life of the gatherer of wild rubber in the jungle. In Brazil, the
solitary workers have to plunge at dawn into the perilous forest,
with its lurking wildcats and jaguars, its coiled and creeping
serpents. The dwellings are flimsy huts, food is scarce and
expensive, and disease and fever cause many deaths.

On the other hand, workers on a well-managed plantation live in
comfortable houses in healthy surroundings and are supplied with
plenty of good food. In fact the conditions are so much better
than generally prevail among natives in the Orient that work on a
plantation is considered more desirable than most other forms of
labor. The unmarried men live in barracks, but the men with
families have individual houses with garden plots adjoining. Big
kitchens prepare and cook the food in the best native style.
Schools for the children, recreation centers for old and young,
and hospitals to care for the sick, are all parts of the
plantation organization.

In erecting hospitals and caring for the health of its plantation
workers, as in other branches of the rubber industry, America has
taken the lead. So well is this recognized, that the Dutch
Government has awarded a medal to the United States Rubber Company
for the efficiency and completeness of its plantation hospital,
which happens to be the largest private hospital in the East
Indies, having accommodations for nearly a thousand patients.