November i, 1904.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER "WORLD 



37 



THE PASSING OF THE OLDEST RUBBER IMPORTER. 



DIED — At his home in Wellesley, Massachusetts, on Tuesday, 

 October li, 1904, after a protracted illness, Georck A. Alden, 

 in his seventy-fifth year. 



THE dean of the rubber importing trade in America — 

 much longer engaged in the business than any of his 

 survivors in any country — has finally closed his ac- 

 count with time, after first having placed a good 

 balance on the right side, as a man and a citizen, as well as a 

 merchant. It was no ordinary career with which this sketch 

 has to deal. Its historic aspect alone would render it of 

 interest. When Mr. Alden began the importation of rubber, 

 Charles Goodyear's activity was at its height; he had not yet 

 published his book, and his original vulcanization patent was 

 still valid. Scarcely more than a score of rubber factories 

 existed in this country, and their combined product was less 

 than that of each of several facto- 

 ries now in the field. Mr. Alden, 

 therefore, not only saw the growth 

 of the rubber industry almost 

 from the beginning, but it bene- 

 fited in countless ways from his 

 counsel and often from his active 

 participation. Had he lived until 

 August next, he would have been 

 engaged in the trade for 50 years. 

 George Adelbert Alden was 

 born April 7, 1S30, at Hope, 

 Maine, being the son of Silas and 

 Sarah (Lindley) Alden. He was 

 descended, in the seventh gene- 

 ration, from John Alden, who 

 was one of the party that sailed 

 in the Mayjloruer, and landed at 

 Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 

 1620, and who was married the 

 next year to Priscilla Mullens, a 

 fellow passenger. The incidents 

 of theircourtship form the theme 

 of Longfellow's " Courtship of 

 Miles Standish." John Alden was 

 a magistrate in the colony for 

 more than 30 years, and outlived 



all the other signers of the Mayflmuer compact. In the suc- 

 ceeding generations were men of strength and of prominent 

 activity in the history of New England, from whom the subject 

 of this sketch derived the strong traits which made him long 

 one of Boston's most representative business men. 



In 1834 the father of George Alden settled in Bangor, Maine, 

 where for many years he was engaged in the drug business, 

 and died in his eighty-seventh year. George, who was the sec- 

 ond of ten children, attended the public schools of Bangor, 

 after which he assisted his father in the store until his eigh- 

 teenth year, when he entered the retail department of William 

 B. Little & Co., druggists, of Boston. In 1851 he went to 

 Philadelphia, remaining two years, after which he returned to 

 his former employers, then reorganized as George B. Little it 

 Co., and remained with them as manager until 1855. In Aug- 

 ust of that year he engaged in business on his own account, as 

 a broker in drugs and an importer of crude India-rubber. Two 

 years later Isaac P. T. Edmands became a partner, under the 



GEORGE ADELBERT ALDEN. 



Style of Alden & Edmands, and the importation of goat 

 skins was added. In 1874 the firm was dissolved, Mr. Alden 

 retaining the rubber business and Mr. Edmands taking the 

 goat skins branch. Mr. Alden continued in business alone un- 

 til 1878, when, his eldest son, having attained his majority, was 

 admitted to partnership, under the firm name of George A, 

 Alden & Co., which is still continued. Arthur W. Stedman 

 was admitted as a partner in January, 1898. 



Mr. Alden's success as a merchant was assured at the very 

 threshold of his career. It was the result, in part, of the favor- 

 able conditions of the special trade in which he was engaged, 

 but still more of the judgment and skill with which it was 

 managed. The business of Mr. Alden's firm at an early date 

 ranked among the largest in the importation of India-rubber 

 and goatskins in the country. Their business in rubber has 



always continued very large. In 

 18S4 was organized, for the more 

 extensive importation of this 

 commodity, the New York Com- 

 mercial Co., Limited, which in 

 1892 was changed to the New 

 York Commercial Co., with a 

 capital of $2,500,000, with Mr. 

 Alden, president and his son, 

 Adelbert H. Alden, vice presi- 

 dent and general manager. Sub- 

 sequently branches were estab- 

 lished at Para and Mandos, un- 

 der the style of Adelbert H. 

 Alden, and in London and Liv- 

 erpool, as Alden, Symington & 

 Co. In 1880 the firm entered 

 into the shellac business under 

 the name of the New York Shel- 

 lac Co., which is still continued. 

 The importation of cocoa was 

 added in 1887, and at times the 

 company have been the largest 

 importers of that article to the 

 United States. In 18S8 the busi- 

 ness of exporting grain, petro- 

 leum, lumber, staves, and India- 

 rubber to various European companies was organized. 



At an early period in his connection with the rubber import- 

 ing trade, Mr. Alden began to hold an interest in manufactur- 

 ing companies. At the time of his death— not to note some of 

 his earlier connections with the industry — he was president of 

 the Seamless Rubber Co., and a director of the Revere Rubber 

 Co., the Easthampton Rubber Thread Co., and the Glendale 

 Elastic Fabrics Co. He was also connected with various other 

 financial and business enterprises, being a director in the Re- 

 vere National Bank, the East Boston (Land) Co., and the Colo- 

 nial Mutual Fire Insurance Co. 



It has been said of Mr. Alden by one who had opportunity 

 to watch his career and to discover the traits of character 

 which were essential to its success, that " he has long been the 

 most prominent figure in his line of business in New England, 

 and for many years has been at the head of the largest busi- 

 ness of its kind in the United States. It seems unnecessary to 

 expatiate on the qualities required to accomplish the work he 



