326 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



June i. igcx).] 



Deshler, so long connected with the rubber industry in the iame 

 town, and now in charge of the local factory of the United States 

 Rubber Co. Charles D. Deshler was born at Easton, Pennsyl- 

 vania, 1819, but removed to New Jersey when a young man and 

 became employed in journalism. Later he was connected A'ith 

 Harper's Magazine, was county superintendent of schools, con- 

 nected with various corporations, and some time postmaster at 

 \ew Brunswick. One of his sons is Charles Deshler. of the Gen- 

 eral Electric Co., at Harrison, New Jersey. Besides those named 

 he is survived by two sons and three daughters. 



JOHN A. SLOAN. 



The portrait of the late John Austin Sloan, of Trenton, New- 

 Jersey, which appears on this page, was not published earlier on 

 account of the difficulty of obtaining the same. He had just 

 passed his thirty-si.xth birthday at the time of his sudden and 

 unexpected death as the result of an operation at the University 

 Hospital. Philadelphia. He had, however, been connected nearly 

 half his life with the Mercer Rubber Co., of Trenton, joining the 

 staff there at a time when hi? iinclr. Mr. J. S. Austin, was a 



The L.\te John Austin Slo-\n. 



shareholder in the company. He learned by experience the 

 various processes of manufacturing mechanical rubber goods and 

 became a very valuable man to the company, becoming superin- 

 tendent of their mill and secretary of the corporation. He was 

 the inventor and patentee of the Anchor tile. Mr. Sloan is sur- 

 vived by a widow. 



C. R. WINSLOW. 



Ch.\uncey R. Winslow^ who died on May 16 at liis home in 

 Portland, Oregon, had been connected with the rubber trade 

 throughout his life. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, he went to Mai- 

 den, Massachusetts, at the age of about 20 years, and entered the 

 employ of the Boston Rubber Shoe Co., for whom he opened 

 later an agency in San Francisco. Conducting business under 

 the name of C. R. Winslow & Co., he built up a large trade on 

 the Pacific coast, with Ijranch houses at Seattle and Portland, 

 in which latter city he made his home. 



WALLACE F. FOSTER. 



Wallace F. Foster, who died in New York on April 24, was 

 born about forty-four years ago at Brewster, Massachusetts. He 

 was the son of a sea captain who was lost in the middle of 

 the Pacific ocean by the burning of his vessel. Wallace Foster 

 about 1892 entered the employ of the Boston Woven Hose and 

 Rubber Co. as shipping clerk. He worked his way up, through 

 persistence, devotion to business, and his own interest, until 1896, 



he was given a position as traveling salesman in New England. 

 In a short time he was made manager of the Boston office, and 

 in November, 1900, was again promoted, taking charge of the 

 New York branch, of which he continued to be manager until 

 just before his death. He resigned this position, and The India 

 Rudder World only a month ago. reported the presentation to 

 him by his office associates of a loving cup as a testimonial of 

 their esteem. The following is a copy of the tribute to Mr. 

 Foster adopted by the New England Rubber Club : 



Whereas, The members of the New England Rubber Oub have lost 

 by death tlieir friend and associate, Wallace F. Foster, who for the past 

 seventeen years has served one of our leading companies in its branch 

 of the business and who by his energy, industry and ability attained a 

 position of trust and responsibility in the trade, and by his genial and 

 loyal personality endeared himself to those with whom he came in con- 

 tact; it is hereby 



Rcsoh-cd, That this club extend to his family its deep and sincere 

 sympathy. 



Resolved. That these resolutions be spread upon the records of the 

 club and a copy engrossed and sent to his family. 



\ .\LEXANDER M. PaUL. 



George P. Whitmore, 

 Elston E. Wadbrook, 



Committee on Resolutions. 



CONDITION OF THE ELECTRIC TRADE. 



THE General Electric Co.'s seventeenth amuial report, for the 

 year ended January 31, 1909, shows profits of $4,802,252.67. 

 Dividends amounted to $5,214,026, the difference being charged to 

 surplus. Orders received by the company were only 70 per cent, 

 of those for each of the two preceding years, and the shipments 

 to customers only 63 per cent, of the shipments for 1907. There 

 was an improveinent in conditions through the year, which has 

 continued since January 31. It was not possible to cut down 

 expenses in keeping with the reduced business, so that during 

 the year the company expended qiV: cents out of every $1 of gross 

 sales for cost of manufacture, including depreciation, new con- 

 struction, patent litigation, etc. In 1901, nine years ago, the com- 

 pany was able to save 22 cents out of every dollar of gross reve- 

 nue for interest and dividends. The company's outstanding 

 caoital is $65,178,800, and the debentures amount to $14,963,000. 



The report of the Canadian General Electric Co., Limited — 

 formerly controlled by the General Electric Co. — for the year 

 ending December 31, 1908, shows profits of $753,088, comparing 

 with $722,433 in the previous year and $853,675 record earnmgs 

 of the banner electrical year — 1906. The nine year record of 10 

 per cent, annual dividends on the common stock was broken in 

 1908 through the declaration of only 7 per cent. During the 

 three months beginning January i last more orders were secured 

 than during the same period of the preceding year, and a con- 

 tinued improvement in business is confidently looked for. 



The Deutsch-Atlantische Telegraphen-Gesellschaft, operating a 

 cable service between Germany and New York, report a favorable 

 return for the business year 1908, despite the business depression 

 in America. The net profits were only £128.923, against £155,902 

 in 1907, but unusual cable repairs alone account for about £19,000 

 of the difference. The dividend was the same in both years — 7 

 per cent. The company own half the capital in Norddeutsche 

 Seekabelwerke Aktiengesellschaft, at Nordenham. These works 

 have been busy building the new German cable to Brazil [see 

 The India Rubber World, April i, :909 — page 260], an important 

 section of which was laid recently, and is expected to continue 

 so until June, 1910. The cable making company's 4 per cent, 

 dividend for the business year 1908 was not included in the ac- 

 counts of Deutsch-Atlantische Telegraphen-Gesellschaft reported 

 in this article. 



Negotiations have been opened looking to the construction of 

 a submarine cable line to connect Argentina directly with Europe 

 via Ascension island. The plan is proposed by the Western Tele- 

 graph Co., an important English company already operating a 

 transatlantic cable landing at Pernambuco, Brazil. 



