320 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[July i, 1907. 



THE RUBBER TRADE AT AKRON. 



liY A KESIDENT CORRESl'ONIlENT. 



■ I ■ HE reclaiming plant of The Aladdin Rubber Co., near Bar- 

 ■^ berton, was practically wiped out by fire on June 7, which 

 caused about $75,000 damage. The origin of the fire has not been 

 ascertained. The $4,000 Corliss engine and the boiler were not 

 destroyed, but all of the process machinery and about 90 tons 

 of rubber were a total loss. The company began operations in 

 October last and were doing a good business. It is likely that the 

 plant will be rebuilt in Akron where the company have their 

 offices. The company carried considerable insurance. 



The B. F. Goodrich Co. are keeping a gang of workmen em- 

 ployed night and day upon the new factory and office building 

 which they are having erected at the corner of South Main and 

 Rubber streets. The office building will be one of the finest 

 structures of the kind in the city. 



Referring to a published report that The Diamond Rubber Co. 

 will engage in the manufacture of insulated wire, they state 

 that while they have been figuring upon something of the kind 

 no decision has been reached in the matter. 



The Diamond Rubber Co. are erecting a new building in con- 

 nection with their factory in Akron for the manufacture of the 

 Marsh tire rim which, while they have controlled it for some 

 time past, has been manufactured at Columbus, Ohio, by the 

 Bryant Steel Wheel and Rim Co. As soon as the Columbus 

 plant can accumulate a sufficient supply of stock to permit of 

 the removal of the business to Akron the change will be made. 



The Rubber Products Co., operating the plant formerly con- 

 trolled by the .-Mden Rubber Co. at Barberton, are making some 

 important improvements in the works, one of the most recent 

 of which was a new press room. The number of the em- 

 ployes have been increased and the company's facilities en- 

 larged considerably. 



Alexander Adamson, owner of Adamson's foundry and ma- 

 chine shop, has purchased five acres of land in East Akron, 

 which has given rise to a report that the business which he is 

 conducting in the manufacture of rubber machinery is to be 

 taken over by a large company of which he will remain manager, 

 though as yet nothing definite is to be reported. The Adamson 

 foundry has in hand large orders for hydraulic presses for the 

 Michelin Tire Co.'s factory at Milltown, New Jersey. 



Considerable local interest is felt in the French Grand Prix 

 automobile contest on July 2, owing to the fact that the car 

 which Walter Christie is to' drive will be fitted with Diamond 

 tires. 



Mr. Arthur H. Marks, vice president of The Diamond Rub- 

 ber Co. (Akron, Ohio), has been elected secretary of the Akron 

 Automobile Co., and inaugurated an active campaign looking to 

 the inclusion in the membership of the club every automobile 

 owner in the city. Mr. Charles C. Goodrich, owing to his in- 

 tended removal from Akron, lately resigned the presidency of 

 the club, being succeeded by Mr. M. Otis Hower. Mr. Fred. 

 Work is vice president and the Hon. George W. Crouse treas- 

 urer. Mr. Marks says that this city enjoys the distinction of 

 having more automobiles than any other of its size in the United 

 States. There are 325 licensed cars in .\kron, or one for every 

 200 residents. 



Superintendent Freedman, of the Stein Double Cushion Tire 

 Co., has sailed for Europe with the idea of being absent about 

 three months. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN SAN FRANCISCO. 



BY A RESIDENT CORRESPONDENT. 



CAN FRANCISCO as a city continues to undergo some re- 

 »>-' markable experiences. The mayor, Eugene Schmitz, has 

 been convicted of the crime of extortion, which involves im- 

 prisonment, and he now awaits sentence. The political "boss," 



Abe Ruef, who was largely responsible for both the rise and the 

 fall of Schmitz, has made a confession of crime and also awaits 

 sentence. Every member of the city's board of supervisors has 

 confessed to bribe taking. Added to the political muddle, the 

 business men have to contend with the hardships which have 

 been occasioned by all sorts of strikes. 



While retail business is naturally slow on account of these 

 troubles, and every line of business is inconvenienced, a good 

 thing is the fact that the strikes have not put a stop to activity 

 in rebuilding the city, though the railways have been interfered 

 with in delivering freight, and construction material has some- 

 times been scarce. There has been a stringency of money, too. 

 But crops on the Pacific coast promise to be unusually big this 

 year, which will put more money in circulation. Bank clearings 

 are surpassing former records ; ocean cargoes are larger than 

 ever before ; the city is being better administered, and the end 

 of the labor troubles is believed to be in sight. On the whole 

 San Francisco people are taking these disturbances as much as 

 a matter of course as they do their three meals a day, and as 

 somebody in the rubber trade has said, they are getting fat on 

 them. 



There has been no change in the management of the Gorham 

 Rubber Co., as might be inferred from some reports that have 

 gone out. Mr. F. S. Sargent is still manager of the establish- 

 ment; and he reports a degree of activity in trade that would 

 indicate that the rubber branch is one of those least affected by 

 the current troubles. 



The Pennsylvania Rubber Co. have taken a ten years' lease 

 on No. 512 Mission street, and contracted for the addition of 

 two stories to the building. Business has been opened with 

 Mr. L. L. Torrey in charge, and several carloads of stock are 

 on their way from the factory. From the San Francisco store 

 branch stores will be operated at Los Angeles and Seattle. 



Mr. R. H. Pease, president of the Goodyear Rubber Co., is 

 well satisfied with the situation in the rubber trade. He says 

 that naturally in the summer months trade will be less active, 

 but May this year was the best May they have ever had, and 

 the orders for fall deliveries are larger than ever before at this 

 date. Work is progressing on the new twelve-story building 

 near their old location on Market street, which they expect to 

 occupy before next summer. Mr. Pease and his family will spend 

 the present summer in Portland. 



Mr. C. F. Crosby, formerly with the Washington Rubber Co. 

 in Seattle, has come to San Francisco to take a position wi'h 

 the Pacific Tool and Supply Co. He reports the rubber trade 

 at Seattle as active. 



The manager of the Pacific Coast Rubber Company, Mr. Nor- 

 ton, states that trade keeps up at its exceptionally brick pace, 

 and that the outlook, judging from the prosperous condition of 

 the entire State, is that good conditions will prevail during the 

 coming year. 



GUAYULE INTERESTS. 



A NEW company in the guayule rubber interest is Compaiiia 

 •'^ Guayulera de Torreon, S. A., composed principally of 

 citizens of Torreon, Mexico, where the company have their head- 

 quarters and are planning to erect a factory with a capacity for 

 producing 12 to 15 tons of rubber per day. The company are re- 

 ported to own 858,000 acres of land, on which the guayule plant 

 is abundant, besides which they have contracted for the guayule 

 on the extensive ranch, "La Bahia," owned by General Jeronimo 

 Trevifio. Lie. Manuel Garza .\dalpe is president of the new com- 

 pany and G. P. Pena secretary. The company will begin business 

 with a capita! of $300,000 (Mexican). 



The declared value of guayule rubber exports from Torreon, 

 Mexico, during 1906 totaled $917,571 (gold), according to the 

 United States consul, against $125,478 in 1905. Guayule first 

 appeared on the consular agent's records on April 3, 1905. 



