Jl'i.y I, igo/. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



297 



W-Pi^ 



Published on the Ist of oaoh Month by 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING GO., 



No. 35 WEST 21st STREET. NEW YORK. 

 CABLE AnnRESS: lliWOItLn. XEW YORK. 



HENRY C. PEARSON, 

 EIHTOB. 



HAWTHORNE HILL, 

 ASSOCIATE. 



Vol. 36. 



JULY 1. 1907. 



No. 4. 



Sdbscriptioxs : .fH.oo pel- yeai-, S1.7.T for six mouths, postpaid, for tbe 

 United States and (lependencies and Mexico. To tlie Dominion 

 of Canada and all other countries, $8,511 (or equivalent funds) 

 per year, postpaid. 



Advebtisixc, : Kates will be made known on application. 



Re.mitt.vxcks : Should always be made by bank draft. Postofflce or Ex- 

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 Puui.isiii.NG COMP.\?n-. Hemlttances for foreign subscriptions 

 should be sent by International Postal order, payable as above. 



DlSCONTI.\L".\.\("ES : Yearly orders for sub.'^crlptlons and ndvertlslnj; are 

 regarded as permanent, and after the first twelve months they 

 win be discontinued only at the request of the subscriber or ad- 

 vertiser. Bills are rouderinl promptly at the beginninf; of each 

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COPTRIQBT, 1907. BY 



THE IXDIA RUBItEIt PUISLrSHIXO CO. 



Entered at New Y'ork postolTice as mail matter of the second class. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS ON LAST PAGE READING MATTER. 



WHEN TO BUY RUBBER. 



SO far as we can learn, there is no dearth of raw rub 

 her in the storerooms of the larger manufacturers. 

 This can onl\- mean that lilieral ])urchases were made at 

 prices which, at this writing, must lie clescribed as very 

 high. Despite a constantly receding market, for several 

 months past, the continual complaint of sellers of rubber 

 has been that the trade will not buy. Did anybody ever 

 see the trade fail to buy when it needed rubber? The 

 highest prices ever reached in the market did not put an 

 end to buying when rubber was needed in the industry. 



The truth is that when rubber began to sag a few 

 months ago from the exceptionally high prices which 

 had prevailed so long there was a general activity on the 

 part of buyers for consumption, with the result that the 

 arrival of the lowest prices for three years past has not 

 stimulated any greater activity. Manufacturers cannot 

 afford to buy rubber at 2.^ cents a pound when they doii"t 

 reallv need it. There have been heavier arrivals in 

 the market during the past season than any one could 

 have foreseen, either sellers or buyers, with the result 

 that before the climax was reached most large manu- 

 facturers had their storerooms filled to unusual repletion. 

 It may be that some of them wish they had waited for 

 rubber at $100 or $200 a ton less, but so long as the 

 industry is active the cost of the raw material is not the 

 first consideration. 



The main consideration at this time, we take it. is that 



manufacturers should not rush to lower the prices of their 

 products. As experience has shown them for so many 

 vears, the moment that an increased activity in buying 

 manifests itself, in whatever rubber market, prices of 

 raw rubber are bound to start to rise again, and a rise is 

 usually more rapid than a fall in raw rubber. Besides, 

 this is a period between seasons, and a heavy production I-IBMAR 

 in one year is not necessarily followed by a heavy crop NEW vo 

 in the next year. iioT*^^' 



.Ml of which leads up to the question of what is the ''^►' 

 best time to buy rubber, on a rising or a falling market? 

 We cannot avoid the belief that the time to buy rubber 

 is when the conditions of the tra<le point to its need, re- 

 gardless of its price at the moment. The pursuance of 

 any other course is a policy of speculation, and this is 

 not consistent with the best interests of manufacturing. 



ON MAKING BETTER TIRES. 



S( ) long as automobile tires hold air they will leak air, 

 and it is in the nature of things that they will avail 

 themselves of every chance. One may hold the inventor 

 in high or low regard, as one may elect : the patent office 

 undoubtedly does reveal many evidences of what, to the 

 established worker in the world, are mental aberrations. 

 But what was Charles Goodyear, the discoverer of vul- 

 canization, measured by this standard? And is it for- 

 gotten with what scorn N'anderbilt, the railroad king, 

 repulsed young Westinghouse for presuming to stop 

 railway trains "with wind'"? 



The pneumatic tire, as now develo])ed to its utmost, is 

 better than anything else known to man for ecjuipping 

 automobile wheels. I'.ut the weekly grind of the patent 

 offices at \\'ashington and London and Paris and Berlin 

 is not to be laughed at. nevertheless. Those institutions 

 have registered in the past the notable inventions that 

 measure what we call civilization, as compared with the 

 usages of life when there were no patent offices. Every 

 patent office gazette nowadays is burdened with the ef- 

 forts of patient inventors to bring forth something in 

 the way of a bandage for a swift running wheel that 

 shall aft'ord a maximum of resilience, while assuring a 

 minimum of danger to the traveler. 



\\'e welcome with pleasure the concerted action of 

 automobile manufacturers in America and France to 

 arrive at the best sizes of pneumatic tires, as they now 

 are. for the automobiles as the public now demands them. 

 For what does A, or B. or C care who makes his tires, 

 or h<-)W he makes them, so long as they render a service, 

 for which he cheerfully pays whatever is charged? He 

 asks simplv that the tires will take him out, and home 

 again, without accident. 



Let the automobile associations go further, and .'Strive 

 to learn to what extent the automobile tire can be im- 

 proved. .-K mere discussion of sizes means to determine 

 what is best of the present attainment. .-\nd what is 

 more, let Michelin and Goodrich and the Continental and 



