190 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[February i, 1909. 



INTEREST AND DIVIDEND PAYMENTS. 



Interest on the 6 per cent, debentures of the New York 

 Belting and Packing Co., Limited, and on the first mortgage 

 6 per cent, bonds of the Mechanical Rubber Co., were pay- 

 able on and after January I, at the offices of the Knicker- 

 bocker Trust Co. in New York. 



Interest on the 6 per cent, debentures of Okonite Co., 

 Limited, was payable on and after January i, at the offices 

 of Winslow, Lanier & Co., in New York. 



It is reported in financial circles that the annual interest 

 payment due on April i, on the 4 per cent, income bonds of 

 the Consolidated Rubber Tire Co. will be 3]^ per cent. The 

 bonds date from April i, 1901, and the amount outstanding 

 is $2,850,500. Last year's interest payment was 2 per cent. 



The board of directors of the United States Rubber Co. on 

 January 7 declared from its net profits a quarterly dividend of 

 2 per cent, on the first preferred shares, and a quarterly dividend 

 of lyi per cent on the second preferred shares, both payable 

 January 30 to shareholders of record on January 15. 



TRADE NEWS NOTES. 



The Hood Rubber Co. recently olTered $100,000 of their pre- 

 ferred stock at $120, bringing the total issue of preferred up 

 to $700,000, of which $600,000 was sold during 1908. Of this 

 amount 4,000 shares were sold at par, 1,000 at $110, and 1,000 at 

 $115. The company have been paying quarterly dividends of 

 iJ4 per cent, on the preferred stock. 



Of the United States Rubber Co.'s $20,000,000 loan mentioned 

 in the last India Rubber World (page 152), $15,000,000 was 

 ofTered by New York banking houses on December 30, when the 

 amount was largely oversubscribed before noon. The offering 

 price was loij^, at which the yield is 5.80 per cent., but the bonds 

 sold on the "curb" market during the day at iJ4 above the sub- 

 scription price. 



The Firestone Mutual Relief Association was organized among 

 the employes of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. on January I. 

 A constitution and by-laws have been adopted and 400 charter 

 members are expected. The plan of the association is to pro- 

 mote unity and sociability and to provide sick and death benefits 

 for members of the office and factory force. 



Theodore Hofeller & Co. (Buffalo, New York) issue a hand- 

 some calendar. The illustrative feature is a series of views of 

 their business premises at different dates from their foundation. 



The name of the European representatives of the U. S. Rubber 

 Reclaiming Works (New York) has been changed to Arthur 

 Meyer & Co., Limited. 



The largest rubber tires yet seen in use in New York appeared 

 recently on a gasolene truck made by the Hewitt Rubber Co. 

 (New York), weighing about 12,000 pounds, and loaded on some 

 days with 20,000 pounds of coal, or about 32,000 pounds total 

 weight to be considered by the tire company supplying the rub- 

 ber equipment. The tires used were the "Kelly-Springfield Sec- 

 tional," made for commercial vehicles. Tires for such large 

 vehicles are made in the "dual" type, and in this case were 44 x 7 

 inches (dual) for the rear wheels, and 36 x 5 inches (dual) for 

 the front wheels. In other words, the rear wheel tires have 

 14-inch and the front wheel tires lo-inch bases. 



And now comes a blue inner tube. It is called the "Sterling" 

 and is made by the Rutherford Rubber Co. (Rutherford, New 

 Jersey). Really there is no reason why, if some such compound 

 as used in the famous "Blue Blood" packing, or perhaps a bit 

 richer, a blue tube might not be a winner. 



Continental Caoutchouc Co. (New York) have added to their 

 list of distributors the Columbus Buggy Co., Nos. 810-814 Wal- 

 nut street, Kansas City, Missouri, to cover the trade in "Conti- 

 nental" goods in western Missouri and Oklahoma. 



Continental Caoutchouc Co. (New York) have inaugurated a 

 department of tests for their tires, in charge of Mr. Thomas 

 Lynch, the well known automobile driver and racing man. 



SELLING RUBBER BY "INSCRIPTION." 



VV/HILE the sale of crude rubber in Europe by the method 



'* which is most widely known through its use at Antwerp— 

 this being the largest market to which the inscription method 

 applies — has been so long established, it appears not yet to be 

 thoroughly satisfactory. The India Rubber World, without 

 meaning to go on record for or against the system, has given 

 space from time to time to various articles on this subject, and 

 prints below a communication on the subject from an important 

 house in the Amsterdam trade. Reference may be made here to 

 articles previously printed on the subject — for example, the fol- 

 lowing: In our issue of November 10, 1897 (page 53) from the 

 management of the Society of German Rubber Manufacturers, 

 protesting against the Antwerp system, a defense of the system 

 by an important Antwerp firm, December 10, 1897 (page 86), 

 and a further defense by the manager of the rubber department 

 of an Antwerp firm, February 19, 1898 (page 133). 



To THE Editor of The India Rubber World: Rubber has been 

 sold by inscription at Rotterdam ever since it appeared on this 

 market. Indeed, the sale by inscription is the old Dutch selling 

 system, which also was adopted by Antwerp when rubber began 

 to come to that market. 



The system has its merits and its faults. On an average it is 

 considered to bring the best price for the importer, but in many 

 cases we think that the highest bidder, w-ho has bought the lot, 

 would have been overbid in an open auction. This, of course, 

 refers to strong markets. 



In dropping markets, on the contrary, many lots would not 

 nearly fetch the price paid for them in inscriptions, so that it is 

 a fact that the results of inscriptions very often do very badly 

 represent the real market tendency. One buyer may pay high 

 prices for certain lots for reasons of his own, while the others are 

 miles below him, but of course he does not know it. Something 

 like this must have been the case in the Antwerp December in- 

 scription which, according to the unanimous judgment of the 

 trade in Europe, wj^p enormously overpaid. 



A great fault of inscriptions, of course, is that you never know 

 whether you will get the rubber you should like to buy or not, 

 which is very awkward, especially in the case of manufacturers. 

 The consequence of this is that the competition in inscription 

 sales is more and more limited to dealers only. 



On the other hand, I can understand that importers do not like 

 public auctions, when I see the results of the weekly auctions in 

 Liverpool, for example, where the greater part is always with- 

 drawn in the auction and the business is done privately afterwards 



stoneh.,\m. 



Rotterdam, January 7, 1909. 



AN INQUIRY REGARDING ELATERITE. 



"T^O THE Editor of the India Rubber World: I have been in- 

 *■ formed that if elaterite could be dissolved by a cold process, 

 it might be of some value in the rubber field. I have, therefore, 

 employed a party to make some tests for dissolving it, and he 

 finds it readily dissolves by a certain process. I would like if 

 through the readers of The India Rubber World I could as- 

 certain the best field for its application. Erie. 

 Bnfltalo, New York, December 19, 1908. 



A BILL introduced recently into the Brazilian congress 

 . exempts from the payment of import duties any material or 

 machinery for rubber factories brought into that republic 

 during three years. It also authorizes the government to 

 grant a premium of 50,000 milreis [ = about $18,500, gold, at 

 current exchange] to any person inventing an economical 

 process for extracting, coagulating or curing rubber. It is 

 stated that a Brazilian company is negotiating for the pur- 

 chase of machinery for a rubber goods factory to be estab- 

 lished at Rio de Janeiro. 



