Inching Along to Freedom

Rubber Reserve Co., whose efforts to create a rubber stock pile had gathered only 218,000 long tons (less than six months' normal consumption) by the end of July, inched a little closer to its goal last week. At its behest the British-Dutch rubber cartel upped production quotas to 120% of theoretical capacity, or to 1,866,000 tons a year.

The cartel (which controls 97% of the world's crude rubber production) has yet to produce up to the previous quota of 100%. Moreover, rubber trees take seven years to mature; so output cannot be increased overnight. But there are some idle trees to be tapped in the East Indies now. The big plantation owners, who tap their trees carefully, will probably not increase their production much. But the natives, who grow half the East Indies rubber and whose real capacity is at best a district officer's guess, will tap trees to the point of destroying them, so long as there are plenty of quota coupons to be had. Hence, output will be increased some by the new quota, even if not to 120%.

Rubber Reserve Co. has two excuses for its failure to free the U.S. from dependence on the Far East to date: competitive buying by other nations, and the soaring rate of consumption in the U.S. (a record 618,592 tons last year, 425,000 tons in the first half of this year). But domestic consumption has been under strict control since June, when Rubber Reserve assumed a monopoly over all U.S. imports. Same month OPM worked out manufacturing quotas. Last week July consumption figures were announced as 68,653 tons--19.1% below June.

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