Mai i, 1903 ] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



277 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN AKRON. 



BY A RESIDEN 1 ONDENT. 



TO the Editor of The India Rubber World : The de- 

 mand for tires continues unabated, and the record of the 

 present year will surpass any in the tire making history of 

 Akron. The shipments of automobile, carriage, and bicycle 

 tires are going out from Akron on nearly every train, but espe- 

 cially does the volume of the express shipments attract the no- 

 tice of the casual observer. There is not a factory in Akron 

 which is not working over time, in the tire departments, at least. 

 and while the automobile business claims paramount attention 

 the carriage tire trade was never so brisk so far as the demand 

 for goods is concerned. Prices are still low — that is, the heav- 

 iest demand is more for a cheaper grade of goods than the 

 manufacturers like to see, but the indications are that these 

 conditions will improve. 



" 1 look to see the chief demand to be for first class tires and 

 a decreased call for the cheaper goods in the near future," said 

 one prominent manufacturer. "The carriage men and the pub- 

 lic are learning that the cheapest goods are not the cheapest in 

 the long run. The general average of quality and prices may 

 not be elevated much this year, but by another season I think 

 it will be." 



On the other hand, an important fact is pointed out with ref- 

 erence to both automobile and carriage tires. It is that the ex- 

 perience of the past few years has enabled manufacturers to 

 produce really high grade tires at lower prices than formerly. 



" It is the experience of the bicycle tire manufacturers all 

 over again, in some respects," said one manufacturer. " Years 

 ago tires were sold at $12 a pair that now are sold at $3. The 

 reason is simple. In former days so costly a compound was 

 thought necessary that tires could not be made to sell at any 

 such prices as now obtain. Afterward it was discovered that a 

 tougher, better wearing, and no less resilient tire could be made 

 by using less Para rubber and more of other ingredients. Tests 

 were made with scores of compounds. Some factories had forty 

 or more different compounds under test at one time. The re- 

 sult was that prices steadily declined, while quality no less 

 surely increased. Brains and systematic experiments brought 

 these results, and it is a common thing to hear a manufacturer 

 remark how fortunate he would have been had he known a 

 dozen years ago all that he knows now of the making of tires. 

 We have worked all these years to produce as good a tire as 

 possible at as low a figure as possible, and the consumer reaps 

 the benefit. The manufacturers are entitled to no small degree 

 of credit for what they have achieved in this. While there are 

 some very poor tires put upon the market, no reputable manu- 

 facturer is going to put his name on an article that he does not 

 believe to possess some merit. It is a very short sighted pol- 

 icy that permits a tire to go out which cannot be expected to 

 stand the racket for a year at least, no matter how little the 

 buyer pays for the goods." 



There is no exaggeration in speaking in strong terms of the 

 activity in the tire trade, and this includes bicycle tires as well. 

 One manufacturer estimated that the output of bicycle tires 

 this season would be, conservatively, 20 per cent, greater than 

 that of last year. Some of the factories would be glad to sublet 

 contracts in order to keep up with their orders, but are unable 

 to do so, as all have plenty of business of their own demanding 



attention. 



* * * 



More men than can be had, apparently, are needed. One 

 large factory has been advertising continuously for several 

 weeks in all the rural weeklies and dailies in this part of Ohio 



for men and still its needsare not supplied. In this connection 

 it is a curious fact that within an hour after the fire which de- 

 stroyed the plant of the India Rubber Co. on March 26, repre- 

 sentatives of two or three other large local rubber factories 

 were on the ground to hire men. They were pickedup fast on 

 the afternoon of the fire and the following morning, in this 

 way, and when, two or three days later, a gentleman arrived 

 from an outside factory to offer employment to some whom the 

 fire had thrown out of work he found few, if any, who had not 

 already taken employment elsewhere. And the India company 

 employed approximately 300 people. There were girls and boys 

 among this number, but even these quickly obtained other 

 positions. 



How long the extremely busy season is to continue is some- 

 what problematical. The summer months always bring a 

 "breathing spell," if nothing more, especially in the tire de- 

 partments, which now are the busiest. But there is every rea- 

 son to believe that this summer the slack season will come later 

 and last a shorter time than usual. 



* * * 



A definite decision with reference to the rebuilding of the 

 plant of the India Rubber Co. has not been reached by that 

 company and the Rubber Goods Manufacturing Co., of which 

 the India company are a part. President L. D. Parker came to 

 Akron soon after the fire occurred and went over the situation 

 with care. Arrangements were made to take care of contracts 

 held by the India company in other factories of the Rubber 

 Goods company, but naturally the excellent business the former 

 were building up received a setback. The India Rubber Co. 

 were acknowledged to be in a more satisfactory condition at the 

 time of the fire than ever before in their history. They were 

 operating their plant to its capacity and the future seemed very 

 bright. The insurance adjusters spoke in complimentary terms 

 of the good order in which they found all things pertaining to 

 the office in their investigations as to stock and goods on hand. 

 The insurance, $148,000 approximately, was paid in full, the 

 adjustment being completed within a week after the fire. The 

 India company have been repairing their machine shop, which 

 was not totally destroyed, with a view to doing work for some 

 of the other constituent factories of the Rubber Goods com- 

 pany, and molds which were saved from the flames have been 

 shipped to these companies. W. L. Wild, the local manager, 

 has been in Hartford to look after the progress of the work on 

 the India Rubber Co. contracts in the factory there. As indi- 

 viduals Akron business men have urged the rebuilding of the 

 ruined factory, but there is no board of trade or similar organi- 

 zation here to make a united effort in this direction. 



* * * 



Akron rubber manufacturers were considerably interested 

 in a. recent communication in The India Rubber World 

 headed " Guarding Rubber Factory Secrets," and signed " D. 

 L. R." The fact is that guestsare seldom admitted to the large 

 rubber factories here, and instead of the factories becoming 

 more and more open to visitors, the reverse is true. It is not 

 an uncommon thing for outsiders to be shown through rubber 

 works here, but visitors simply as visitors can hardly be said 

 to be welcome. At onetime, when a large number of strangers 

 were to be in the city, and the Akron Chamber of Commerce 

 requested that these guests be allowed to visit the leading indus- 

 tries, the rubber manufacturers without exception declined to 

 accede to the request. This refusal was partly on account of 

 the unwillingness of the manufacturers to suffer the interrup- 

 tion to their work which the presence of a large number of 

 visitors would cause, but also on account of the use of special 

 machinery and secret processes in their factories. While the 



