J' ' v ', '9°3-] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



329 



doubtless it will be found that caoutchouc is the basis of all 

 matter. The world no longer is dependent for rubber upon the 

 trees of the Amazon valley, for quite as much is now obtained 

 from vines and even from underground creepers in Africa. 

 But there is a promise that our manufacturers may not have ti i 

 send abroad at all for their raw material. Listen to Mr. Wil- 

 liam F. Blair, who is vouched for by the New York Times as 

 an authority, " who spends several months each year in the 

 Orinoco basin looking after the affairs of American rubber 

 firms." He finds time to remark: " It is not generally known 

 that a product may be extracted from corn cobs which, by mix- 

 ture with other chemicals, gives very good rubber." Did you 

 know that corn cobs were chemicals? Think how much has 

 been lost by the fact not being known generally ; thousands of 

 millions of corn cobs wasted that might have been converted 

 into very good rubber. It is true Mr. Blair says: " But re- 

 peated experiments demonstrated that it cost so much to make 

 that it was useless to compete with the South American arti- 

 cle." Never mind that; think of the repeated experiments 

 that failed to discourage diaries Goodyear. He kept on ex- 

 perimenting. It is enough to know that corn cobs contain 

 very good rubber. A cheap way of extracting it is sure to 

 come. Next we expect that, by mixing worn out street paving 

 blocks with other chemicals, more very good rubber may be 

 made. But don't neglect the corn cobs. 



The opening of the new Pacific cable, scheduled to oc- 

 cur within the next few days, will score a new triumph for 

 American enterprise, even if the cable itself was manufactured 

 in a foreign country. No other submarine cable of equal mag- 

 nitude was ever projected and carried to completion by purely 

 private enterprise — it was practically the work of one man — 

 and none other was completed in so short a time from the date 

 of the original undertaking. It may not at once begin to yield 

 a profitable return, but there can be no doubt the new line will 

 contribute to an important degree to the development of com- 

 mercial interests on the Pacific, " the ocean of the future." 

 Among the immediate results will be the competitive influence 

 of the new line tending to reduce cable tolls to the Far West, 

 as Americans now consider Asia. A word must also be said of 

 the results of Mr. Mackay's enterprise in proving the greater 

 efficiency of private enterprise in an undertaking of this kind 

 than of governmental initiative and control. 



The news was cabled across the Atlantic during the 

 month, of the discovery of a new source of rubber, and the 

 journals which headlined the report " It May Revolutionize the 

 World's Rubber Industry" took their cue from the wording of 

 the despatch. It happens that the plants referred to, which 

 yield rubber underground, are those illustrated in the May is- 

 sue of this paper — not new, and likely soon to become extermi- 

 nated. The days are over for sensational " finds" of rubber, 

 except on paper. 



The high trice of cotton, which threatens just now to 

 affect the rubber industry to an inconvenient degree, is wholly 

 a result of speculation, which has been conducted of late on a 

 more extensive scale than was ever before known. The New- 

 York Journal of Commerce points out that one effect of such 

 cotton " corners " will be to encourage the efforts now making 

 in many countries to render the world less dependent upon the 

 United States for raw cotton, the export of which has added so 

 much to our national wealth. As giving point to the Jow nal's 

 suggestion, we may add that Great Britain last year imported 

 355,000,000 pounds of cotton from Egypt and considerable 



quantities from Brazil and India. Already numerous cotton 

 mills exist in the latter two countries, consuming a large local 

 production of the raw material. Meanwhile Germany and other 

 powers are striving to develop the growth of cotton in their 

 African colonies, with encouraging results to date. Ultimately 

 the rubber manufacturers will not be restricted to the use of 

 American cottons. 



OBITUARY. 



FO. KETTERLING, whodied in Chicago on May 21, had 

 been the manager since November, 1892, of the Chicago 

 selling agency of the Lycoming Rubber Co. (Williamsport, Pa.) 

 He was born in 1S58 at Monroe, Illinois, and graduated from 

 the academy at that place, after which he entered business in 

 Chicago. In December, 1901, The Standard Rubber Shoe Co. 

 was incorporated, with Mr. Kctterling as president and mana- 

 ger, taking on the sale in Chicago not only of the Lycoming, but 

 of the Meyer and Jersey brands of footwear made by the United 

 States Rubber Co. The funeral services, on May 23. were con- 

 ducted by Lincoln Park commandery, Knights Templar. At a 

 special meeting of the Shoe and Leather Association of Chicago, 

 on May 26. a suitable memorial was adopted. Mr. Ketterling 

 is survived by a widow and a son and by three brothers and 

 three sisters. 



= Francis H. Holton, Jr., died of tuberculosis at his home, 

 in Akron, Ohio, on June 8, at the age of 47. He was for sev- 

 eral years connected with the factory of The B. F. Goodrich 

 Co., and later with the Faultless Rubber Co. Funeral services 

 were held at Akron on the day following, and the interment 

 was in Greenwood cemetery, Brooklyn, New York. Mrs. 

 Holton and two children survive. Mr. Holton's father, Francis 

 II. Holton, who is widely known in the rubber industry, has 

 been engaged actively in it for most of the time since 1854. 



NEW TRADE PUBLICATIONS. 



THE B. F. Goodrich Co. (Akron, Ohio) issue an illustrat- 

 ed catalogue of Newer Surgical Rubber Specialties, rep- 

 resenting the product of their " surgical department," estab- 

 lished about a year ago in recognition of the increasing uses 

 for rubber goods by the medical profession. This is not a mere 

 catalogue of "druggists' sundries " in the ordinary sense, but 

 much more. While including the older lines of druggists' 

 goods, this catalogue is devoted chiefly to special products, per- 

 fected with the cooperation of members of the medical profes- 

 sion, a number of whom are named in the catalogue in connec- 

 tion with the articles suggested by them to meet wants which 

 have arisen in their practice. The catalogue thus contains a 

 number of articles not to be found in any othertrade list, many 

 of them being of a character not produced, to our knowledge, in 

 any other rubber factory, which makes the book a distinct con- 

 tribution to the literature of rubber. [5^" X Z/i". 47 pages. 



G & J Tire Co. (Indianapolis, Indiana) issue a booklet de- 

 scriptive of G & J Tires, for automobiles, motor cycles, and 

 driving wagons, of the detachable type, fitted to their standard 

 rims, with prices ; also the G & J motor valves— all satisfactori- 

 ly illustrated. [5" X 7". 12 pages. ] = - They issue also a spe- 

 cial Telegraph Code, designed to save no little expense in tele- 

 graphic orders for the company's tires and supplies. [4" X 9''. 

 1 2 pages.] 



No small amount of rubber is called for in the manufacture 

 annually in the United States, of several millions of baseballs 

 The base of each one is a small solid ball of rubber, which is 

 wrapped with woolen yarn, and then covered with leather. 



