Rubber Production Opportunities in the American Tropics

The United States has always been entirely dependent on foreign sonrces for its supplies of crude rubber. This material is essential for many domestic uses, and is particularly important at this time for national defense purposes. Major uses of rubber have been in the manufacture of tires for automobiles, trucks, and airplanes, but it has many other uses which make it the most nearly indispensable raw material not produced in the United States. For many years United States imports have averaged more than 50 percent of the entire world production of rubber, and reached almost 60 percent in 1940. The Office of Production Management in Washington placed rubber under priorities control on July 1, 1941, and cut consumption to a rate of about 600,000 tons annually; the rubber thus saved is going into stock piles for use in the defense program.