Rubber Woes

To the rubber growers of the Far East, May was to have been a pleasant month. After long negotiations, British and Dutch planters had agreed to tap no trees during the entire month (TIME, April 14). So well did they argue the thesis that this simple expedient would bolster the price of rubber throughout the world that native growers, notorious for their usual indifference to such schemes, joined in. But last week, in the middle of the tapping holiday, the planters received a shock. In London, rubber prices started a swift decline, broke their 1921 low, went on to establish new all-time records for cheapness. Although the tapping restriction had not really had time to be effective, rubber merchants considered last week's market proof of its failure. Ominously, stocks of rubber on hand in London mounted to a new high of 101.380 tons against 35.107 a year ago.

Although rubber's decline was only one of many in the sweeping readjustment of prices, it was especially discouraging since many plans have been tried and abandoned. But last week while rubber's deflation carried it to 14-c- a pound against $1.04 a few years ago, rumors were heard of a new aid to the industry, to be administered from the consumers' instead of producers' end. Goodyear, Goodrich, U. S. Rubber, Firestone, said reports, would ally themselves as copper companies have done, would attempt to eliminate violent price fluctuations in both raw and finished rubber.

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