.
and planters.
The worlds production Of rubber now
amounts to 10000 tons annually. Para
shipped a. 90. tons during the year ending
June 30. 1912. A little more than one-half
Of II came to the United States Akron,
in Ohio. Is the largest rubber manufac-
turing center. either in Europe or Amer
lea. Not only does Para. containing
population Of $4,000. supply a larger guam
tity OF rubber than any other ship
ping point on earth. but the quality Of
it's rubber is acknowledged everywhere
to be the finest in the world. In Cey-
ION. FuODcT 10 TOhcu poie~NoaoaSe
sheets called blanket crepe; in Brazil It
is made into huge black balls. The
United States during the frenxied year
Of lsoe paid out $el.ooo for rubber.
half of which was used for automobile
tires
Streets Paved with Rubber.
Such in rough mathematics. is the
status Of one of the most important Of
modern industries. Yet 1t began. one
might say. during the second voyage or
Columbus, when Herrera noticed the ma
tives Of Hayti playing with halls made
Of strange and lively substance. The
Spaniards afterward put the juice OF the
rubber tree on their clothing to render 1t
waterproof.
Rubber was first used In England to
erase lead pencil marks from paper.
Now II IL mixed with sand and cement
and manufactured into noiseless paving
blocks for city streets. Back in 1857.
Para exported 1.S10 tons OF rubber to
London, where II was turned into shoes.
To-day II is used for a hundred other
purposes. The electrical trade couldn't
get along without 1t. The Brazilian gov
ernment. consequently. performed a val
liable service when II took money from
the treasury and saved the industry from
a disaster that would have temporarily
closed the forests and paralyzed the
trade here and in Europe.
The rubber territory of Para extends
westward for 1000 miles to the foothills
Of the Andes Mountains. Most Of the
trees are wild. More than $4,000 trees.
however. were planted last year. Mr.. E.
c. Benedict. the New York banker, who
was nationally conspicuous one time be-
cause Of his friendly relations with
Grover Cleveland. together with his as
sociates. have put out 5000 trees not far
from the city OF Para. He means to
crow and gather rubber scientifically and
economically not as q speculative ad-
venture. but AZ q serious and permanent
business undertaking.
The rubber supply Of Brazil can be
very greatly increased. There is plenty
Of land but general agriculture IL need
ed to feed the workers in the forests.
The uses of rubber. II the price were
lowered. would he multiplied in all d.
rections. It seems to me that rubber
culture-by culture ] do not mean stock
seiling-offers a good opportunity for the
investment Of capital There are trees
in Brazil that have been producing latex.
or Juice. for more than century.
Even Trees Become "Tired."
In well-kept seringaes. which Is the
native word for rubber plantations, trees
are tapped every third season. They
get tired as the saying goes II they
are used every year. One hundred tons
Of rubber is an exceptionally large pro-
duction for q single forest. Such . guam
tity would indicate that the owners had
turned over about $4,000 during the
course 0f the season. Amaxonian plant
A. v,ha ,,nAAr~tand THAR b,,aineas are