The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1942-06-11
TODAY
A n ID
,r
Tomorrow
Frank Parker StOckridge

in one ear and out the other. If
it does, it's time everv one of us
plugged up that other ear and
absorbed the facts.
I decided to look over the gov
ernment's figures on rubber pri-
marily for my personal benefit in
order to get to the bo@ tom of con-
fusing reports to determine what
was the patriotic thing to do "a
bout driving my own car. At
ter getting the dope, there is no
question in my mind but that it
is a definitely disloyal act to use
our cars for any but the most
necessary purposes.
Here are few of the facts
which stand out:
/. The governments reserve
supply of rubber will be pretty
we'll used up this year. After
that, nobody seems to know
where our rubber, even for vital
war needs, will come from.
2. All of the talk about synthe-
tic rubber and growing guayule
rubber in this country doesn't
mean thing, so far as supplies
for the next two or three years
are concerned. Synthetic rubber
may meet many of our needs by
1914, but for the next two years
it will amount to little. AS for
guayule rubber grown here and
in Mexico-it will be 1916 before
the crop will be stable enough to
count
3. About SO per cent of the rub
Der we import in peacetime comes
from lands which are now over
rum with japanese, so practically
our entire source of natural rub
Der is cut off.
4. The biggest stock-pile of rub
Der in the world is on the wheels
of our nations 34,000,O0O auto
mobiles.
S. Unless something is done
soon, hundreds of thousands of
workers in vital war industries
will not be able to go to work
when their tires wear out.
SOURCES figures
If you like to see actual fl
cures, here are the ones which
best portray the acuteness of our
rubber situation:
Our normal needs for rubber
average 10000 tons a year. Last
year we imported about 100000
tons more than were used-Which
is the major part of our stockpile
for this year.
Last year 81 per cent of our i'm
ports came from Malaga, SO per
cent from the Netherlands East
Indies, per cent from Ceylon and
2 per cent from the Burma area.
That makes SO per cent-and we
can't get an ounce of rubber this
year from any of those Japanese
controlled areas. The other 2 per
cent came from Africa and South
America.
In 1941 our production of Syn
thetic rubber was $4,000 tons.
This year it is expected to be 49,
600 tons. In 1943, if present plans
are carried out, we may produce
as much as 100000 tons and in
1914 may push this production as
high as 100000 tons. That's
something to look forward to-
but it's not going to solve our rub
Der problems for some time to
come.
AS for guayule, which has been
grown in small quantities in Mex
leo, we have started growing that
in nurseries but it will be 1914
before we get amy crop-and that
crop will be only $4,000 tons. BY
1856 we may have $4,000 tons av-
ailable from that source-and af-
ter that the yield will increase
rapidly. But that's five years
from now and we can't put the
war off for five years.
TIRES re-claiming
The only source of rubber in
any quantity available to us to-
day is reclaimed rubber. Re-
claimed rubber won't by itself,
do a lot of the jobs for which we
need rubber, but, by using partly
reclaimed rubber in most every
thing, we can make our stock
pile of imported rubber last long
er.
It is estimated that there may
be as much as a million tons OF
rubber in the homes of America
in the form of old rubber boots,
gaIoshes, toys, worn out tires, hot
water bottles, etc. If we will all
search our houses and backyards
for every scrap Of rubber and will
turn it in when there is local
rubber collection, it will go a
long way toward easing the sit
uation.
But when reclaimed rubber is