Evening star., 1941-12-30
THE RUBBER SITUATION
And How 1t Affects the Tires
For Your Car

Tor Il
With the declaration of war between the
United States and the Axis powers, the long
threatened danger of our principal sources of
rubber supply has become an unpleasant
reality. From Malaga and the Netherlands
East Indies comes IS per cent of the worlds
rubber and these two countries are now under
attack by our enemies Today, Japanese troops
are attempting to penetrate southwark
through the jungles of Malaga and to land by
parachute on the island of Sumatra in a
desperate effort to occupy these vital rubber
producing areas and thereby slow the wheels Of
American industry.
Rubber in Modern Warfare.
Rubber is indispensable in modern warfare
Airplanes and scout cars, tanks and trucks
barrage balloons and gas masks are only few
of the many essential war materials that
require rubber.
The Reserve Supply Of Rubber.
Keenly aware of this strategic Importance
of rubber and anticipating the day when the
United States might be cut off from the Far
East, our Government, in cooperation with the
rubber industry, began more than two years
q
Harbor, it became necessary to take drastic
steps to protect this precious store of rubber
and on December II our Government issued an
order prohibiting the sale of tires* and tubes
to anyone not having priority rating of A-3
or better. These temporary restrictions will
end on January S, and they will be superseded
by new regulations which are now being
formulated.
How long such restrictions will remain in
force will depend upon the course of future
events. Naturally, when our allied forces are
victorious in the Far East, shipments of rubber
to the United States will be resumed. But in
the meantime steps are being taken to relieve
the present situation.
Foets About Synthetic Rubber.
The first of these is the expansion of
facilities for the manufacture of synthetic
rubber There are number of large plants
now under construction, and the one for which
we are responsible will be ready for production
in the first part of 1912. Nearly ten years ago,
our organization began experimenting with
various types of synthetic rubber, and in May,
1888, we produced the first synthetic rubber
tires* ever manufactured for Uncle Sans
armed forces. As more synthetic rubber became
available, we consistently increased
production of synthetic rubber tires*. The
most important elements needed for the
manufacture of synthetic rubber are butadiene
and styrene both by-products of petroleum,
which commodity the United States is
fortunate in having available within its borders
in unlimited quantities.
BroziIion Rubber Available.
Another possible emergency source of
rubber is the valley of the Amazon River in
South America From that area, As, 900 tons
were shipped in 1912 and it has been estimated
that perhaps as many as 30O,OO0,OOO wild
rubber trees exist in this region These are not
being tapped at the present time because
the price of rubber is lower than the price which
would provide the incentive for the natives to
blaze the jungle trails, tap the trees and bring
the rubber to market. In addition, there is a
possibility that some rubber can be obtained
from guayule shrubs, which can be raised in
this country and Mexico.
Americans Should Produce Their Own
Rubber
In this critical hour when rubber assumes
position of prime Importance to our national
THEFIRESTONETIRE,
*FirestOne has just published new
From Your Tires' You can secure
dealer or store, or write to the Firest