Abstract
Sumatra has long been the world’s leading producer of rubber, and the United States the major consumer. This is the story of the relationship.
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References
Burkill, op. cit., II, pp. 1623-1638; Van der Laan, Joseph W., Production of Guttapercha, Chicle and Allied Gums, Trade Promotion Series No. 41, Crude Rubber Survey No. 7, U.S. Dept. of Commerce (Washington: G.P.O., 1927), pp. 1, 8, 18.
Oostkust van Sumatra-Instituut, Deli-Data, 1863-1938 (Mededeeling No. 26, Amsterdam, 1938), p. 13; Allen, Hugh, The House of Goodyear (Cleveland: Corday & Gross, 1949), p. 84. Interplanting with coffee began in 1901 according to Figart, David M., The Plantation Rubber Industry in the Middle East, Trade Prom. Series, No. 2, U.S. Dept. of Commerce (Washington: G.P.O., 1925), p. 207, though a few trees were planted first in 1898, India Rubber World, (New York), Vol. 38 (1908), p. 84.
Letters to author from J. J. De Mario, Advertising and Publicity Manager, Manhattan Rubber Div., Aug. 28 and Sept. 24, 1959.
Van der Laan, pp. 3, 61.
India Rubber World, Vol. 45 (Dec. 1, 1911), p. 135; Vol. 47 (Nov. 1, 1912), p. 113; the latter has two photos of Sumatra.
India Rubber World, Vol. 50 (July 1, 1914), p. 569; Register of Defunct and Other Companies, 1959, (London: Skinner, 1959), p. 482.
U.S. Rubber News, Vol. 2 (Feb. 15, 1926), p. 24; Between US (published by U.S. Rubber Co.), Vol. 8, (March, 1922).
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U.S. Rubber II: Sumatra, Fortune, IX (Feb. 1934), p. 60; Wolf, Howard and Ralph, Rubber (New York: Covici Friede, 1936), pp. 242-243.
Verslag van “De Handelsvereeniging te Medan,” No. 3 (1914), p. 81; No. 4 (1915), p. 77; No. 5 (1916), p. 104.
Cake, W. E., “Improved Production on Rubber Plantations,” reprint from Better Crops ivith Plant Food (June-July, 1946).
U.S. patents: 1,740,994 (December 24, 1929), 1,983, 703 (December 11, 1934), 2,004,156 (June 11, 1935).
Figart, p. 111; India Rubber World, Vol. 64 (May 1, 1921), p. 614.
Rowe, J. W. F., Rubber, 1931, Studies in the Artificial Control of Raw Material Supplies No. 2, Special Memo. No. 34 (London: London & Cambridge Service of the London School of Economics, 1931), p. 59 note; Anstey, Vera, The Trade of the Indian Ocean (New York: Longman’s, 1929), p. 164 note.
India Rubber World, Vol. 45 (Oct. 1, 1911), p. 14; Vol. 62 (Aug. 1, 1920), p. 767.
Hotchkiss, H. Stuart, “Operations of an American Rubber Company in Sumatra,” Annals of the American Academy, Vol. 112 (March, 1924), pp. 154–162.
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Smith, J. Russell, Influence of the Great War upon Shipping, (New York: Oxford, 1919), pp. 86–87; Radius, Walter A., U.S. Shipping in Transpacific Trade 1922-1938 (Stanford: Press, 1944), pp. 160-161.
In 1906 in Malaya, on the Tanjung Olak plantation, Johore, and the Pahang Rubber Co., Pahang; India Rubber World, Vol. 37 (1907), p. 43, Vol. 40 (1909), p. 312; India Rubber Journal (London), Vol. 33 (May 6, 1907), p. 494: The first rubber plantation of any kind by Americans was the ceara variety, planted in Mindanao, Philippines, by Dr. J. W. Strong; India Rubber World, Vol. 42 (May 1, 1910), p. 289, Vol. 47 (December 1, 1912), pp. 139-141.
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Allen, pp. 81–85. 25 acres were added to the estate in 1932.
Dept. ot Commerce to Dept. of State, No. 15, November 14, 1919, State file 856 F. 6176.
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Charles M. Wilson, Trees & Test Tubes: the Story of Rubber (New York: Holt, 1943), pp. 98–101; photo following p. 178.
Hoeta Padang, pamphlet printed by Texas Instrument, Inc., c. 1957; Medan to Washington, December 22, 1919, file 856 F.5034/.
Arthur N. Young, Economic Adviser to Dept. of State, December 14, 1925, to Fisk Dept. of State file 856 F.51 D95/-; U.S. Embassy, The Hague Des. No. 622, December 18 1925, file 856 F.6176/1.
Letter to the author, October 12, 1959.
Blink, H., op. cit., p. 114.
April 23, 1917, Padang, Register of Letters Received, C37 (C9).
Dickinson to Dept. from Batavia, May 28, 1917, in dec. file 123/D563.
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Batavia tel. to Dept., June 13, 1918, file 123.687.
