Letters

The Rubber Meets the Road

Jonathan Yardley's review of Joe Jackson's The Thief at the End of the World (Book World, March 30) prompts me to write to say that the whole subject needs a bit of perspective and skepticism.

Before the rubber seeds were "stolen," wild Brazilian rubber was gathered under cruel slave labor conditions, causing the death of thousands of people. Henry Wickham enabled the spread of rubber to other places where it was grown more efficiently on plantations. Rubber was, and is, a vital component of modern technology. Wickham's efforts brought rubber's benefits to many more users by reducing its cost dramatically. What was done was no more "exploitation" than was the propagation of crops such as corn or potatoes from the New World to the rest of mankind. Wickham should be viewed as a hero, not a thief!

-- ROBERT ARIAS

Crownsville, Md.

Henry Wickham reported his load of seeds to the Brazilian customs and received permission to export them. He is no more a "biopirate" than the various persons who gave Brazil the seeds of Ethiopia's coffee or Asia's soybean.

Also, taking 70,000 rubber seeds is not as dramatic as it sounds when you consider that Brazil's rubber trees produce billions of seeds a year. Brazil would be the Saudi Arabia of rubber except for something Jonathan Yardley's review doesn't mention: leaf blight. Rubber plantings have failed in the species' native area. Henry Ford lost a fortune planting rubber in Brazil, and the Goodyear Company did the same in Central America.

By some miracle, Wickham's seeds got to Africa and Asia free of disease. That's the main reason we have rubber today. And it took tremendous dedication to learn how to get the latex out while keeping the trees healthy and productive. Several times the British came close to giving up.

Had they done so, we would not have the mobility, the economy or the abundance of food in our supermarkets. Without their natural rubber content, car and especially truck tires run hot and suffer blowouts. In that regard, the author of The Thief at the End of the World and Viking Press should give thanks to Wickham for making it possible to convey their book of calumny to stores and customers nationwide.

-- NOEL VIETMEYER

Lorton, Va.

Thank you for continuing Poet's Choice in Book World. It is the very first thing I go to on Sunday mornings. Starting my day with poetry is one of the ways I maintain some sanity in preparing for reading the rest of the "news."

I remember when I first saw Poet's Choice 12 years ago. I wrote the Book World editor within a few weeks about how much I enjoyed the column. And here I am again with the same message.

Your Editor's Note on March 2 about a birthday party with "no shortage of literature lovers about, and plenty of vinous talk about the relevance -- no, indispensability -- of poetry" brought a smile to my face, and a bit of envy. I'd love to attend such a party with such people!

-- CELESTE T. KEARNEY

Arlington, Va.

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