Evening star., 1925-12-26
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL !. COLLINS.

gestion strikes the average driver
being all right for the people who can
not afford new tires at the increased
prices. but Mr.. Hoover insists that il
is the patriotic duty of all to stop
waste, just as ii was with consumers
of meat and -four during the war
Automobile manufacturers figure in
fractions of a cent in reducing costs
OF production. 1t is related that one
maker of high grade automobiles has
expressed his despair In the face Of
the exactions OF the London rubber
market. He says ne was trying IL
figure .8o3 Of a cent on. bolts and
screws in his automobiles when the
rubber corner Jumped prices Of tires
$40 on car. A single outfit Of tires
on a passenger omnibus costs over
81. 900.
III the average automobile user
100000 in the United States-would
save their tires to the amount of 8
or - year it alone would almost
cause a break in the corner.
Ihe British retort 10 American pro
tests against the rubber exactjonz
that after the World War the Aneri-
can Government urged the farmers
TO decrease their wheat acreage in
order 10 maintain the market price
OF wheat by preventing a glut Of
supply
our officials point To the radical
/ difference between the overproduc-
tion of wheat and the cornerinK Of
rubber. Our Government never cor
nered' wheat nor permitted the mar
ket manipulatorS to corner il. Agri-
culture was facing Ia nkruptc,.-
fact, our farmers were in bankruptcy
and wheat was being overproduced
when the selling price did not cover
cost OF production. Today's selling
price Of wheat-s1.74 in Chica go-is
claimed to be so cents under cost Of
production. measured by the purchas-
ing power of the dollar. 1t is recoc-
nlZed rs the legitimate function of
our Department of Agriculture TO ad-
wise farmers as TO the demands likely
| to figure in the markets and to coun-
sci them in diversifying their crops.
Yet when the McNary Haugen bill
asked that the Government take con
troll of grain exports, on a Socialistic
plan. capita lizing the monopoly out of
public money, it received no support
from the administration. Our Con-
stitution forbids any tariff on exports.
hence there has never been any
parallel in American Government 10
the rubber export control exercised
by the British government, or the
coffee export control of the Bra lillian
government.
The Brazilian government today is
seeking loan Of many millions TO
enable it TO hold the entire coffee
supply and control its marketing. II
announces that. owing to the oppos-
tion of Americans to the rubber mo-
nopoly-in which Brazil also holds an
important interest-the loan will he
sought in London rather than in the
United States. Birds of a feather"
have been known to flock together"
even in tradition.
Soviet Russia has adopted such
control of it's markets. in both selling
and buying. Chile monopolizes her
nitrates. Yucatan her sisal, Germany
her potash and the Netherlands her
Quinine in Dutch East India. Ger
many once tried a similar monopoly
of dyes. but American chemists broke
it, as American rubber chemists hope
TO break the British monopoly of
rubber.
Secretary Hoover has suggested
that one way to meet the monopoly
of the sellers of rubber would he 10
pass a law reating a monopoly of
rubber purchase. IL one buyer held
in his grasp the entire market OF
American consumption of rubber he
might sit at conference table in
London and attempt to dictate terms.
The attempt would be an experiment
perhaps Of bluff in the market, but
at least the one buyer would eliminate
competition. far better than a thou
sand competing customers.
American financiers are alarmed
over the possible sudden collapse of
the artificially rigged rubber market,
since our rubber consumers always
have from $500. .000, 900 to S400, 900 900
in stock bought at current rates. A
rubber panic in London might have a
serious effect even in America. Prices
have huctuated from 81 pound in
war time to 141s cents In 1922.
Copyright. 1928. by Paul V. CollinsD