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Medan tel. to Dept., May 13, 1919, file 123 C 19/12.
Medan to Dept., Des. 73, November 20, 1922, file 8561.014/.
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Congressional Record, 67:4, January 9, 1923, p. 1451; India Rubber World, Vol. 64 (April 1, 1921), p. 533.
Whittlesey, Charles R., Governmental Control of Crude Rubber (Princeton: Princeton Univ., 1931), p. 28; Knorr, K. E., World Rubber and Its Regulation (Stanford: Stanford Univ., 1945), P. 93. ff.; McFadyean, Andrew, ed., The History of Rubber Regulation 1934-1943 (London: Allen & Unwin, 1940), pp. 24 ff.
Cong. Rec. 67:4, (Jan. 9, 1923), pp. 1450-1451; Harding’s request, February 15, 1923, H. Doc. 578, 67:4 (Ser. Set 8215); H. Res. 14408 (P.L. 543) signed by Harding March 3, 1923, Cong. Rec. 67:4, p. 5556; Exec. Order 3809, March 28, 1923 directed expenditure of $ 100,000 by Dept. of Agriculture for exploration of rubber producing regions.
Figart, pp. vii-viii, 66, 203-224; Muzzall’s report on pp. 258-269.
U.S. Dept. of State, Foreign Relations 1925, Vol. II, pp. 254-256; 1926, Vol. II, pp. 358-361.
U.S. Dept. of Commerce, “Foreign Combinations to Control Prices of Raw Materials,” Trade Information Bulletin No. 385 (Washington: G.P.O., 1926), p. 1. See also an effectively stated case against controls by the chief of the Rubber Division of the Dept. of Commerce, E. G. Holt, “Foreign Government Price Fixing of Our Import Raw Materials,” in 14th Annual Report of the Secretary of Commerce (Washington: G.P.O., 1926), pp. 35–41. Hoover’s first statement was his speech of October 31, 1925 to the Erie Chamber of Commerce, followed by the article, “America Solemnly warns Foreign Monopolists of War Materials,” Current History, Vol. XXIII, No. 3 (December 1925), pp. 307-311; Rubber was mentioned specifically in his letter to Senator Capper, December 10, 1925.
U.S. House of Rep., Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Hearing, Jan. 6-22, 1926, 69:1; House Rep. 555, 69:1, March 13, 1926 (House Cal. No. 132, Ser. Set. 8536); Cordell Hull (D. — Tenn.) earlier opposed Hoover’s suggestion of retaliation, and introduced a resolution for decreased tariffs and an international trade organization, goals he was later to achieve as Secretary of State; New York Times, Dec. 15, 1925, p. 8.
Rowe, p. 56.
The New York Times, January 10, 1926, pp. 14, 31; January 14, p. 5; January 15, p. 26.
Lief, Alfred, The Firestone Story (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1951), pp. 161, 167; Firestone, Harvey S., Jr., The Romance and Drama of the Rubber Industry (No loc.: Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 1932), pp. 84, 98-100.
Gehlsen, C. A., World Rubber Production and Trade (Rome: International Institute of Agriculture, 1940), p. 20.
Whittlesey, p. 96.
Batavia Des. 661 to Dept. of State, August 7, 1925, file 856 F.6176/9; also Muzzall’s report, cited above; Robequain, Charles, Malaya, Indonesia, Borneo and the Philippines (New York: Longman’s, 1954), p. 355.
Fred M. Waterhouse in Whittlesey, p. 96 note.
Whittlesey, pp. 92-95; even the Dutch government profited from the rubber boom; largely because of it, it eliminated its public debt in 1926 and returned to the gold standard; ibid., pp. 128-129.
His first report, “Estate and Native Plantation Rubber in the Middle East” was given confidentially to the Rubber Association of America in the fall of 1928, the second in December 1929, but as far as the author can determine, have never been published; Rowe, pp. 62, 69.
Medan to Dept. of State, July 15, 1925, file 856 F.156/1, p. 11.
Knorr, pp. 108, ff.; McFadyean, pp. 36, ff.
U.S. Dept. of State, Foreign Relations 1934, Vol. I, pp. 615-663; 1936 Vol. I, pp. 503-520; 1937, Vol. I, pp. 874-919; 1938, Vol. I, pp. 925-939; 1939, Vol. I, pp. 858-905; Vol. II, pp. 234-266, 656-668; 1940, Vol. II, pp. 261-288.
Broek, Jan O. M., Economic Development of the Netherlands Indies (New York: Institute of Pacific Relations, 1942), p. 72.
The New York Times, May 4, 1953, p. 4.
Continental Rubber Co. had come under the control of Texas Instruments, Inc. of Dallas, Texas, on October 1, 1953 by the merger of the parent company, Intercontinental Rubber Co., Inc. with Texas Instruments.
Annual Report, 1957.
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© 1961 Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands
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Gould, J.W. (1961). Wealth from Trees — The History of American Enterprise in Indonesian Rubber. In: Americans in Sumatra. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-8846-3_4
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