364 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[August i, 1905. 



THE GhNLRAL RUBBER COMPANY. 



THK General Rubber Co., incorporated under New Jersey 

 laws in March, 1904, with $2,000,000 capital authorized 

 (of which $1,000,000 is stated to have been paid in at the be- 

 ginning), was formed for the purpose of organizing; a system of 

 imports of crude rubber for the United States Rubber Co. di- 

 rect from the primary markets. Subsequently the capital of 

 the company was increased to $3,000,000, Early in July of this 

 year it was announced that the company had made an issue of 

 $9 000.000 in ten year 4 ';; per cent, debenture bonds to a syndi- 

 cate of New York bankers headed by the First National Bank, 

 making the total capitalization of the company §12,000,000. 



The General Rubber Co. will now have within its scope the 

 supplying with crude rubber of the factories not only of the 

 United States Rubber Co. but of the Rubber Goods Manufac- 

 turing Co. (lately merged with it), and, a Boston report has it, 

 another important consuming interest. Daring the past year 

 the General Rubber Co. has established purchasing agencies 

 for rubber at Para and Manaos, in connection with which ar- 

 rangement occurred the expedition of 

 Commodore Benedict on the yacht Vir- 

 ginia in the latter part of 1904. 



It is understood that the presence of 

 two important officials of the company in 

 Europe at this time has a relation to the 

 establishment of agencies for the more 

 direct importation of various grades of 

 rubber other than Pard, grades which 

 enter more largely into the production of 

 mechanical rubber goods than of foot- 

 wear. The officers of the company to- 

 day are as follows : William M. I vins, pres- 

 ident; Lester Leland and Samuel P, Colt, 

 vice presidents ; lohn J, Watson, Jr., 

 treasurer; with the following additional 

 directors: E. C. Benedict, Charles H. 

 Dale, James Bishop Ford, Walter S. Bal- 

 lou, and .Anthony N. Brady. 



The president of the General Rubber 

 Co., Mr. William Mills Ivins, of whom a 

 portrait is presented herewith, has had a 

 much more intimate connection with rub- 

 ber interests than may be generally 

 known. This began in the days when Mr. Ivins was not only 

 a close personal friend but the legal adviser of the late Wil- 

 liam R. Grace, who during the larger part of his life had im- 

 portant business interests in South America and for a number 

 of years was an importer of crude rubber at New York to an 

 important degree. Later Mr. Ivins, who during his whole 

 career has been a member of the bar, turned his attention se- 

 riously to corporation law, in connection with which he became 

 acquainted with Mr, Charles R, Flint, who was active in the 

 organization of both the United States RubberCo. and the Rub- 

 ber Goods Manufacturing Co. In the early years of the latter Mr. 

 Ivins was a member of the board of directors, one of the few 

 instances of his sustaining this relation to any business organ- 

 ization, no matter how important his connection with various 

 corporations may have been in the capacity of legal adviser, 



Mr. Ivins, who is now in his fifty-fifth year, was born at Fre- 

 donia, New Jersey, being descended from Isaac Ivins, an Eng- 

 lish gentleman who settled in that state in 1711. It was in his 

 first year that his family removed to Brooklyn, since whichtime 

 he has lived continuously either in that borough or in Man- 

 hattan, New York. He was graduated from Adelphi Acad" 



WILLIAM MILLS IVINS. 

 From King's " Notable New Yorkers 



emy (now Adelphi College), Brooklyn, and took the degree of 

 LL,B, at Columbia College in 1873. In the same year he be- 

 came a member of the law firm of Bergen & Ivins (later Ber- 

 gen, Ivins & Bergen), of Brooklyn, who were employed prin- 

 cipally as counsel for the surface railway companies. 



Mr. Ivins in 1876 was one of the organizers of a successful 

 movement against the so called "Brooklyn ring." He wasa mem- 

 ber of the original executive committee of the State Bar Asso- 

 ciation of New York. He was major and judge advocate of 

 the second division of the National Guard, State of New York. 

 January i, 18S5, he was appointed judge advocate general of 

 the state. In 1883 he was appointed one of the school com- 

 missioners of the city of New York. While city chamberlain 

 (1885 89) he made a special study of the conditions of muni- 

 cipal government in the cities of the United States and Europe, 

 and later prepared the most elaborate report of its kind for the 

 investigation of conditions in New York city made by the so- 

 called " Fassclt committee," appointed by the state legislature. 

 Mr. Ivins was one of the organizers of the Reform Club and 

 the Commonwe.dth Club in New York city, and as a member 

 of the latter began the agitation for the 

 adoption in the United States of the Aus- 

 tralian ballot law, and made the original 

 draft of the ballot laws of several of the 

 states. In 1887 he published a book, 

 " Money in Politics." Mr. Ivins was re- 

 tained by the government of Brazil in the 

 matter of the Misiones boundary dispute 

 with Argentina, which was finally decided 

 by in favor of Brazil by Mr. Cleveland, 

 president of the United States. Later he 

 was retained by the government of Presi- 

 dent Balmaceda, against which the Chilean 

 navy had at that time revolted. 



Since 1892 Mr. Ivins has devoted him- 

 self closely to his profession and is at 

 present a member of the firm of Ivins, 

 Kidder & Melcher. He is a member of 

 the Players', Grolier, Lawyers', and Re- 

 form Clubs, and the Liederkranz Society, 

 all in New York. 



Mr. Ivins's qualifications for the position 

 of president of this important rubber com- 

 pany will be seen in his comprehensive 

 experience in corporation law, success in which practice to-day 

 involves executive capacity; administrative ability, as evinced 

 in his tenure of public office ; his personal knowledge of South 

 American allairs; and his connections with rubber interests 

 for years as above indicated. Mr. Ivins accompanied Com- 

 modore Benedict to the Amazon, and he is now with Colonel 

 Colt in Europe on the business of the rubber company. 



•] 



CUBAN IMPORTS OF RUBBER GOODS. 



THE official statement of values of rubber goods imported 

 during the past two fiscal years, which appeared in The 

 Indi.\ Rubber World of July i (page 334) failed to include 

 rubber hose. The complete statement is as follows : 



190203. 1903-04. 



Ilose $ 1,516 I 1,148 



*Allother 51,358 48,125 



Total $52,874 I49.273 



[* The figures we published last monlh-l 



The imports of hose are credited to the United States with 

 the exception of $30 worth (from Spain) in 1902-03, 



