58 



THE INDIA RUBBER "WORLD 



[November i, 1906. 



MEWS OF THE AMERICAN RUBBER TRADE. 



UNITED STATES RUBBER CO. — DIVIDENDS. 



THE board of directors on October,^ declared a dividend 

 of 2 per cent, upon the First preferred stock (in- 

 cluding all the preferred outstanding), for thecjuarter 

 beginning July i, 1906, and a dividend of 1 '2 per 

 cent, upon the Second preferred stock for the same quarter, 

 from the net earnings of the company. The net earnings 

 for the first six months of the fiscal year (September parti- 

 ally estimated) are $2,136,000, which includes dividends 

 amounting to $413,640.82 received upon stock of the Rubber 

 Goods Manufacturing Co. in this company's treasury. The 

 dividends were payable October 31, to stockholders of record 

 October 15. No action was taken in regard to a dividend 

 on the common stock, although the financial public seems 

 to have expected such a dividend. 



RUBBER CEMENT FACTORY IN ST. LOUIS. 

 Thk St. Louis Rubber Cement Co, have taken possession 

 of and are now occupying the fireproof building at the 

 corner of Main and Spruce streets, St. Louis, erected for 

 their use. The firm started in a small way several years 

 ago, making a specialtj- of supplying the St. Louis shoe 

 factorj- trade with their product, and their business has now 

 grown to good proportions. The rubber cement used locally 

 was formerly obtained wholly from the East. 



INSULATED WIRE WORKS FOR DETROIT. 



The Detroit Insulated Wire Co. have been incorporated 

 under the laws of Michigan, with an aiithorized capital at 

 present of $100,000. The president is Mr. E. E. Keller, of 

 Pittsburgh, Pa. The vice president is Mr. J. H. Hunter, for- 

 merly of the National Cable and Wire Co., and also of Pitts- 

 burgh. Mr. Arthur Hartwell, some time sales manager of 

 the Sterling Varnish Co., and later general manager of 

 the Sterling Varnish Co., has been elected secretary and 

 treasurer. The company have acquired six acres of land on 

 the line of the Pere Marquette railroad, on which they are 

 putting up a three story building of concrete and brick con- 

 struction, to be devoted entirely to the manufacture of rub- 

 ber covered wire. When the machinery, which is all new, 

 has been installed, the capacity of the plant will be about 

 500,000 feet per day. The company- hope to be in operation 

 by the middle of November. 



MR. HOWLETT INCORPORATES. 



The Rochester Rubber Co. (Rochester, N. Y.) have been 

 incorporated under the laws of Xevv York, with $25 000 cap- 

 ital. Incorporators and directors : Frank C. Howlett and J, 

 H. Glisman, of Sj'racuse ; Charles W. Barnes, New York 

 city. Mr. Howlett is president and treasurer of the com- 

 pany, as he is also of the S^'racuse Rubber Co., the incorpo- 

 ration of which was reported last month. The two compa- 

 nies will conduct a general rubber business, as Mr. Howlett 

 has done hitherto. There will be no rubber business under 

 the name of F. C. Howlett in the future. 



MR. KOHMESCHER RETIRES. 



The partnership which had existed for 20 years between 

 J. H. Kohmescher and Eugene C. Schaefer, under the style 

 of J. H. Kohmescher & Co.. in the Cincinnati retail rubber 

 trade, ended on September 29, by the withdrawal of Mr. 



Kohmescher. The business will be continxied at the same 

 location by The Schaefer Rubber Co. Mr. Kohmescher en- 

 tered the service of tlie late firm, Bart & Hickcox, the pio- 

 neers of the India-rubber trade in Cincinnati, February 2, 

 1864, and remained with them until 1886, when the partner- 

 ship just closed was formed. They opened "The Little 

 Rubber Store" at No. 161 Main street, under the motto 

 "The Best of Rubber Goods Are Not Any Too Good." In 

 November, 1S91, the rubber store was moved to No. 120 

 East Fourth street, where the business has been carried on 

 until now. William Iv. Schaefer was admitted to the firm 

 10 years ago. 



DEATH OF THE HON RATCl IFFE HICKS. 



The body of the late Hon. Ratcliffe Hicks, of Connecticut, 

 who died at Interlaken, Switzerland, on September 10 last, 

 arrived at New York on the Auguste Victoria, on October 6. 

 Funeral services were held on October 9 at Tolland, Conn., 

 his native town, and where his summer home has been for 

 years. 



Ratcliffe Hicks was born October 3. 1S43, being descended 

 from Thomas Hicks, who came from England in 1644 and 

 settled at Scituate, Mass., founding a famih' many members 

 of which have won distinction. The father of Ratcliffe 

 Hicks was a merchant in Providence, R. I., and later in 

 New York city. The son was graduated from Brown Uni- 

 versity in the class of 1864. Being admitted to the bar, he 

 won success in his profession, while his interest in public 

 matters led to his election for a number of terms to the Con- 

 necticut legislature, of which he proved an able and influen- 

 tial member. He was also at various times city attorney of 

 Meriden and attorney for the county of New Haven. 



In 1S82 Mr. Hicks became connected with the rubber busi- 

 ness. He was a son in law of the late Jared H. Canfield, 

 who had, a few years ago established at Bridgeport, Conn., 

 the business which, after his death, in 1883, was incorpor- 

 ated as the Canfield Rubber Co. Mr. Hicks was elected 

 president of the corporation, holding this position until 

 within the present year, when he disposed of his holdings 

 in the business. During this period he saw the company 

 grow from small beginnings until its sales amounted to 

 $r, 000, 000 or more per year, thus demonstrating his capac- 

 ity as a business man no less than in other relations in 

 life. 



I\Ir. Hicks did much for his native town of Tolland. It is 

 the site of the Ratcliffe Hicks Industrial and Educational 

 School, toward the endowment of which he contributed liber- 

 ally. Mr. Hicks is survived by an unmarried daughter. 



END OF A SUIT IN THE TIRE FIELD. 

 The amicable settlement is reported of the suits of the 

 Pope Manufacturing Co. against the Rubber Goods Manu- 

 facturing Co., in the New York supreme court, the first of 

 which was instituted in October, 1903. Under date of 

 November 8, 1899, the American Bicycle Co. sold to the 

 Rubber Goods Manufacturing Co. three rubber tire plants — 

 the Hartford, the Indianapolis, and the Peoria — the consider- 

 ation involving an agreement by the American Bicycle Co. 

 to purchase at least 90 per cent of its requirements in tires 



