August i, 1909.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



395 



and certainly not under such agreeable circumstances. It must 

 be considered that these informal gatherings have no business 

 side; they have not been in fulfilment or any regulation or con- 

 dition of membership ; they have not occurred at fixed dates or 

 places. Whenever the entertainment committee has announced 

 plans for a meeting the members have simply flocked together, 

 and from the continuance of the custom it may be inferred that 

 after each dinner or outing they have felt that it was good to 

 have been there. 



In addition to the annual meeting in each year there has been 

 usually a "midsummer dinner" and a "midsummer outing," the 

 total attendance at which has been very large, considering the 

 limited membership of the club. There have been present as 

 guests, first and last, very many members of the trade from out- 

 side New England, and persons, including many notables, not 

 connected with the trade. It has been the rule to arrange a 

 programme which shouW give a distinctive character to each 

 dinner — as when the "Goodyear Dinner" commemorated the 

 birthday of Charles Goodyear, or when the "Naval Night" cele- 

 brated the recent round-the-world cruise of the United States 

 navy. On the former occasion there was an exhibition of Good- 

 year relics and letters in honor of the inventor from all over the 

 world ; on the latter, half a dozen officers who had been with the 

 fleet were the after-dinner speakers. The summer events have 

 been devoted to outdoor sports, in which many of the rubber men 

 are expert. The various entertainments are worth makmg a list 

 of, particularly as it has not been done before : 



1900. 



.April 16. — First annual dinner. Trade Club, Boston. 



-August 21. — Midsummer Impromptu. Point Shirley Club, VVinthrop. 



November 19. — Goodyear Dinner. Hotel Essex, Boston. 



1901. 



May 3. — Twentietli Century T')inner. Exchange Club, Boston. 

 .August 20. — Midsummer Outing. Nursery Island Club. 

 November 21. — Tropical Symposium. Exchange Club. 



1902. 

 May 13. — Annual Dinner. Exchange Club. 

 July 22. — Midsummer Outing. Country Club, Brookline. 

 November 20. — Thanksgiving Dinner. Exchange Club. 



1903. 

 Jlay 15. — Annual Dinner — "Mexican-.Vmerican Fiesta." Exchange Club. 

 July 14. — Midsummer Outing. Country Club. 



1904. 

 February 17. — Midwinter Dinner (170 present). Hotel Somerset, Boston. 

 April 18. — -Annual Meeting: "Smoke Talk." Massachusetts .Automobile 

 Oub. 



July 26. — Midsummer Outing. Country Club. 

 November 21. — Smoke Talk. -American House, Boston. 



1006. 

 February 24. — Midwinter Dinner. Exchange Club. 

 April 25. — .Annual Meeting. American House. 

 July 19. — Midsummer Outing. Country Club. 



1906. 

 February 19. — Midwinter Dinner. Exchange Club. 

 -April 16.- — -Annual Meeting. -American House. 



July 18. — Midsummer Outing. Point Shirley Club (including a visit to 

 Peddock's Island as guests of the United States army). 



1907. 

 February 13. — Transportation Dinner. Hotel Brunswick, Boston. 

 April IS. — Annual Meeting. -American House. 

 July 17. — Midsummer Outing. Country Club. 



1908. 

 March 11. — Midwinter Dinner. -Mgonfiuin Club. 

 -April 27. — -Annual Meeting. -American Houee. 

 July 15. ^Midsummer Outing. Point Shirley Club. 



1909. 

 March 22. — Naval Night. -Algonquin Club. 

 -April 19. — .Annual Meeting. -American House. 

 July 13. — Midsummer Outing. Riverside Recreation Grounds. Weston. 



