A Letter from Zamboanga

The first shipment of crude rubber from the Philippines since Pearl Harbor is presumably on the way to the U.S. this week. The amount is small--66,500 Ibs. But the story of how it was prepared, by Mateo Ruiz, 40-year-old chief clerk at Goodyear Rubber Plantations Co.'s 2,500-acre Pathfinder plantation at Kabasalan, on Zamboanga, was one to make businessmen beam.

In 1943, Colonel Wendell W. Fertig, U.S. guerrilla leader in the Philippines, sent for Ruiz. His instructions, direct from General MacArthur: start production of rubber at Pathfinder.

Mateo Ruiz had never been more than a paper-shuffler at Pathfinder, knew almost nothing about the technical side of rubber-growing, curing and production. But an order was an order. He went to work on Dec. 8, 1943, well within hailing distance of roving bands of Japanese troops.

By the time U.S. troops arrived on Zamboanga last March, beaming Mateo Ruiz had his first shipment baled and ready. In a long, businesslike letter that reached Goodyear last week, Ruiz told what he had accomplished, and how.

Coconut Oil. Because most of the machinery at Pathfinder had been wrecked by the Japs, the guerrillas scoured the island until they found a dilapidated 30-h.p. Fairbanks Morse marine motor. Ruiz and helpers took the motor, hooked it to an electric generator. Then they had a power plant -- if they could find some motor fuel. They could not -- until they tried coconut oil. It worked.

Wrote Ruiz: "We were handicapped by a lack of tools, emery, grease, packing, nuts & bolts. We did not have an ax with which to chop wood for our smokehouse.

I had to order the demolition of a few houses to get nails and lumber used-on new construction. Plenty of lumber was also needed for coffins." Jap Interruption. Eventually Ruiz had Pathfinder running smoothly, and was producing five to seven tons of rubber a month. But not before more trouble.

In April 1944, the guerrillas and Japs fought a lively skirmish within sound of the plant. Next a Jap seaplane bombed and machine-gunned the nearby town of Kabasalan. When a rumor spread that the Japs were planning to attack Pathfinder, everybody took to the hills. With them they carried their priceless marine motor, and their stock of cured rubber.

Later, when it was safe to start opera tions again, the guerrillas were too busy with other matters to send any money. The unpaid Filipinos stopped work.

By last January, the plant was working again, and there was money for the payroll. To make up for lost production, Ruiz worked the plantation on a seven-day week, kept going even when the Kabasalan River went on a rampage, flooded the plantation, ripped out bridges, and filled the smokehouse with muddy water.

Mateo Ruiz's word to Goodyear last week was that Jie expects production to soar, now that Zamboanga has been retaken by MacArthur's troops. It would help considerably, he said, if Goodyear would send him an outboard motor: it was needed to replace the rotted sail on the small boat used to collect food and coconut oil on Sibuguey Bay. Also, Manager Ruiz anxiously hoped that Goodyear officials would understand another item: due to inflation in the Philippines it had been necessary for him to raise his salary--to $150 a month.

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