March i, 1905.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



203 



The benefits from war are of veiy doubtful value. They are not 

 the steady flowing stream upon which you can rely. They are 

 rather like a torrent that destroys as much as it carries. You are 

 engaged in the beneficence of peace. I think we may all rejoice 

 that our country now is in a condition of peace, that all the tend- 

 encies of our national life are in that direction. It is my earnest 

 hope that we shall so continue, and that is one of the reasons why 

 I think we are carrying this Monroe Doctrine a little too far. 

 There is great danger that it may be carried to the point where it 

 will result in unpleasant complications. I do not think it is de 



matter in his brief synopsis of strikes and of labor legislation. 

 Then turning to the tendency of modern business toward con- 

 solidation, he described the modern organizing specialist, his 

 work and his worth, nor did he hesitate to affirm that he be- 

 lieved combinations were natural and the "coming form of in- 

 dustrial organization." The paper as a whole was one of the 

 most finished essays that the subject has yet called forth. 



The Chairman said : 



Our ne.xt and last speaker is one of our members who is known 



sirable for us to become the ccUector of debts for all the nations of to you all and needs no introduction by me. Some of us possibly 



Europe which may hold claims against the South American repub- have reason to appreciate much more than others his keen business 



lies. It may be of no consequence so far as San Domingo is con- ability, but all recognize that he has it in a marked degree. He is 



cerned, but it is very questionable in my mind whether we ought to-day the head of the largest organization engaged in the rubber 



to assume a position which is liable to lead, not to peace, but to business in the United States, if notin the world, and we are, there- 



dangerous complications with other nations, 



I am one of those who do not just at this time look favorably 

 upon a rapid increase of our navy. I believe we should have a 

 large navy. I saw the need of that when I was secretary of the 

 navy. I believe we need a large navy more than we need a large 

 army. We need it as a national defence. But it is not desirable 

 that we have it so large that by that very fact we shall seek com- 

 plications with foreign Powers which we 

 would not seek if we did not have a large 

 navy. We have at the present time a 

 very good navy. We have something 

 like 14 very good battleships and cruisers. 

 There are also under construction 24 bat- 

 tleships and armored cruisers, which will 

 be built in the next few years. We shall 

 then have 38 battleships and cruisers, 

 and we have not to-day men and officers 

 enough to man these ships. 



For my part, I should be content with 

 building one new battleship or none this 

 year. I fear the large increase in our 

 navy which is planned will produce a re- 

 action on the part of our people against a 

 large navy. And another reason why I 

 object to it is that I fear we shall be un- 

 able to obtain men and officers enough 

 properly to man such a navy. 



THE REV. MR. BALTZLY'S ADDRESS. 



The Chairman next said : 



I regret exceedingly that, in place of 

 introducing my friend Congressman Sam- 

 uel W. McCall as the next speaker, 1 am 



obliged to read the following letter, which explains his absence 

 [The letter was read.] 



HON. SAMUEL P- COLT, 

 President United States Rubber Co. 



fore, especially fortunate in getting him to speak to us as a business 

 man, and if he will only let himself out and tell us a little of what 

 he knows about the rubber business, some of us may gain some 

 points that will help us in our efforts to compete with him. Wel- 

 come indeed is he to the fruits of his labors, and gladly do we wel- 

 come him here to-night, recognizing his power and splendid ability. 

 I present to you Colonel Samuel P. Colt. 



Colonel Colt, whom all knew, but 

 not as an after dinner speaker, was re- 

 ceived most enthusiastically. He at 

 once got the attention of the audience, 

 speaking in a clear well modulated 

 voice, gracefully complimenting Mr. 

 Long, and the absent Mr. McCall, and 

 during his speech paying a tribute to 

 his competitors, Messrs. Apsley and 

 Hood. His speech follows but unfor- 

 tunately does not carry the witty asides, 

 of which the speaker gave many, or the 

 bursts of applause that often empha- 

 sized his points : 



COLONEL colt's ADDRESS. 

 Mr. President, Invited Guests, and 

 Gentlemen of the New England Rub- 

 ber Club : When your genial president, 

 Mr. Apsley, invited me to be present at 

 your banquet this evening, and to ad- 

 dress the Club on any subject I might 

 select, stating in his letter Ihat Governor 

 Long and Congressman McCall had both 

 accepted a like invitation, I began to 

 think whether there was any subject that I might possibly know 

 more about than the two eminent speakers who were to address 



As we are deprived of having my political friend, 1 am pleased to you, and the only one I could think of was that of '• Crude Rub- 

 ber," and that is my excuse for selecting so dry a topic. Dryness, 

 while not desirable in an after dinner speech, is, as all rubber 



be able to present to you my spiritual friend and adviser, to whom 

 it has been both a pleasure and profit for me to listen for many 

 years, and from what I know of the members of this Club, I am 

 sure that you are all in need of a similar influence as much as I do. 

 I have only been able to give him a very short notice, but the 

 clergy are supposed to be emergency men, so I felt at liberty to 

 call on him to fill the vacancy. I take great pleasure in presenting 

 to you, the Rev. John Baltzly. 



The Rev. Mr. Baltzly, of Hudson, Massachusetts, a young 

 scholarly man burning with enthusiasm, had prepared a paper 

 on "The Industrial Evolution and Some of the Sufferings of 

 this Present Time." He began by skilfully contrasting the 

 ancient and the modern world, sketching the standard of liv- 

 ing in each, ending with a brilliant word picture of our present 

 complex social organism. He showed graphically the position 

 of the working man, his rights, his opportunities, and his nat- 

 ural tendency toward " Union." He went to the root of the 



manufacturers know, an excellent quality in Crude Rubber. 



Before proceeding to a more formal discussion of the subject, it 

 might be interesting to mention a few historical incidents connected 

 with the history of the rubber industry. 



The natives of South America made certain primitive uses of 

 "Caoutchouc" (rubber) even before the days of Columbus. Rub- 

 ber " bottles" were sent from Brazil to Boston in the year i8(X)— 

 perhaps prophetic of the future hospitality of the Hub. But until 

 the discovery of vulcanization by Charles Goodyear, about the year 

 1S40, the uses of the gum were comparatively few. The name 

 " Rubber " was first given to the substance in England, from its use 

 as an eraser. 



The story of Goodyear's experiments with the gum while in a 

 debtor's jail in Philadelphia, and later over his cook stove, which, 

 becoming overheated while he slept vulcanized the strips of rubber 

 which he had suspended, may or may not be literally true, but they 



