The Japanese have acquired there 50,000 acres, on which they
are growing more than a million dollars' worth of rubber a year. The
British _Tropical Life_ says of the American invasion: "As America is so
extremely wealthy Uncle Sam can well afford to continue to buy our
rubber as he has been doing instead of coming in to produce rubber to
reduce his competition as a buyer in the world's market." The Malaya
estates calculate to pay a dividend of 20 per cent. on the investment
with rubber selling at 30 cents a pound and every two cents additional
on the price brings a further 3-1/2 per cent. dividend. The output is
restricted by the Rubber Growers' Association so as to keep the price up
to 50-70 cents. When the plantations first came into bearing in 1910
rubber was bringing nearly $3 a pound, and since it can be produced at
less than 30 cents a pound we can imagine the profits of the early
birds.
The fact that the world's rubber trade was in the control of Great
Britain caused America great anxiety and financial loss in the early
part of the war when the British Government, suspecting--not without
reason--that some American rubber goods were getting into Germany
through neutral nations, suddenly shut off our supply.
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