May I, 1905.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



aei 



JOTTINGS BY AN AMERICAN IN EUROPE— I. 



To THE Editor of The India Rubber World: When 

 starting off on this European tramp I did not intend to 

 be impressed with anything I saw. I have been told 

 so many times that I am apt to portray much that I 

 see with too glowing colors, that I had made up my mind to be 

 very conservative in what I had to say about foreign lands, and 

 what was done there, especially in that line in which you, Mr. 

 Editor, and your readers are most interested. Well, it is said 

 that Hades is paved with good intentions, and I am very much 

 afraid that if some of the latest pavement put down in that be- 

 nighted (?) region should be inspected, it would be found to 

 bear my initials or trademark, for do what I will I must admit 

 that there are other ways, other means, other methods, just as 

 good people, just as nice cities, just as pushing energetic men, 

 under one sky as under another, and that while their systems 

 would not suit us, neither would ours suit them. 



I cannot confine myself to a mere technical article, but I 

 must give you just a hint of what so forcibly strikes me, in a 

 general way, as 1 roam from country to country. I find that we 

 Americans are an extravagant people. Some people here would 

 get rich on what we waste, and that is true in manufacturing as 

 well as in living. All Americans have not succeeded as well as 

 have the pork packers, who are said to save even the squeal of 

 the pigs they stick. Taking breakfast the other day with some 

 friends in a private house I noticed that the elderly ladies did 

 not take sugar in their coffee in the morning. I inquired the 

 reason why, and I was told sugar costs money, and no child of 

 their day was allowed milk and sugar at the same time; milk 

 for breakfast, sugar without milk for the demilasse at noon. I 

 find that maxim carried out on the continent to a fine degree. 



In all factories the chemist plays an important part, not only 

 to test the quality of all that is used, but to find a place and a 

 use for those things which appear to and, as a matter of fact, 

 do go to waste until the chemist has discovered a commercial 

 value in that which had been thrown away. This is especially 

 true in Germany, and it is to this care and research that the 

 Germans owe the proud place they now occupy as a manufac- 

 turing and a producing nation — one that has to be reckoned 

 with all the time. I do not know that I am doing anything 

 now to interest my friends, who are all your readers, but I am 

 possibly carried away with the prospective pleasure of seeing 

 myself in print, as some others from Boston have been, and so 

 am writing for space. 



But let us strike a few rubber people ; the price of the crude 

 Para seems to be paralyzing them all. and the worst of it is 

 that the Americans are over here taking in all that can be 

 bought. What seems to be a peculiar condition is the price 

 reached by ■' Ceylon "; it soars above Pard and is said to be 

 more economical even at a higher price than the finest Para. 



Then comes the query " What are you Americans doing? 

 Why do you not go to the Philippines, where climate and soil 

 are all so similar to that of Ceylon, and get your rubber planta- 

 tions started?" It is true the capital invested must remain 

 idle for eight years, but after that the first crop clears up the 

 first cost, and then ! ! ! 



I have notes about some rubber factories that need touching 

 iip a little, and so I will let those go for a future letter, but I 

 must at this time say one word about some old friends of mine, 

 the Harburg and Vienna India-rubber Works (Vereinigte 

 Gummiwaaren-Fabriken, Harburg-Wien), at Harburg on the 



Elbe. Some years ago I gave you a sketch of this great indus- 

 try [See The India Rubber World, June 10, 1895], and as I 

 do not care to repeat myself, I shall not attempt a description 

 of their works. I simply want to say that during the last few 

 years many improvements and changes have taken place. 

 With a courtesy rare, as a rule, to foreigners, I was shown 

 through this tremendous plant by the two managing directors, 

 Messrs. Louis Hoflf and Franz Stingl. An immense four story 

 building is devoted to tires alone; another one to toys and 

 balls; here I was pleased to see in successful operation two 

 American machines making balls, old friends of mine in fact. 



It is admitted, I believe, that the German tennis ball is the 

 ball for the skilled players; at any rate this renowned ball is 

 made here at the rate of 600 dozen per day, and before this can 

 reach your readers a novelty in the way of a knitted covered 

 ball will have been placed on sale in the United States. An 

 up to date shoe factory is turning out 18,000 pairs of shoes a 

 day, and refusing orders at that. The production must be great- 

 ly increased, and to do so the foundations for an entire new plant 

 are going in now. Here, too, we are pleased to note another 

 American machine doing its full share to keep the American 

 name well to the front, the Wellman sole cutting machine. I 

 will not attempt to give you many more details, but here is 

 made all that can be made of rubber excepting hard rubber 

 goods. 



I am afraid that my friend Hoff may criticize what I am now 

 going to say, but when he sees it it will be too late, and I be- 

 lieve in giving free expression to my opinions. I have rarely 

 seen a man who has the energy and push of this man; I can 

 compare him to nothing else but to a genera! commanding a 

 large army. He directs his force with a master hand, and the 

 results are seen not only in the good dividends paid, and in the 

 increased business, but by the gradual renovating of the en- 

 tire plant and its increase in size as well, and all this out of 

 its earnings. 



A few years ago, this company acquired, caught, or was in- 

 oculated with the fashionable disease of the day, a first class 

 strike. This was not a mild case, but a true one. for even 

 foremen and engineers went out. The causes of the strike I 

 am not discussing, only the effects. On a Saturday 1000 hands 

 went out ; on Sunday the chief engineer called on Mr. Hoff and 

 told him that all the engineers, firemen, and machinists had 

 joined the strikers, and so no machinery would be started Mon- 

 day. A call went out at 4 o'clock Monday morning ; directors, 

 managers, heads of departments, clerks, etc., had been turned 

 into engineers and stokers, and at the usual hour the whistles 

 blew, the gates were opened, and the engines were all started, 

 the late Mr. Carl Maret (Mr. Stingl's predecessor) handling the 

 main engine himself. Neither a man or woman came in, but 

 the streets were crowded with jeering operatives. On Monday 

 notices were sent out that all those who did not report for 

 work within 24 hours would be discharged. The result of this 

 was that 400 of the old operatives responded and a start was 

 made. In the mean time agents had been gathering men from 

 distant places, and these began to come in. 



Here a new difficulty presented itself; no one would feed 

 any of these " black hearts ". " Let us see," says the general. 

 In 36 hours a brick building capable of housing, sleeping, and 

 feeding 600 people was completed. The builder, whom I met 

 to-day, had orders to do this regardless of cost, and 800 carpen- 



