Evening star., 1923-02-18
BY BEN afcKELwAY.

VERY time an automobile tire
* expires with a bang and
i swheeze, the owner, distress
fully surveying the ruin, be-
comes intensely interested In rubber.
II the price Of g. new tire Is normal,
his interest is momentary. If a new
one costs twice what he paid for the
old one, he wants to know why. That
Is one reason a forthcoming investi-
cation OF rubber and its sources of
supply, to be made jointly by the De-
partments of Commerce and Agri-
culture, deserves more than passing
comment. The price Of automobile
tires has not yet doubled. But the
price of rubber is going up and
situation far more important than
what automobile tires are going to
cost has developed. 1t concerns not
merely the price Of rubber, but In
wolves the question of future supply
and whether the United States. using
20 pr cent of the worlds pro-
duction, Is to depend hereafter on
foreign nation or whether it can
produce Independently enough of
this important commodity to supply
its own fast-growing demand.
British Control supply.
The situation. very briefly. is this:
Great Britain, whose colonial posses
sions produce the greater part of
the worlds rubber, has enacted laws
to limit production, first, in order to
reduce a surplus of crude rubber,
secondly, to restore market price
that went to smash with over-pro-
duction during and immediat tely fol-
zn
plished both, and now the American
manufacturer who uses this rubber
Is paying nearly doubly what he
paid a few months ago and is facing
shortage which may send the price
sky high. That is what led to budget
bureau last week to place its ap-
proval on an appropriation for an
investigation out of which may come
new era in the rubber world.
The story behind this crisis in rub
Der Is as short AS it is sweet, and
worth the telling
Before the automobile came into ex-
istence the world got along very COM
! fortably on about $4,000 tons of rub
Der year. Virtually all of this came
from Brazil and Peru, where the rub
Der tree grows wild. II was a difficult
proposition to get this rubber. but
the srNall scale on which II was pro-
! duced enabled the growers to meet
/! the situation. The practice was for a
rubber explorer TO blaze his way
through the jungles of the Amazon
and locate about 100 rubber trees.
These were enough to furnish sup
ply to compensate him for the trou-
BILE. The big job was to get the rub
] Der TO the outside world and to do
this trails were cut through the jun
giles from the rubber trees to the
nearest point where civilization sup
piled better methods of transporta-
tion.
Took Seeds Out of Brazil.
In 1870 an English scientist, II. A.
Wickham, roaming around South
America. secured, under protest from
! the Brazilian government, some rub
| Der tree seeds and sailed for Eng
| land. There they were grown under
glass to seedlings, and these seed
| lines. and these seedlings were sent
1 out to Ceylon, where they were plant
! ed, more for an experiment than any
! thing else. The seedlings hourlshed
j and spread to Malaga and the Dutch
| East indies. The British government
watched the experiment closely and
! from Mr. Wickham's seeds, taken out
of Brazil, sprang the rubber planta-
! tions which today produce more, than
95 per cent of the worlds supply.
| In 1904 the British rubber planta-
! tjons produced four tons of rubber.
In 1913 they furnished Al per cent of
| the worlds supply. By 1914 they pro-
duced "a per cent, ana In lS2O 81 per
Meanwhile the automobile was be-
| ing perfected. The demand for rub
! ber grew with the production of more
automobiles. 1t has been said that
before the automobile the world sup
uiy Of rubber was around $4,000 tons
annually In 1922 the supply was
about $4,000 tons and the estimated
demand for 1923 is approximately
100000 tons.
! Expanded Under War Demand.
The automobile justified the expan-
sion in the rubber plantations and
they managed to produce enough rub
ber to keep all hands happy. The
wars demand led to further expan-
sion, new paintings and intensive
methods of hurrying along the growth
Of trees for production. The booming
year following the war kept eating
up the rubber as soon as it was
grown-and then came the smash.
! Business slowed down, demand for
rubber in it's chief market, the United
States lessened. And with the plan
tations still producing rubber at full
speed ahead the price began to drop.
/ BY the end of 1920 the price of rub
| Der had gone down to 20 cents a
pound and under, when the mere cost
| OF raising a pound Of rubber and put
| ting it on a boat for shipment is Is
cents a pound. Stored in the ware
| houses Of London and Liverpool were
| $1,000 tons Of raw rubber waiting a
buyer. Things looked bright for the