March i, 1906.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



195 



Having thus decided that the case comes within the scope 

 of the federal law, the court deems it unnecessary to con- 

 sider the eflect of the anti trust law of Wisconsin. The suit 

 claimed royalties in the sum of $4109.42, but after deducting 

 certain offsets, the plaintiff, if entitled to recover, should 

 have had judgment for $2517.66, with 6 per cent, interest. 



THE SEASON IN RUBBER FOOTWEAR. 



WHEN the country roundabout New York is visited by 

 a winter such as the present memorable one, it means 

 many things. To the rubber trade it would be expected to 

 mean first of all a great falling off" in the sale of rubber foot- 

 wear. No one could foretell that there was to be an almost 

 total absence of snow, consequently the usual sujiply of the 

 heavier winter goods was laid in by dealers. In fact many 

 merchants, having in mind the severe winter of 1904-05, 

 bought much more liberally than usual. The result is that 

 instead of sending in the usual number of duplicate orders, 

 the store shelves still contain heavy rubber boots and shoes. 

 This condition, indeed, prevails throughout the greater part 

 of the United States, with the exception of a strip extending 

 from the eastern half of New England to the Far West, at no 

 point reaching more than a hundred miles or so from the 

 Canadian border. This upper ribbon of territory has had 

 enough snow to warrant dealers laj-ing in their usual stocks 

 of heavj' goods, most of which will undoubtedly be sold be- 

 fore summer. But this is onlj- a drop in the bucket when 

 compared with the rest of the great territory covered by the 

 wholesalers and jobbers of rubber footwear. 



There is cause for a more optimistic view of the trade in 

 regard to light rubbers. This takes in women's and children's 

 shoes, which comprise a very large majority of the rubber 

 footwear sold. Of this class of goods the sale this winter 

 has not been so large as in former years, yet the falling off 

 has not been so great as might be imagined. The reason for 

 this is that the average woman fears dampness as much as 

 she does snow, and takes precautions against w-et feet even 

 when the sidewalks are onlj' damp from rain or fog. 



With a view of ascertaining just how hard the rubber shoe 

 trade in New York had been hit by the open winter, an In- 

 i)i.\ Rubber World representative interviewed some of the 

 leading New York jobbers and retailers. The manager of 

 the shoe department of a large department store declared 

 that when the season was ended the books woiild show that 

 his house had sold more rubber shoes of the lighter grades 

 than last year. The sale of boots had fallen off heavily, 

 he said, and there had been a decrease in the sale of arctics 

 and heavy weights. 



.\t a large retail store it was said that while the final in- 

 ventory at the close of the season might show a smaller vol- 

 ume of business in rubber shoes than last year, the decrease 

 would be much less than would naturally be expected in view 

 of the open winter. The manager said that he would carry 

 over but little stock to next winter, '• One thing to bear in 

 mind is that people are learning more and more that good 

 health depends largely on keeping the feet dry, " said he. 

 '■ That means that more people are wearing rubbers each 

 year. Where one man gives up the practice, half a dozen 

 women take it up, and more than that, many mothers who 

 heretofore have paid no attention to this subject, now see to 

 it that their children's feet are kept dry by means of rubber 



shoes. So you see that while trade in one line grows less, 

 the loss is more than made up in other lines. On the whole 

 our trade this winter has been satisfactory. " 



The story in the jobbing trade was substantially the same. 

 While the business as a whole had not been what was de- 

 sired, the total sales for the season would not be so far be- 

 low that of last year as was generally supposed. One job- 

 ber voiced the sentiments of the trade when he said tliat 

 there was plenty of time to " catch up " before the season 

 closed. Early sales were heavy. Then came a lull, with a 

 material absence of duplicate orders such as have been the 

 rule in other years. This was followed by a lively spurt in 

 the latter half of winter. 



In the second week in February there came to New York 

 and its vicinity the first real snowstorm of the winter, with 

 a fall of something more than 4 inches. Immediately there 

 was a brisk revival of the rubber shoe trade, which was ac- 

 centuated by a week or so of warm weather and rain which 

 transformed the snow into slush and water. This was a boon 

 to many of the retailers who had still on hand a stock of 

 heavy rubbers and some of them were cleaned out. 



THE TRADE IN CANADA. 



A REPORT from Canada which reaches The India Rubber 

 World is prefaced with the remark that " it is just as well 

 to let the rubber trade know the facts, as the impression is 

 gaining ground in the United States that Canada is simplj- 

 a gold mine for rubber men." Our correspondent writes : 



" The present winter is the mildest experienced for a great 

 many years, and has considerably retarded the sales of rub- 

 ber footwear throughout Canada. The shrinkage in sales of 

 all companies is very marked, and merely goes to emphasize 

 the point that everything depends on the severity of the 

 winter here to put sales above the normal standard. Up to 

 the present there has been very little snow, and whilst in 

 past years large sales of footwear have been efiected, in the 

 three months just gone by this year results have been ex- 

 tremely disappointing. The time for actual winter condi- 

 tions has practically gone bj', and it will only be due to an 

 abnormally severe ending to the present winter, that sales 

 will reach anything like their normal condition." 



NAVY SPECIFICATIONS FOR GASKETS. 



A SPECIFICATION i.ssued by the United States navy 

 ■^^^ department requires that the compound shall contain 

 not more than 3.5 per cent, of sulphur, and not over i per 

 cent, of resin. In the methods of analj'sis used all sulphur 

 in the goods whether in the form of free sulphur, sulphur 

 combined with the rubber, or in the form of sulphates, is 

 estimated as sulphur. So that a compound containing 25 

 per cent, of barytes and 2 per cent, of sulphur would be con- 

 demned, while one containing 25 per cent, of whiting and 

 3.5 per cent, of sulphur would be passed as all right. The 

 I per cent, of resin is also an impossible requirement, since 

 the amount of resins extracted by acetone steadil}- increases 

 with the vulcanization. If the rubber used contained i per 

 cent, of resin the vulcanized material will be found to con- 

 tain from 3 to 5 or more per cent. s. P. s. 



David Moselev Sc Sons, Limited, (Manchester, Eng- 

 land) are experimenting with a new solid rubber tire for 

 motor 'buses. 



