May 



1902.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER V/ORLD 



239 



THE PRICES OF RUBBER GOODS. 



Piiblislied OB the 1st of each Month by 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING CO. 



No. 150 NASSAU ST.. NEW YORK. 



HENRY C. PEARSON, 



EDITOR. 



HAWTHORNE HILL, 



ASSOCIATE. 



Vol. 26. 



MAY 1. 1902. 



No. 2. 



SUBSOBiPTioNS : $3.00 peryear, tl.76 for six months, postpaid, for tlie United 

 States and Canada. Foreign countries, same price. Special Rates for 

 Clubs of Hve, ten or more subscribers. 



Advertising: Rales will be made liuown on application. 



Remittances : Should always be made bybanlc draft, Post Office Order? or 

 Express Money orders on New York, payable to The India Rubber 

 Publishing Company. Remittances for foreign subscriptions should 

 be sent by International Post order, payable as above. 



Discontinuances : Y'early orders for subscriptions and advertising are 

 regarded as permanent, and after tlie first twelve months they will 

 be discontinued only at the request of the subscriber or advertiser. 

 Bills are rendered promptly at the beginning of each period, and 

 thereby our patrons have due notice of continuance. 



COPYRIGHT, 1902, By 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING CO. 



Entered at New York Post Office as mail matter of the second-class. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Editorial : 



i'ue Prices of Rubber Goods 



Speculation and Industry 



The Oppressed Rubber Hunters 

 Minor Editorials 



PAGE. 



239 

 239 

 240 

 241 



. 242 



Rubber Goods Manufacturing Co 



[Annual Meeting. Financial Report, New Directors.] 



The United States Rubber Co.'s Funding Notes 245 



[With References to the Coming Contest for Control.] 



A New Figure in the Rubber Field . 247 



[With Portrait of James R. Keeoe.J 



The Hardware Jobber's Combination 249 



[And How it is Viewed in the Rubber Trade.] 



The India-Rubber Trade in Great Britain . 251 



, ... Our HcijxdGT Correspondent 



[Extensions at Leyland. Cutting of Prices. Haskell Golf Ball. Action 

 of Nitrous Acid on Rubber. Rubber from the Congo Free State. 

 Cable Interests. The Colonial Rubber Co. Rubber on Locomotives. 

 Industrial Exhibitions ] 



Rubber Planting and Crude Rubber Interests 253 



[Reports on Plantations in Mexico, Ceylon Planters' Rubber Syndicate. 

 Baltimore Capital Invested In Mexico.] 



India-Rubber Goods in Commerce 256 



[United St.ites. Cuba. Philippines. Great Britain.) 



Recent Rubber Patents [American and English] 256 



Sponge Rubber and Rubber Sponges 257 



" [With Two Illustrations.! 



New Goods and Specialties in Rubber iUlusirated) 258 



[The Alpha " Mermaid " Bathing Cap. " Crown Brand " Dress Shields. 

 A New Golf Ball. Rubber Sleeves for Lampholders. Rachel White 

 " Ideal " Safety Syringe.] 



Gutta Trading Conditions in the Philippines 259 



The Safety Insulated Wire and Cable Co 261 



Uiscellaneous : 



American Interest on the Congo 241 



Synthetic Hard Rubber 241 



Some Wants of the Rubber Trade 244 



Mr. Flint's Business Connections 248 



An Appreciative Visitor 248 



A Contribution to Tire History 250 



A Large Yield of Mexican Rubber F. Schindler 260 



South American Rubber Interests 260 



A Belgian View of Rubber Prices 262 



New Trade Publications 262 



Rubber Industry In the Census 263 



Adulteration of Balata Qiislav F.Hubner 263 



Rubber Notes from Europe 264 



A Rubber Planting Opportunity 264 



A Rubber Shoe Boycott 264 



Rubber Factories with Money to Burn 264 



Orinoco Shipping 268 



News of the American Rubber Trade 265 



ReTiew of the Crude Rubber Market 269 



TT is difficult for some purchasers of rubber goods to ap- 

 ■*■ preciate that the decline in the price of Para rubber 

 does not warrant manufacturers in at once reducing the 

 prices of manufactured goods of all sorts. At the same 

 time, to the unprejudiced onlooker the reasons are very 

 evident. In the first place, granting that the price of Pard 

 went to $i.io or thereabouts and now that it has dropped 

 many cents, manufactured goods did not go up to fit the 

 maximum price, but were sold on a basis of the lower cost, 

 which is close to what rubber is quoted at to-day. Nor, 

 as pointed out before, does Para rubber alone fix the price 

 of manufactured goods. With the millions of pounds of 

 Centrals and Africans used — rubbers, by the way, in which 

 there was little speculation and which still rule high — 

 there enters an important factor in price fixing that is not 

 generally understood by the purchaser. Then, too, when 

 a survey of the present market for other supplies shows an 

 advance of 40 to 50 per cent, in cotton, of 50 to 60 per 

 cent, in chemicals, and higher labor costs, one would feel 

 like advising rubber manufacturers to raise prices rather 

 than lower them. 



SPECULATION AND INDUSTRY. 



WJ HILE most of the important German rubber factories 

 * are owned by " companies," whose shares are traded 

 in on the borses, the Harburg Rubber Comb Co., one of 

 the oldest on the list, is still in a "firm," of which the pres- 

 ent proprietor is Senator Dr. Heinrich Traun — a descend- 

 ant of the founder of the business. To an American who 

 visited him a year or two ago, Dr. Traun said that a field 

 existed for largely extending the production of his fac- 

 tories, and that by converting the business into a " com- 

 pany " the necessary capital could easily be obtained, but 

 he preferred to retain control, in order to be able to leave 

 the factories to his sons, who are now associated with him 

 in this management. 



There is nothing more elusive than the " control " of a 

 factory which once passes into the hands of a corporation 

 not of the " close " character — one formed by members of 

 a family, or in which one person owns a majority of the 

 shares. A better illustration is not needed than in the 

 case of the rubber shoe factories which, originally each 

 controlled by one man, or by a small group of owners, were 

 combined under the United States Rubber Co. Today 

 most of those who had built up the various factories and 

 made them profitable have disappeared from the board of 

 directors, and the ownership has passed to 4352 stockhold- 

 ers (according to a late report), the greater number of 

 whom know nothing about making or selling rubber shoes. 

 As for the "control," that is now being contested for, and 

 nobody knows who may have the choosing of the board of 

 directors at the meeting twenty days hence. Not much 

 opportunity for a business to pass from father to son under 

 conditions like these. 



Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan, the New York financier, in 

 testifying lately in a public inquiry into the. natur* of the 



