Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-08-03
WHAT ABOUT THE RUBBER SUP,
PLY2

:
PLY2
How many of our Semi-Weekly read
ers can give information as to where
the United States of America and the
world at large gets it's supply of rubber
for commercial purposes? A late mag
azine article interested me deeply on
this subject. 1t informed me that the
chief rubber port of the world is Para,
at the mouth of the Amazon river, in
South America. There are scorcs of
rubber camps in the wood of Brazil,
and Para is the chief shipping place for
rubber, Brazil nuts and other Amazon
products. Ships from Europe and the
United states thyong the harbor, bring
ing supplies for workers in these Anna
zon wilds. The ships are loaded at
Para for their return trips. The vessels
are largely loaded by negro porters.
They carry these little black looking
hams into immense rubber warehouses,
where they are sorted. These little
black hams are all rubber, and the raw
ma terial goes in that shape to foreign
markets. There is a smoky smell about
these warehouses. and when the rubber
hams are cut into. to see if they are
o. X, they look like layers Of dirty
cheese on the inside, with smoky
streaks. These hams are packed in pine
boxes and labeled to New York, to HAM
VI ASOhuOAF
This product Is said to come from one
or two varieties of the rubber tree and
scattered all over those Amazon low
grounds They are not found in clusters,
but scattered most promiscuously. There
are more than 1000 miles. on level
lands, where the rubber sap is taken
from su6h trees. and 1t is the hardened
rubber sap that is collected from rub
Der trees, that is marketed in the shape
III In, he
upper reaches of the Amazon the best
rubber is gathered. The negroes do the
hard work and collect the rubber juice.
These rubber trees are not at all like
the rubber plants that we see in hot
houses.
They are giant trees resembling some
what the English gray ash trees, and
| the rubber comes from the juice Of such
trees. The process Of getting out rub
Der consists in tapping a tree, collecting
the Juice and in evaporating the water
until only crude rubber is left Slight
gashes are made in the rubber tree-cut-
ting the bark, but not the woody part. A
cash will start milky white tears that
ooze out of the bark. Below the cash
tin cup is fastened to catch such milky
tears, something like rosin Is caught in
southern Georgia from gashed pine sap
lings. The rubber gatherers say the
milk flows more freely In the morning.
To secure the choicest rubber. these
milky tears must be evaporated the same
day that the juice is gathered. Second
hand rubber is gathered from old drip
pings These tears are evaporated over
a fire. The hardened Juice is collected
on paddles used in stirring the mixture.
When the rubber is laid on in frequent
paddle layers by constant use of paddle.
then there is slit made in one side and
the wooden paddle is extricated. Thus
the little smoky hams are shaped in the
native country of the best rubber prod
ucts.
The use of rubber in automobile man.
ufacture has largely augmented the use
and price of rubber in this country.
This Amazon country is largely aborig-
inal country at this time, but rubber
prices are sure to advance, and the rub
Der trade ere long will put this Amazon
section on well-defined maps. The cele-
brated River of Doubt will not be
doubtful when rubber comes into its
own! .
The one article of rubber overshoes Is
well known in prosperous commercial
centers. We used to call all rubber I'm
dia rubber" Perhaps the earliest rub
Der juice was collected in the East In
dies, before the western continent was
discovered. In my early days all rubber
was called india rubber" But South
America is the rubber country of the
world today, and Para, port at the
mouth of the Amazon River, is its great
est port of delivery.