Show American merican merican Rubber Growing rowing in in Liberia Impossible Declared By MILES W. W VAUGHN United Press Staff Correspondent SINGAPORE March 13 United PI Press The Press ss The The efforts of ot American manufacturers to enter the rubber growing business In Liberia meet with derision by veteran rubber men of ot the East The American efforts are doomed to meet with failure In the British view for several reasons principally principal principal- ly Iy these 1 An experienced personnel and an adequate supply of ot good labor cannot be maintained In Liberia 2 Estates can only be developed at prohibitive costs 3 yen Even if It large estates are planted plant plant- ed it will be five lve or ai six years rears before any appreciable supply of ot tu rubber ber can be obtained Rubber growers In Malaysia figure figure fig fig- ure ue flee tl years as the minimum time timeto timeto timeto to get a rubber estate In production At least a year Is necessary to clear jungle and plant Another four tour years must pass before the rubber tree is ready for tor tapping The British have hundreds hundres of oC big estates already ady in production They I have all the equipment and land necessary to enlarge these estates to nn any degree required b by tion They have SL a great personnel of trained rubber men and have perfected perfected perfected per per- all the elaborate commercial equipment banking shipping handling and curing of ot latex gradIng gradIng grading grad grad- ing reconditions etc In In working order They da do not fear tear competition American complaints at high rubber rubber rubber rub rub- ber prices s have called forth a series of ot somewhat bitter editorials in the I British Malaysian press Taken in thE bunch says the I Straits Times the chief organ olg of or orthe the the rubber interests ts the rubber magnates of ot th the States are not by any means as farsighted as they ought to be In 1921 the they could easily have made restriction un un- un- un necessary If It the they had come to the plantation owners and otter offered d to pay even a shilling a It pound for tor rubber rubber rub rub- ber In order to keep the Industry on ll have ha been its legs we would all content to struggle on until better times came But the they were so eager to profit b by by- our oui misfortune that th they y were delighted to see the price fall as low as 7 1 pence It seemed good business business business busi busi- ness to get their rubber at less lees than cost price and they made big profits while we made big losses Th Then n w we got a a. grip of ot the situation through limiting production but we never tried for tor more than a 1 fair price For or the next tel ten years the Times confidently predicts Britain will remain supreme in world rubber production and America will continue continue con con- to pa pay The Americans have e a not nol faced up to the simple r realities it continues They made restriction a necessity Then they raged against It ft And be because because because be- be cause we the are recovering our losses they are scheming to become Independent Independent Independent Inde Inde- pendent of ot our sources of ot sUpply They have been big customers but ut never friendly ones We Ve owe we them nothing and must simply take allI all we can from them while we ve havethe have havethe havethe I the power |