Evening star., 1917-09-30
eat Changes i'm Rubber industry i'm Past Few Years

same purpose. Another American oom-
pany has s1O.o00,000 invested in rub
ber estates. It has $4,000 employees on
them, and all but zoo Of these receive
a salary of Is cents day. When 1t Is
remembered that tho lowest wage paid
a common laborer in Akron IL 81 cents
an hour the difference In conditions
between Asia and the United States
may be appreciated. Tho Astatio rub
ber coolie works ten hours or more per
hour. while the poorest of the Akron
rubber laborers gets moro than twenty
times as much.
The most of tho rubber plantations
belong to the British and they con-
troll the supply of plantation rubber
through their possession Of the East
Indies. This Is the reason why. up to
the beginning of the war in Europe.
Der market. practically all the crude
rubber being carried in British ships.
In fact, England can dictate to the
world how much rubber each country
may have. She did this soon as the
war broke out. cutting of the supply
of the central powers and placing an
embargo on all crude rubber produced
within British territory. Until we en-
rubber only by depositing bonds in
London through the rubber companies,
that none of our manufa ctures would
go to the Germans, and this notwith-
ceiving something like s150.000,000 for
the crude rubber brought into the
United states. 1 understand that these
bonds have since been returned. The
Sumatra. which belongs to the Dutch.
will. to a certain extent. relieve us of
our dependence on Great Britain. Other
countries are starting similar move
ments. and especially the japanese, who
have done a great deal in rubber since
the war began. The Japanese have lat
plantations on the island Of Johore, op-
posite Singapore. and these cover more
Cultivation Company. a japanese firm.
was established last year with $1,000
600 capital. The Dutch have many
plantations in Sumatra and Java. and
they have large tracts of land in Bor-
neo and other islands which will grow
excellent rubber.
The story of how the rubber indus
try was freed from the domination of
Brazil Is interesting. The manufacture
of rubber goods on a more or less eX-
tensive scale is sixty years old. and
for forty and more of these years Brazil
controlled the markets of the world.
The prices went up and up, and when
the automobiles came in with their
great demand for tires there was a
rubber famine and the price of crude
rubber rose to more than SO pound.
When l was in the Amazon valley it
was something like a dollar a pound,
and the difference between this and
the cost of plantation rubber may be
known when. as I have said. one of
our companies can now produce it in
Sumatra for II cents a pound.
The Brazilians appreciated that they
mad a good thing in their rubber trees
and for long time they prevented the
seeds of these trees being taken out
OF the country. An agent Of the gov
ernment of India was sent to Brazil.
twice. but was finally able to ship a
large quantity in especially designed
baskets by labelling them rare bo-
tanical specimens. The seeds were sent
10 Ceylon and there planted by thou
sands The most of them failed to
sprout and only three matured and
grew into Hevea trees. From those
three seeds came the rubber estates
which now produce three-fourths of
all the worlds product. The amount
last year was more than 300.000.00o
pounds, and it can be so increased that
1t can supply all the demands Of the
world OF the future. The development
or the plantations was slow. The
seeds were taken from Brazil forty
that 1000 acres had been planted. Five
years later the number of acres was
$4,000 and this has now risen to almost
100000.
There are altogether seventy different
KINDS OF crude rubber. The most valu-
able is the Hevea. which comes through
Para. and of which the plantation rub
Der is the descendant. Another grade is
that from the vines or creepers OF
Africa. 1t is gathered by the negroes
OF the kongo, much as on the Amazon,
and it is smoked the same way. 1t
comes to the market in strings rolled
in balls OF various sizes. This rubber is
much less valuable than the Hevea or
plantation rubber. The same is true
of the Guayule rubber, which comes
from a shrub on the desert table lands
of Mexico.
FRANK G. CARPENTER.