Much good after-dinner oratory has been heard upon these 

 occasions. The names of all the speakers of note would make a 

 long list, but it must suffice here to say that they have included 

 governors and other state officers of Massachusetts, mayors of 

 Boston, Senators and members of Congress, cabinet members. 



and army and navy officers. Many of the addresses here have 

 been of such importance as to lead to their publication at length 

 in the newspapers. The topics have been such as appeal to busi- 

 ness men — as when a Transportation Dinner was held— or else 

 to patriotic and public spirited citizens generally. Topics of 

 special interest to rubber men have likewise been discussed, and 

 twice the secretary of the club was invited to give illustrated 

 talks on rubber producing countries visited by him. 



The first president of the club was Henry C. Morse, treasurer 

 of the Revere Rubber Co. He was followed for two terms each 

 by ex-Governor Augustus O, Bourn, of the Bourn Rubber Co. ; 

 two terms each by ex-Congressman L. D. Apsley, president of 

 the -^psley Rubber Co. ; John H. Flint, treasurer of the Tyer 

 Rubber Co. ; and Arthur W. Stedman, of George A. Alden & Co. 

 -At the last annual meeting the office was filled by the election of 

 the Editor of The India Rudber WoRi.n, who has served seven 

 years as secretary and afterward as vice-president. 



A SHOE AND LEATHER FAIR. 



'T'HE First World's Shoe and Leather Fair, at Boston, July 

 •* i-3l> w-as held in an extensive new building, erected espe- 

 cially for the purpose, on the Charles river road. There was a 

 great variety of exhibits, illustrative of all branches of the in- 

 dustries suggested by the name of the fair, domestic and foreign, 

 ancient and modern. 



The rubber footwear industry was represented by exhibits 

 made by the United States Rubber Co., the Hood Rubber Co., 

 the -\psley Rubber Co., and the Converse Rubber Shoe Co., show- 

 ing in detail the lines of rubber boots and shoes made by them. 



Exhibits of specialties related to the trade were made by other 

 manufacturers: John H. Parker Co., leather soled rubber boots; 

 Foster Rubber Co., "friction plug" specialties, heel cushions, and 

 a patented dryer for drying out leather boots; Peters Manu- 

 facturing Co., Priestly's cravenetted cloth for shoe tops; Essex 

 Rubber Co., shoe trade specialties ; and North .\merican Chemical 

 Co., "Besto" waterproof bottom filler for shoes. 



The Fair was planned by Mr. Oran McCormick, proprietor of 

 the Boston journal, Footivcar Fashion, and the attractive and 

 extensive scale on which it was planned was due to his energy. 

 The whole was highly praised by those who visited the building, 

 but the attendance was far from encouraging, and on July 26 

 the Fair was placed in the hands of receivers, with authority to 

 keep it open until the end of the month — the date originally 

 fixed for closing it. George R. Nutter and Franklin T. Ham- 

 mond were the receivers appointed, on allegations filed in court 

 tli;it the indebtedness was between $140,000 and $150,000. 



THE MEXICAN RUBBER FIRES. 



■ I ' 111-". Tehuantepec Rubber Culture Co. (New YorkJ, in connec- 

 ■^ tion with the yearly financial statement, sent out to their 

 subscribers under date of July 13, referred at length to the forest 

 fires in the neighborhood of their "Rubio" plantation during May 

 and June. In the last Indi.\ Rubber World (page 370) men- 

 tion was made of reports of great damage from forest fires in 

 Mexico. It appears that a drought had prevailed since February 

 to a degree scarcely heard of in Mexico in the past, one result 

 that fires were very prevalent and disastrous. The Tehuantepec 

 company report, however, that not more than 20 acres of their 

 rubber was destroyed, but the remainder of their plantation was 

 saved only by the exertion of their working force almost con- 

 stantly for weeks. Some other plantations were less fortunate, 

 according to this report, but no names are mentioned. We quote : 

 "Over near .Acayucam, Saula was half burnt up. and up around 

 Tuxtepec the papers say 40 square leagues of fine forests, en- 

 gulling many fine fincas and plantations, -'\mongst these was one 

 -■\rrierican rulilier pl;ice wliose loss is said to have been $1,000,000-'' 



