Evening star., 1925-08-23
PHILIPPINES OFFER CURB
ON MONOPOLY In RUBBER
Island Output Rated at 10000 Tons Annu-
ally in U. S. Report-Expert
There Says 100000.

Tn its effort to shake itself free of
the British rubber monopoly,
America is turning toward the
Philippine Islands. The rubber
producing possibilities of the is
aands is the subject of a report re-
Gently made public by the Department
of Commerce. which holds that under
Favorable conditions an annual maxi
anum output of 10000 tons could be
produced there. The United States
Today imports about SAC, 900 tons of
rubber.
But from the director of the Phil
5ppine Forestry Bureau, Arthur
Fischer. comes a criticism that the
estimates of the Department of Com
snerce experts are entirely too small.
1le insists that the maximum potentiaf
crude rubber possibilities of the is
lands Is 100000 tons annually, a
Vastly different figure.
Would Destroy Monopoly.
The discrepancy in the estimates,
however, is not of such vital impor-
tance as the fact that the Philippine
Islands are the potential source of
rubber in such quantities as would
make 1t impossible for the British
or any other nation to continue a
monopoly of the crude rubber trade to
the detriment of the American man
NtacturerS, as they have done and
are doing, forcing the price of rub
her to undreamed-o d-of-heightS through
The restriction of rubber production In
the British colonies in the East Indies.
Rubber has become one of the basic
raw materials of industry in this
country, which uses about rs per cent
Of the rubber production of the world.
IT is a. long stretch from Ceylon, for
example, to the end of a lead pencil
in little red schoolhouse in the
United States. but rubber has made it.
The tremendous increase in the au-
tomobile industry has given the rub
ber trade an impetus almost over
might. The American manufacturing
industry is looking for fields of rubber
production not controlled by foreign
powers, and the government Is add
ing 1t. In its report on Philippine pos
Eibilities the Department of Com
Inerce, declaring 10000 tons could be
ADroduced there, adds that in the south
eastern portion of the islands about
100000 acres are suitable for rub
ber raising.
Making World Survey.
The report marks the completion of
another stage in the departments s
worldwide survey of the rubber situ-
dllOlls 10 IlOnlHS ago at Ine
instance of Congress and the trades.
when it became apparent that the
legaHzed restriction of the plantation
rubber output in British possessions
might menace American consumers.
In recent months high rubber prices,
feared by the American industry at
the outset of the British restriction
program, have been realized.
Director Fischer of the Philippine
Bureau of Forestry, however, con-
tends that the islands contain II 900
square miles of land Gmore than
100000 acres) capable of producing
rubber, and that when trees are full
grown they should produce 400 pounds
to the acre annually.
Efforts are being made by Gen.
Leonard Wood. governor general, and
the Legislature of the islands to aid
in the extension of the rubber indus
try in the Philippines.
When nature planted the rubber
tree in the tropics she endowed man
the sap of the tree, as does maple
sirup. Instead, it is a sticky, milky
juice of the tree flowing through sur
face cells just beneath the bark. 1t
is known as lateX and nouriSheS the
tree through the latex system, ac-
cording to a statement by the Ameri-
can Nature Association of Washing
ION. L mere are IilOlc lIldll iOV II ICCo
throughout the tropical belt encircling
the world that produce juice that
will make rubber. 1t. however, is
somewhat helterskelter property.
Some of the trees in the four groups
generally credited with producing
Caoutchouc do not live up to the
family tradition, while other outside
lands do possess the property.
Demand Was Encouraged.
A quarter of a. century ago the
world drew it's rubber from the native
forests. Wasteful methods prevailed
and the world commenced to roll
about in horseless carriages with soft
tires. Demand leaped forward with
the encouragement of custom, dis
covery and invention. Thus the
twentieth century has seen forestry
principles applied to rubber-tree
plantations set out, rotation OF corps
invoked and an agricultural order
brought into rubber production that
eventually must find its way into
Americas timber-producing areas
To the valley of the Amazon and
the commercially known Para rub
ber is generally accorded the palm
for superiority. In the lowlands, hot
with steam of tropic sun and river
courses, hevea brasiliensis prosperS
often to so feet in height and grows
with two or three near relatives, all
of whom are rich producers of rubber.
In Brazil is a smaller tree that pro-
duces cerea rubber when it has
reached two years of age. In Guiana
two species of hevea guayengis and
paucifolia, provide the rubber yield,
while the Pernambuco rubber comes
from a small dropping tree possess
ing a somewhat inferior rubber quail
ity.
Reaches Great Size.
Much of the rubber coming into the
United States originates with a rela-
tive of the bread fruit tree. This
rubber tree is castilloa elastica, ma
tive of Ecuador, Mexico, Columbia
and Central America. This tree
grows to considerable height and
often reaches three feet around the
trunk.
In Malaga, Siam, Burma, Ceylon
and other tropical states grows the
rubber-fig, ficus elastica, but the
transplanted Para rubber trees of
Brazil have made this section of i'm
portance in the rubber producing
world. Africa has it's funtnuia
elastica of the Ivory coast, and the
Kongo a tai, erect tree giving kind
of rubber known as lagos silk. There
are other lesser centers and other in
teresting trees. for nature has widely
distributed her largess of rubber.
Methods of cultivating rubber plan
tations differ as well as processes of
gathering A rubber plantation is
created much as a forest-tree plan
tation would be. Nurseries are main
tanned for the production of seeding
rubber trees, raised from seed. The
seed of the Para rubber tree which