Evening star., 1942-04-09

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the accumula- David Lawrence.
ton of a stock pile by Britain her
self and today the British have
meagre supply of raw rubber and
may have to get some from the
United States.
The proceedings of the Senate
committee throw light on the oper-
ations of the British-Dutch cartel,
otherwise known as the Interna-
tional Rubber Committee. Some ex-
tracts from the record follow:
Senator Truman-This Interna-
tional Rubber Committee controlled
absolutely its production OF the
British and Dutch rubber, did they
not?
Mr.. Jones-That committee con-
trolls. as I am advised. 81 per cent
of all the natural rubber produced
in the world.
Senator Truman-Who composed
that committee?
Mr.. Jones-The British and the
Dutch, and 7 don't know who else,
but q very few of us, that is in guam
tity because the British and the
Dutch controlled most Of the coun-
tries that produced the rubber =.
Senator Truman-Was that a
government agency or was it a VOL
untary organization of the rubber
people themselves?
Mr.. Jones-That Is a private
agency that operates with the ap-
proval, I think, of government. 1t
has some governmental status. or
at least governmental approval. so
that In all OF our contacts we con-
fer through the State Depart
ment. =.
Senator Truman-Did the British
accumulate stock pile of their
own?
Mr.. Jones-Well. am advised
that at the fall of Singapore they
had probably 100000 tons or less,
not more.
u. 8. Becomes Rubber Exporter.
Senator Truman-They are now,
10 some extent, dependent upon our
stock pile, are they not?
Mr.. Jones-Yes. Instead OF being
an importer of rubber, we have
become an exporter OF, rubber, be-
cause we have lot of kinfolks now
that must have some rubber, among
other things we give them .. Our
first agreement with the rubber
committee was to buy 10000 tons
which we expected to get in 1910
and a large part of which we did
not get. We got only 10000 tons.
We were continually after the COM
mittee to increase production. 1t
has been my understanding that
the easy and natural production OF
raw rubber in the world Is about so
per cent more than we normally use
in q good year, like l94o-I mean
the entire world. So they only turn
the spigot open SO far in order to
keep the price at profitable level
-. We would have had a substan-
TALLY larger amount OF rubber in
our stock pile II they would have
produced it back in the latter part
Of 1910 and the first part Of ls4l.
Senator Truman-You mean II
this rubber committee had per-
mitted it to be produced, you would
have been able to get 1t out?
Mr.. Jones-That is right, if we
could have gotten the ships and /
think we could have gotten the
ships.
Senator Herring-Some of these
kinsfolks you have to look after
now are responsible for your not
having anything to look after them
with?
Mr.. Jones-Yes, but take 1t they
didn't expect that the rubber would
be cut of. We have got to supply,
Of course, the British and the Rus
slams and many other countries
with rubber
Postwar Fears Cited.
Senator Truman-They were also
somewhat uneasy that there might
be o surplus or rubber after the
end of the war. wasn't that true,
: too?
Mr.. Jones-Yes, that is the pur-
pose, of course, of that cartel. That
is the purpose of the control and
they did not want an unusually
large stock pile that might suppress
the market and destroy the market.
The testimony shows that Mr..
Jones used the threat of synthetic
rubber manufacture in the United
States as lever to pry more rub
Der from the British-Dutch cartel
and that he paid high prices to
induce greater production in the
Far East.
1t is evident, too, from other tes-
timony, that the American pioneers
in synthetic rubber have had hang
ing over their heads the constant
threat OF a rubber market that
might 60 as low as ; cents a pound
which it did on one occasion-as
q means Of freezing out the costlier
production Of American companies.
That Is one reason why the prob
lem Of synthetic rubber Is by no
means solved as yet, for ultimately
there must either be a high tariff
to protect the synthetic rubber in
dustry Of the United States or
Federal subsidy to enable the Amer
lean companies 10 meet the COM
petition of Far Eastern rubber.
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