Evening star., 1941-03-09
Rubber and Defense

Rubber and Defense
The recent warning of P. w. Litch-
field, chairman of the board of the
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
that stocks of rubber now in the
United States would meet our con-
sumer requirements for only six
months, if shipments from across the
Pacific were cut off completely, serves
to emphasize again the vital impor-
tance Of increasing our stock pile
OF rubber, and developing Western
Hemisphere sources of supply
| Though plenty of crude rubber can
be had in the Far East today, there
is no assurance that it will continue
| country. For Japan is casting an
| avid eye toward the Dutch East In
dies and British Malaga, the princi-
| pal sources of the worlds rubber
| supply. If the war extends to these
islands and their adjacent waters,
the United States might find it diff
cult, if not impossible, to secure from
| Dutch and British Malaga the rubber
needed by industry and the defense
agencies.
In urging that the United States
provide more ship tonnage for the
transportation of crude rubber to
this country from the Far East, Mr..
Litchfield has made a sound recon-
mendation. With an abundance of
rubber available, the volume of ship
ments depends on the amount of
cargo space allocated to this purpose.
In view of the uncertainties in the
Far Eastern situation, it is clearly to
our interest to lay in as large a stock
Of rubber as possible, over and above
that required for current conSump-
ton.
AS part of its preparedness plans,
the Federal Government is seeking
to establish a rubber reserve of ap-
proXimately 100000 tons. According
to Department of Commerce figures,
domestic stocks of rubber held by the
Government, including rubber re-
Ceived in exchange for cotton, as we'll
as the stocks of the Rubber Reserve
Company, increased from 112.494
tons on December 81 to 134,338 tons
at the end of January. This increase
is gratifying. To reach its goal, the
Government still needs to acquire a
lot more rubber. Every effort, there
fore, should be made both to speed
up the purchases and make available
additional cargo space for its trans
portatiOn across the Pacific.
Meanwhile, the United States is
making progress toward developing
Western Hemisphere sources. The
Department of Agriculture recently
concluded agreements with eleven
American republics for cooperation
in an experimental program designed
ultimately to make the New World
sufficient in the supply Of native
rubber. Years ago, Brazil was the
worlds only important source of
crude rubber The smuggling out
of Brazil of seeds of Hevea brasil
ienSis, regarded by many experts as
the worlds best all-around rubber
tree, resulted in the establishment of
the great rubber plantations in
Malaga. And the time soon came
when wild Brazilian rubber could no
longer compete successfully with
lateX from cultivated, plantation
grown trees Though attempts have
been made to rehabilitate the Bra
lillian industry, they have not hereto
fore been on the scale necessary to
provide competition with the prod
uCtS Of the East Indies.
United States Government SCI
entists have already visited Latin
American countries to select loca-
tionS for experimental nurseries for
the planting of diSeaSe-reSiSting
strains of Hevea seed developed by
the Department of Agriculture. BY
the terms Of the agreement just con-
cluded with Brazil, Colombia, Costa
Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti,
Nicaragua, Mexico, Panama, Peru
and Venezuela, at least one expert
mental station will be established in
each of these countries. The United
States will assist in establishing the
nurseries and provide materials for
experimental work. Rubber trees
thus produced will be distributed to
commercial rubber producers in these
countries.
Though this project has no bearing
on the present emergency, for rubber
trees cannot be grown overnight,
from the long-range point of view
it holds out promise of high sig
nifcance. For large-Scale produc-
ton in Latin America will not only
free the Americas from this present
dependency on ASiatic sources of
supply, but it will create new wealth
for Latin America, thus strengthen
ing the economic defense of the
Western Hemisphere.
Marshal Goering, in observance of
the sixth anniversary of the German
oir forcp told ifs narSOOne1 that If