2i: 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[March i, 1909. 



trade of what a concern had to offer. Nowadays a complete 

 list of products of a single factory, even in concise style, may 

 Jill a heavy tome if comprised within a single cover. Hence the 

 present-day practice of issuing separate lists for different classes 

 of goods, each intended for the class of dealers or consumers 

 most likely to be interested. 



There is a company in England with an exceptionally long 

 list of products — The India Rubber, Gutta Percha and Tele- 

 graph Works Co., Limited — but their output includes the whole 

 range of electrical products. They are active in the same field 

 as the General Electric Co., of the United States, or the 

 Allegemeine Elektrizitiits-Gesellschaft, of Germany, in addition 

 to manufacturing rubber goods so extensively. The English 

 company named will estimate with equal readiness on electric 

 bell pushes — say at -s. 6rf. or less per dozen, with discount from 

 list — or on an ocean cable to cost millions. They make dynamos, 

 motors, telegraph and telephone otitfits, electric lighting supplies, 

 and so on. But they are none the less extensive makers of 

 general india-rubber and gutta-percha goods, issuing separate 

 lists for lawn tennis goods, rubber tiling, cycle tires, water bottles, 

 waterproof fabrics, air cushions, confectionery molds, belting, 

 bottle stoppers, motor tires, golf balls — but there is not room here 

 for everything. It may be noted, however, that at the com- 

 pany's Silvertown works are made many articles in hard rubber — 

 a branch sometimes referred to as non existent in England, prob- 

 ably for the reason that large works devoted to hard rubber 

 alone are not to be found there, as in the United States. 



There comes to notice just now a collection bound together, 

 of the latest Price Lists of Charles Macintosh & Co., Limited, 

 of ^lanchester, England. They are engaged in the electrical 

 "branch only to the extent of insulating wires, but the range 

 of their rubber goods products apparently is as wide as that 

 of any other house in the world. They manufacture hard 

 rubber goods, in addition to soft rubber lines, to which 24 dif- 

 ferent catalogues in this collection are devoted, besides which 

 ■others are mentioned as covered by special catalogues. It is a 

 long range from heel pads to such tiling as this company supplied 

 for the new steamships Lnsitania and Maurctania, from cut sheet 

 finger stalls to lo-ply machinery belting — but the Macintosh 

 firm list them all. 



JCothing has been written here with a view to giving more 

 prominence to the companies named than to certain others, but 

 the article has been suggested by some trade publications latest 



to hand. 



TO PROMOTE FOREIGN TRADE. 



A NOTABLE address was delivered by the Hon. Oscar S. 

 -** Straus, LH.I)., LL.D., secretary of commerce and labor in 

 President Roosevelt's cabinet — a man familiar with commercial 

 affairs at home and abroad and with a record as a successful 

 diplomat — at the first annual meeting of the National Council 

 of Commerce which has been formed to promote cooperation 

 "between certain departments of the government and the com- 

 mercial bodies of the country, with a view particularly to the 

 ■extension of American trade abroad. 



"The commercial organizations in Great Britain, Germany, 

 and France, our chief commercial rivals," said the speaker, "have 

 found it not only advantageous, but necessary, to cooperate ef- 

 fectively with their respective governmental agencies, and on the 

 other side the governments of those countries have found it 

 most helpful, in order to advance their commerce, to cooperate 

 with and be in constant touch with their commercial organiza- 

 tions. The result is, in such countries, when the government 

 makes a move for the purpose of protecting commercial in- 

 terests, the officials are in advance fully advised what the various 

 commercial interests require and demand. How can you expect 

 your law makers, your senators and representatives in Congress, 

 who come from widely detached and circumscribed districts, to 

 liave an adequate understanding of the varied commercial in- 



terests of this great country and of all its different industries 

 unless there is some sufficiently representative agency qualified 

 to advise with them and with the departments of the government 

 having to do with commerce as to the requirements of the di- 

 versified interests of the country throughout its several sections? 



"The purposes to be served by the National Council of Com- 

 merce are not for oratory, or for dining, or for well turned 

 resolutions, but for practical everyday work, in order to bring 

 the great commercial interests of this country together so that 

 they can consult, advise and act, and to the end that when these 

 combined bodies speak they will voice the well considered in- 

 terests of commercial America." 



The National Council of Commerce made its start with a 

 membership of 49 bodies, including the National Association 

 of Manufacturers, The American Cotton Manufacturers' As- 

 sociation, and other national or state organizations, among which 

 are those representing these interests: Agricultural implements, 

 cattle raising, clothing, cotton (raw and manufactured), drugs, 

 glass, groceries, hardware, liquors, machine tools, meat packing, 

 milling products, shoes and leather, vehicles, and wine growing. 

 Likewise boards of trade, chambers of commerce, or other like 

 bodies located in the cities of Atlanta, Augusta, Ga., Boston 

 (two), Buffalo, Chicago (two), Cincinnati, Oeveland, Denver, 

 Galveston, Honolulu, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Minneapolis, 

 New Haven, New York (four), Philadelphia, Rochester, St. 

 Louis (two), San Francisco, and Savannah. Besides, the list 

 includes the American Chamber of Commerce in Paris and the 

 American Association of Commerce and Trade in Berlin. 



Offices for the Council have been opened in Washington, in the 

 Adams building. No. 1335 F street, N. W., in charge of the sec- 

 retary, Mr. William R. Corwine, formerly the efficient secretary 

 of the Merchants' Association of New York. 



INDIA RUBBER GOODS IN COMMERCE. 



EXPORTS FROM THE UNITEI) STATES, 



OFFICL'KL statement of values of exports of manufactures of 

 india rubber and gutta percha for the month of December, 

 1908, and for five calendar years : 



Belting, Boots All 



Months. Packing, and Other Tot.^l. 



and Hose. Shoes. Rubber. 



December, TO08 . $125,218 $104,371 $325,178 $554,76? 



Jan. -November . 1,131.272 1,224,799 3,255.507 5.6ll,S78 



Total, 1908 . $1,256,490 $1,329,170 $3,580,685 $6,166,345 



Total, 1907 . 1,402,373 1,646,880 3,944,080 6.993,333 



Total, 1906 . 1.162,751 1,213,196 3.282,659 5,658,606 



Total, 1905 . 1,182,761 1,389,226 2,833,511 5,405,498 



Total, 1904 . 890,634 1,226,772 2,341,039 4,457,887 



Exports of rubber boots and shoes have been, in quantity: 

 2,209,116 pairs in 1906; 3.161,865 pairs in 1907; 2,440,693 pairs 

 in igo8. 



Exports of reclaimed rubber: $544,135 in 1906; $598,494 in 



1907; $327,405 in 1908. 



Imports into the L^nited States. 



IQ06. 1907. 1908. 



India-rubber goods $2,389,082 $2,154,425 $1,509,629 



Gutta-percha goods 240,267 141,535 97.593 



Total $2,629,349 $2,295,960 $1,607,222 



Tire Life in England. — Mr. S. F. Page, one of the best 

 known British automobile experts, has accumulated a mass of 

 statistics concerning wear and tear on tires. The results of these 

 tire tests are reduced to ton miles, that is, the numer of miles 

 the tires would have run had the weight of the cars been exactly 

 one ton. For a light weight 6 hp. runabout, weighing say 13 

 cwt., the average life of a tire is computed at 7,000 miles. He 

 estimates further $5 for each 1,000 miles as the approximate 

 cost of tire for such a car. 



