408 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[September i, 1903. 



from the visible assets than by their earning capacity at the 

 time. But the basis of the issue of securities was that 

 the preferred shares should represent tangible assets and 

 rank first for dividends ; the common stock, issued " to 

 represent the increased earning capacity by reason of the 

 consolidation of the interests acquired," was to be entitled 

 to any profits which might remain after paying the divi- 

 dends guaranteed on the preference shares. A like rule 

 has been followed in industrial consolidation generally, 

 and it is a mistake to regard the nominal values of shares 

 as the amount actually invested. If a dozen manufactur- 

 ers combine and divide among themselves the shares 

 which represent their respective interest in the consoli- 

 dation, it matters little what the nominal value may be. 

 The shares might be issued sans designation de valeur, as 

 the French say ; it comes to that when any are taken 

 by the public, which is governed only by the prospective 

 returns on the investment in fixing the market price of 

 shares. 



We trust that we shall not be understood as attempting 

 to instruct our friends on the other side — or anybody else 

 — since our thought has been only to help them to feel 

 that perhaps the future of industry is not utterly dark. 

 Whoever prefers to buy goods " not made by a trur t " can 

 still do so in the United States ; at the same time, the 

 " trusts " do not seem to be going out of business. Which 

 shows that there is room for big and little concerns in the 

 same market here, and we doubt not that the same is true 

 of Germany and the rest of the world. 



A NEW EMPLOYMENT FOR HOSE. 



a ' I 'HE man with the hoe" has come to be the pictured 

 A symbol of silent, hopeless defeat, but "the man with 

 the hose," unless signs fail, is soon to be a triumphant expo- 

 nent of victory. That is if the practical application of the plan 

 of the superintendent of the County jail at Lafayette, Indiana, 

 supports the theory. That worthy official, after a careful 

 study of the strength and weakness of mobs, has decided that 

 cold steel or bullets tend only to inflame, while cold water, ap- 

 plied with unction through a suitable make of fire hose, tends 

 to placate gusty and unreasoning passion. He no doubt pon- 

 dered long on the " Red Riot Hose" that scattered the fiery 

 anarchists of Paterson, N. J. some months ago, and he has there- 

 fore, as a protection against mobs, pursuaded the commission- 

 ers of his county to erect a stand pipe between the front and 

 rear entrances of his jail. With an ample supply of hose both 

 entrances can be guarded, and, if necessary, the whole struc- 

 ture swept clean. 



The force of the water will be such that it will easily knock 

 a man down and it would be hardly possible for a body of men 

 to force an entrance against it. Further than this, no jailor 

 could have the slightest qualm of conscience in turning to such 

 a means of defence. He might be too tender hearted or too 

 timid to shoot, but not to " turn on the hose." He might 

 shrink from blood, but not from water. Again, the leader of a 

 mob who faces the sheriff's gun, and perhaps dies, is for the 

 moment a hero and is fully conscious of the fact, but the same 

 man tumbled in a wet, gasping, swearing heap will be an instant 

 subject for mirth. 



The suggestion is a practical one, and if the lynching fever 

 continues may well be turned to by all jailors as a way out of a 



most difficult position. Further than this, if it were possible to 

 add to the water some chemical that would cause a harmless 

 but practically indelible stain to appear upon the person of 

 the deluged one, what an after help it would be to the law in 

 identifying mob leaders! 



THE MANUFACTURE OF INVENTORS. 



A MANUFACTURER writes to a New York newspaper, 

 •**■ suggesting that the board of education offer prizes in 

 manual training schools for the best inventions or improve- 

 ments made by the boys in connection with their work, or 

 their tools, or for any suggestions for improvements in con- 

 nection with them. The reason for his interest is that for 

 some time he has, in his own factory, put in operation a some- 

 what similar plan. His experience was as follows: During 

 the first six months, there were only eleven suggestions for 

 improvements. During the fourth six months, there were over 

 seventy. This development, by the way, was from men who 

 had shown before no inventive or suggestive genius at all. 

 There is no question but what the suggestion has a practical 

 value for manufacturers, depending somewhat, however, upon 

 the branch in which they are engaged, and the ability of the 

 manufacturer himself to discriminate between the creative and 

 the imitative faculty — between invention, improvement, and 

 suggestion. Take the rubber branch as a whole, for example. 

 There have been (ew inventions, though thousands of patents 

 have been issued. There have been countless hundreds of 

 valuable suggestions, modifications, minor improvements, and 

 imitations, many of which have been most profitable. In ap- 

 plying the scheme to the regular every day routine of factory 

 work, it is easy to see where many a petty boss would cap- 

 ture the idea of some workman, and where one workman 

 might claim credit for another's improvement; and it has 

 even been whispered that the heads of concerns themselves 

 have fathered the child of the employe's brain. If however, 

 the plan had general merit, these minor difficulties would 

 soon be swept out of sight. It would be most interesting to 

 see the matter tried in some large mechanical rubber factory, 

 for example. 



•'The rubber industry may be revolutionized" is a 

 stock headline in certain newpaper offices, which lately has 

 been displayed over accounts of rubber obtained from the so- 

 called "greasewood " of Colorado. The story of a certain mar- 

 velous " rubber shrub " in Mexico is being repeated, the idea 

 being that the gum can be collected so cheaply that it will find 

 a wide place in the rubber industry, even if not equal to the 

 best Caoutchouc. But it seems reasonable to suppose that the 

 first cost of a ton of this stuff, gained at the rate of a spoonful 

 for each plant destroyed, would be higher than that of real rub- 

 ber, of which several pounds may be collected from the same 

 tree year after year. And if the material is less valuable, as 

 well as more expensive, it is not clear why manufacturers should 

 be interested in it. 



After the harvesting of a potato crop there are no 

 more potatoes to be had from the same field without first 

 planting a new crop. The same condition applies to the so- 

 called " root rubber," of which so much has come out of Africa. 

 It is true that the roots of the rubber plants in no way resem- 

 ble potatoes in shape, but otherwise the comparison holds good 

 As an authority quoted on another page says: "The surface > 

 after the natives have collected their rubber, resembles an 

 orchard or meadow which has been upturned by a grub-seek- 



