266 



THE INDIA RUBBER 'WORLD 



[May I, 1905. 



far it had not driven fine Pari out of the market, nor appre- 

 ciably lowered its price. He then made an earnest plea for a 

 broader view of life on the part of American manufacturers 

 than the mere piling up of dollars, urging them to take an 

 interest in questions that relate to the public weal, and to have 

 a part in the bringing of the industry up to higher, better 

 levels. 



The Editor of The India Rubber World, who was then 

 introduced, said he had just discovered a book entitled " The 

 Art of After Dinner Oratory," the learned author of which 

 gives this advice: "In order to secure the attention of your 

 audience, tell some incident that will make them either laugh 

 or weep — it doesn't matter which ; then when you have their 

 sympathetic attention proceed with the body of your speech." 

 His choice, said the speaker, would be a humorous story at 

 which all would laugh, but on the other hand, he had never 

 had the pleasure of seeing any of them weep and so he had 

 chosen a pathetic one instead. Then came the story : 



Sixty years ago, on a cold winter's night, in a lonely little 

 cottage in a small Massachusetts village, sat a man prematurely 

 aged, but with the spark of genius still burning in his sunken 

 eye. The cottage had but one room, and but little furniture 

 except a stove, and in one corner, a cot bed. On the bed tos- 

 sing in feverish sleep lay a little girl. Close by the fire sat the 

 man examining over and over again a strip of cloth upon 

 which was spread some sticky gum like substance. Suddenly 

 his revery was broken by the voice of the child : 



" Father, I am so hungry." 



Without a word the great inventor rose — for it was Charles 

 Goodyear — threw the cloth upon the stove and, buttoning his 

 threadbare coat close about his attenuated form, hastened 

 across the fields to a far off farm house, where the story of his 

 want was listened to, and he soon returned bearing a loaf of 

 bread and cup of milk. Entering the cottage with joyful step, 

 he started toward the cot, but glancing at the stove, he stopped 

 transfixed ! What miracle had happened .' The strip of cloth, 

 covered with a sticky varnish of rubber and sulphur, under the 

 influence of the heat, had become, a jo foot length of fire hose, 

 vulcanized, and ready for coupling ! Thus was vulcanization 

 discovered, as well as an equally valuable secret : how to make 

 a little rubber go a long way. 



Continuing, the speaker said that he had not gone to the 

 rubber fields of the Amazon in his yacht, for two reasons. One 

 was that the story of the conditions had been often told and 

 was thoroughly known. Another was that he had no yacht. 

 He had, however, seen the sources of crude rubber, wild and 

 cultivated in most of the Central American states, and of far 

 more immediate importance the cultivated rubber in Ceylon 

 and the Federated Malay States. He said that he agreed with 

 Colonel Colt that present relief, if it came at all, must come 

 from the valley of the Amazon, and from the yet unexploited 

 forests of Africa, and with Commodore Benedict that the ques- 

 tion of a greater supply from the former source was almost 

 hopeless. He did, however, see light for the future. For 

 example, some 67,000,000 pounds of rubber had come out of 

 the Amazon last year. This means approximately the tap- 

 ping of 20.000,000 Ilevea trees. At that ti.Tie there were in the 

 Far East certainly 20,000,000 healthy Hevea trees, some of them 

 now coming into bearing. Contrasting the cost of collecting 

 in the Amazon and in the East, he placed the former (export 

 duty and costly labor) 75 cents a pound, the latter (cheap labor 

 and no duty) 25 cents a pound. Just to show that the British 

 planters were not dreamers or speculators, he cited the tea in- 

 dustry of Ceylon, with its 156.000,000 pounds of tea leaves, and 

 asked if the same enterprise would not get out 156,000,000 



pounds of rubber ? He then closed by brieflv reviewing the in- 

 terest felt in rubber planting the tropical world over, citing the 

 Hevea, the. Castilloa, the Ficus, the Funtumia, and the Afani- 

 hot. as trees proved beyond all question to be susceptible of 

 cultivation. 



Mr. H. D. Warren was then listened to in a speech that for 

 grace and for finish was delightful. Alluding to those who had 

 spoken before as " professional speakers," with whom he had 

 nothing in common, he suggested that in view of the high 

 death rate that Commodore Benedict discovered up the Ama- 

 zon he must have gone up there for his health. Commenting 

 upon Colonel Colt's earnest plea for men who work less for the 

 dollar and more for the good of the trade, he said he saw in it 

 the true missionary spirit, and that he foresaw that the great 

 company of which the Colonel was the head were about to 

 make it easier lor the poor devils of outsiders to get their crude 

 rubber. He said further that he had discovered that white 

 men who drank heavily were able to withstand the dangers of 

 tropical climates, and that he had not long before written to 

 the Editor of The India Rubber World suggesting that all 

 hard drinkers on this continent be arrested and sent to gather 

 rubber. He said the suggestion came to nought because the 

 Editor wrote him saying he feared that such a procedure 

 would leave no rubber manufacturers in Canada. 



Following this fun the speaker spoke earnestly of the oppor- 

 tunity, and a practical one, for the manufacturer to look into 

 the question of wastes in his factory. He held that " be- 

 tween the tree and the factory " (not in the storehouse, where 

 there is usually a gain) were many wastes that if stopped 

 would notably increase the effectiveness of the present rubber 

 supply. 



After toasting the guests and singing to each " For He's a 

 Jolly Good Fellow " the annual banquet became a pleasant 

 memory. 



REMARKABLE SERVICE OF A RUBBER BELT. 



TO THE Editor of The India Rubber World : There is 

 in use in a factory in this city a ten inch rubber belt, 150 

 feet in length, which has been in use constantly from nine to 

 twelve hours per day for 25 years, and to observe this belt at 

 present, one could hardly believe it possible, that at the ex- 

 piration of a quarter century, after such great service as it has 

 rendered, that it could be in such fine condition. This belt is 

 to-day doing considerable more work than usual, and its shape 

 is as perfect as when new. I write this to show the desirability 

 of such belting for ordinary factory purposes over leather. 



H. W. M. 

 Cleveland, Ohio, April 24. 1904. 



SALES OF SECOND HAND TIRES. 



[from "the bicycling world."] 



ALTHOUGH it is not generally known, there is consider- 

 able trade in second hand tires — the high grade brands, 

 it is almost unnecessary to add. They are bought by riders who 

 cannot, or will not, pay the prices of new goods, and are yet 

 keen enough to save money or to prefer a used tire of reputa- 

 ble manufacture to the shoddy, unknown article. Usually such 

 sales are all " velvet " to the dealer or repair man. The old 

 tire has usually been taken from a bicycle on which new tires 

 have been substituted, and by judicious repairing or vulcaniz- 

 ing and chalking or sand papering the surface it is made ser- 

 viceable or good appearing. These old tires bring from 75 

 cents to S'-75. and occasionally more. 



