The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1943-05-07

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In order to get natural rubber out
of trackless jungles and remote
places, new transportation systems
making use of donkeys, canoes,
steamboats,, airplanes, human car
riers, etc., have been organized.
Medical stations along the routes
have lessened, but not eliminated,
the hazards which threaten every
man who works in the jungles.
The natural rubber needed by
United States tanks, airplanes,
jeeps, artillery, ETC., must be ex-
tracted from wild and cultivated
trees scattered over an area en-
comprising hundreds of thousands
Of square miles.
In order to protect rubber har-
vesters against fevers, animals, and
insects, the Latin American coun-
tries, aided by United States govern
ment health officials, have created
modern sanitary centers, where pre-
ventive medicine is taught and treat
ment given to rubber collectors and
their families.
Once Rubber Center.
Brazil forests, of course, yield
most Of this hemisphere's present
supply of natural rubber. There, in
the Amazon valley, natives first
found the gummy substance that
plays such an important part in
modern war. Before seedlings of
"Hevea Braziliensis" had been ex-
ported from Brazil and exploited
commercially in the Dutch East In
dies and the British Malay Straits
Settlements, the Brazilian industry
enjoyed a heyday. In order to mar
ket their natural rubber, Brazilian
promoters had built the costliest
railroad in the world. When rubber
was Brazilian monopoly, it fetched
as high as three dollars per pound.
However, not even in its balmy
days did Brazil produce as much
rubber (42,400 tons) as it is con-
tributing in 1943 to a United Ma
tons victory. According to the CO.
ordinator of Brazilian economy,
Joao Alberto Lins de Barros, Brazil
in 1913 will produce $4,000 tons Of
natural rubber; and 1944's estimates
call for $4,000 tons.
The future holds even greater
promise for rubber from South
Americas largest country. That is
because commercial plantations,
similar to those in the Orient, are
well on their way to production, and
it is anticipated that by 1945 these
plantations will yield more rubber
than the millions Of wild rubber
trees in the Amazon valley produce
at present.
Some Brazilian rubber is trans
ported by airplane from jungle de-
pots to the Atlantic port Of Belem,
whence it is shipped northward.
With the exception Of eight or ten
thousand tons which Brazil requires
for domestic industry, the entire
production is exported to the United
States. M
Among South American rubber
producing nations, Ecuador ranks
second. The figures Of 1912 pro-
duction have not been announced,
but in 1941, when Brazil produced
1850 tons, Ecuador yielded $500
tons.
Indians Want Beads.
The Yumbo Indians, a source of
rubber workers in the Ecuadorian
forest, are not attracted by money
in any form. On the other hand,
they covet colored beads and ma
chetes. The Ecuadorean Develop
ment corporation understands native
tastes and is now supplying the
Yumbos with trinkets and useful ar
ticles, like scissors, razors, salt, mir
rors, and even rifles.
- Colombian forests are already
yielding two tons Of rubber daily,
all trans-shipped by the same air.
planes which supply the workers
with their needs.
In Colombia, rubber exploitation
is supervised by committee made
up of representatives Of the Colom-
bian government, the United States
embassy, and the Rubber Reserve
corporation.
A service Of floating hospitals and 4
dispensaries has been organized to
look after the rubber workers in the
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