262 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[May I, 1905. 



lers, masons, and ironworkers did the job in the stated time. 

 No concessions were made, because none were needed, and it 

 will be many a day before another strike will bother either 

 Mr. HofF or Mr. Stingl. 



The price of rubber gives our rubber men not only some- 

 thing to talk about, but it was a factor in the creation of an 

 entirely new industry, and as its birth was really due to rubber 

 and rubber people, you will find it a place in your esteemed 

 journal. It is a new product called Galalith, or as the labels 

 on the goods say, "' Made of Milk." When rubber began to soar 

 and rubber workers began to agitate, our friend HofT began to 

 look about for an outlet for capital, one that would not be sub- 

 ject, for a while at least, to the conditions existing in the rubber 

 trade. This new compound was found and a company organ- 

 ized, known as the Internationale Galalith-Gesellschaft, HofT 

 & Co. 



Here is a material that takes the place of hard rubber ; it is 

 incombustible, a perfect insulator, and can be produced in colors 

 of all shades and descriptions. It imitates tortoise shell, both 

 clear and mottled, amber, marble ; in fact, anything, even to 

 the various celluloid things. Inside the walls of Harburg and 

 Vienna works at Harburg, this new company, composed prin- 

 cipally of the H. and V. people, but independent from the rub- 

 ber works, have put up a model modern fireproof five story 

 building, 150X60 feet. It is full of interesting machinery, and 

 here are made a series of articles that fill one with surprise. A 

 large part of the business is supplying sheets for manufacturers 

 of many things, especially combs. It is not rubber, but it takes 

 its place to perfection. Floors, walls, table tops to imitate 

 marble, tiling, combs of all kinds, varieties, and colors, amber 

 cigar and cigarette holders, checkers, chessmen, cane, um- 

 brella, and parasol handles; in fact, everything now made of 

 hard rubber or celluloid, and many things never dreamed of as 

 being possible in either of the two last materials, for it is in- 

 combustible and odorless. It is a new creation, a new indus- 

 try, a brilliant victory of brains over matter. I mention this 

 for the reasons given above and because it is worked by rubber 

 people to take the place, in a large measure, of hard rubber, 

 and the tons now turned out prove that the new material has 

 come to stay. 



The rubber business is booming here even with rubber quot- 

 ed at a price never before reached. The Harburg and Vienna 

 tire shops are run night and day. The emergency barracks 

 spoken of above are now run as a restaurant and bier-lokaU 

 by the company. The men and women can obtain here good 

 food and good beer at cost, or can use the dining halls to eat 

 the food brought from home. But I am afraid I am becoming 

 garrulous, and so will say au revoir. a. m. Sticknev. 



Hamburg. Germany. March 22, 1905. 



RUBBER FROM THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 



Golf and Tennis.— The usually well informed Sporting 

 Goods Dealer (St. Louis) says : " Golf will be played as never 

 before in America, despite the murmurings of discontent at 

 what many players consider exorbitant prices for balls. There 

 has been talk of returning to the old gutta balls in the associa- 

 tion games, as a form of protest most likely to secure the man- 

 ufacturers' attention ; but even if such action would meet with 

 approval from the competitors — which may be doubted— there 

 is no adducible evidence that the makers of rubber cored balls 

 are harvesting ao undue profit from their business. In golf 

 accessories many new lines and specialties are shown this sea- 

 son, some of them possessing meritorious features that will 

 command recognition. Lawn tennis goods will be in unusually 

 brisk demand later on, providing favorable weather conditions 

 obtain," 



IT is important (if true) to learn from our esteemed contem- 

 porary the Re-ieilU, of Butte, Montana, of March 31, that 

 the Rocky mountain region of the United States will in two 

 years be producing enough rubber to supply the demand of the 

 entire nation. It appears from the /?^z'/'/7/<r that Venezuela, which 

 is the real home of the rubber tree, has been less active of late 

 in yielding rubber, although more gold has been exported 

 from the United States to pay for rubber than for any other 

 commodity. Within a few months past thousands of tons of 

 a shrub abundant in the western United States were gathered, 

 on account of having been found to contain rubber, and, to 

 continue to quote from the Re-'eille, "the finished rubber has 

 been thoroughly tested and is serviceable in every line of 

 manufacture" — from which we assume that the steel manufac- 

 ture and textile and leather and woodenware trades are to be 

 included. The same newspaper adds that " Eastern capitalists 

 are amazed by what has been shown them, and many are ready 

 to invest large sums" in the new opportunity to get rich which 

 has thus been opened to them. 



The Kalamazoo (Michigan) Telegraph mentions a discovery, 

 " almost too good to be true," of pure rubber, to be obtained 

 without limit in Colorado, by the use of " hot water and mac- 

 eration," after which "the product comes out in chunks like 

 sausage." The Telegraph ■A.%%t.x\.^: "Eastern rubber manufac- 

 turers have contracted for the entire output at prices equal to 

 that paid for Pard rubber, and the demand cannot to even a 

 small degree be supplied." 



We next get nearer to the source of the new product. The 

 Alamosa (Colorado) Courier announces that the neighboring 

 town of Saguache is really to have a rubber factory, " Manager 

 Woodbury, of the Western Rubber Co.. of Akron, Ohio," having 

 written to parties there to commence digging up the rubber 

 plant at once, as his company will accept the roots of the plant 

 at $40 per ton. " Robert Allen, who has tried digging the 

 plant, says that he can dig 300 pounds per day." The digging 

 will begin next week, on Middle creek. 



The Salida (Colorado) Record s?Lys: "To be the pioneers 

 along any line is to undergo hardship; but with success comes 

 reward and often honor " — which truism is suggested by the 

 organization in Salida of the Rocky Mountain Crude Rubber 

 and Development Co. This concern appears to have been or- 

 ganized on March 27, with §300,000 capital in $1 shares, of 

 which enough has been paid in, according to the Salida Mail, 

 "to build a perfect machine, which R. D. Maine has invented 

 and patented." 



The India Rubber World has been favored with a pros- 

 pectus of the Rocky Mountain company, stating : 



First. — That the plants to be utilized yield from 7 to 20 per cent, of 

 their weight in rubber. 



Second. — That the pulp left over after the rubber is extracted makes 

 the finest kind of bank note paper. 



Third. — That the tops of the plant can be converted into hard rub- 

 ber. 



The authors of this pamphlet evidently forgot to add : 



Fourth. — That the air above the plant represents about all that the 

 investors of the company may hope to realize for their money. 



The Rocky Mountain Crude Rubber and Development Co. 

 are incorporated under the laws of Colorado. The officers are : 

 F. E. Hodding, '• who has ridden these mountains in pursuit of 

 his business for years," president ; W. W. Roller, vice presi- 

 dent ; O. J. Kennedy, secretary ; H. G. Hodding. treasurer ; A. 

 R. Miller, counsel. Mr. Maine, inventor of the machine, is also 

 a director, and the name of P. P. Maine is another. 



