November i, 1904. J 



THK INDIifiL RUBBER WORLD 



55 



SETAUKET RUBBER FACTORY BURNED. 



THE principal buildings comprised in the rubber plant at 

 Setauket (Long Island), New York, were destroyed by 

 fire early in the morning of October iS. The lire was first seen 

 by the village baker about 2 a. M , and John Kashaw, a factory 

 foreman, is reported as saying that flames were raging in three 

 places when he arrived, 2q minutes later. At 6 o'clock the 

 buildings were in ashes. On account of repairs in progress on 

 the boilers there was no steam on, and the water tank was 

 empty. The premises were in use (i) by B. Elberson & Co., in 

 the manufacture of rubber heels ; (2) by the Anchor Tire and 

 Rubber Co. in making mold work, in a small way; and (3) by 

 W. C. Coleman & Co., in grinding hard and soft rubber scrap. 

 Only the Coleman company were not completely burned out. 

 They lost some machinery, but their stock was stored in a 

 three story warehouse, 50 X 75 feet, located at some distance 

 from the buildings that were burned. How the fire originated 

 has not been e.xplained, and there are conflicting statements as 

 to how fully the property was insured. The amount of the loss 

 is reported as high as §150.000. 



THE SETAUKET RUBBER PLANT. 

 [From a letter head of one of the Elberson companies.] 



The Long Island Rubber Co., incorporated under New York 

 laws, began in Setauket, Long Island, in 1876, the manufacture 

 of mechanical rubbergoods, under the management of Robert S. 

 Manning, who had been employed before by the Hamilton Rub- 

 ber Co., of Trenton, New Jersey. The premises occupied had 

 formerly been used for a piano factory. This company went into 

 liquidation in 1879, at which time the L.B. Smith Rubber Co. was 

 incorporated under New York laws, and began the manufacture 

 of rubber boots and shoes. The company was named for L. B. 

 Smith, a farmerof Smithtown, who became the principal stock- 

 holder. The company's product was of the grade called 

 "thirds," which was at that time new to the trade and at first 

 proved of slow sale. Later the manufacture of third grade 

 goods became general, and the company met with much com- 

 petition. At one time they made extensive contracts for the 

 sale of their goods through C. H. Fargo & Co., ol Chicago- 

 The Smith company manufactured daily for several years 12,000 

 pairs of rubbers, and their production proved to be too large 

 for the Fargo firm to handle. In 1888, the latter firm becom- 

 ing temporarily embarrassed, the L. B. Smith Rubber Co., 

 holding claims against them of §275,000, were forced to a 

 reorganization. The company was succeeded in June, rSSS, by 

 the Brookhaven Rubber Co., a West Virginia corporation, with 

 $500,000 capital, which company carried on the manufacture of 

 third grade rubber footwear to July, 1S94. 



On the formation of the United States Rubber Co., in 1S92, 

 Charles R. Flint, who was a creditor of the Brookhaven Rubber 

 Co. for crude rubber supplied, and had converted his bills re- 



ceivable into stock of the company, put his holdings into the 

 combine in exchange for shares of the United States Rubber 

 Co. The president of the Brookhaven company at the time 

 was Joseph \V. Elberson, who had been connected with the Se- 

 tauket plant since the beginning. The management of the 

 United States company gradually obtained complete control, 

 as witnessed by a contract dated March 9, 1S94, and still hold 

 the 5000 shares. Under the same contract, however, the Brook- 

 haven plant was sold to the North American Rubber Co., a 

 New York corporation formed by the Elberson interests, but 

 with the stipulation that rubber footwear should no longer be 

 made at this factory. 



The Elbarson interest soon procured the incorporation, un- 

 der New Jersey laws, of the Liberty Rubber Shoe Co., which 

 resumed the manufacture of rubber footwear at Setauket, and 

 they had attained a large output ./f third grade goods when, in 

 1898, after active opposition from the United States Rubber Co., 

 they accepted an oflfer from the latter which enabled them to 

 discharge all their liabilities, the Liberty company or the El- 

 berson interests agreeing not to make rubber shoes before July 

 I, 1903. The Setauket plant has since been operated inter- 

 mittently, generally on a small scale, but under a long list of 

 names, including Manhattan Rubber Co., Manhattan Rubber 

 Shoe Co., Iroquois Rubber Co., Montauk Rubber Co., Para 

 Rubber Manufacturing Co., Excelsior Rubber Co., and so on 

 with all of which J. W. Elberson has been more or less actively 

 connected. The Coleman company, however, was an outside 

 enterprise, which had lately leased part of the facilities of the 

 place. • 



THE COTTON GOODS MARKET. 



APROPOS of the beginning of the season, when the Rub- 

 ber industry and the textile manufacturers are supposed 

 to have arranged their plans for the year, a few facts relative to 

 the two trades should be considered timely. In considering 

 the raw material situation, it can be said that the greater part 

 of the cotton in the upland districts of the south has been 

 gathered, and with two more weeks of such favorable weather 

 and equal progress in picking everything in the uplands willbe 

 gathered. There will be no top crop and as cotton has opened 

 at one time, relatively speaking, the picking season will be ex- 

 ceptionally short. In the lower half of Texas, picking has been 

 practically completed, and only one-fifth of the crop remains in 

 the northern counties. From the best authority it is learned 

 that this crop is likely to prove considerably smaller than has 

 been counted upon. In the other two big crop years, the pick- 

 ing was continued until well into the following spring, owing 

 to the abundance of cotton and the large top crop. This year 

 there is but little top crop and when cotton now open is gath- 

 ered, it will all be in. It is contended that 1 1,000,000 bales will 

 prove the maximum limit, and that the crop may be consider- 

 ably smaller. This is, in fact, the opinion of the majority of 

 observers. The world's visible supply of cotton shows an in- 

 crease compared with last year of 577,894 bales, and an increase 

 compared with the year before last of 247,876 bales. 



But the fabric end of the market is the most interesting at 

 the present time to the manufacturers of rubber goods. The 

 situation differs in a great many respects from that of last 

 year, but without reference to the adversities of a year ago, it 

 must be said that the rubber people, who at that time refrained 

 from making a yearly contract, preferring to take their chances 

 of buying cotton duck at a lower figure from time to time, suf- 

 fered substantial losses, and have this year fortified themselves 

 against a repetition by returning to their former custom of 



