December i, 1902.] 



I'HE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



87 



voted is to have emasculated your public virtue. Not to have a politica 

 opinion, based on conviction and supplemented by personal effort, 

 should be taken as an admission of mental incompetency and barren 

 virtue. 



I seek to leave with you the thought that rhetorical combat is a loss 

 of time. That merely to tell what should be, without helping to carry 

 it out, is egotism. That to criticise others for what they did. even 

 though it may be unwise, when one may himself have done nothing, is 

 idle vaporing. What we need, therefore, is fewer people who think they 

 think and more people who act while their neighbors are satisfied with 

 the consciousness of high motive. 



After Mr. Hedges's speech, Messrs. Fox, Drew, Bibber, and 

 White appeared again and the evening's entertainment was 

 then brought to a close. 



Telegrams and letters of regret were received from about 50 

 metibers of the Club who were unable to be present, one of the 

 biightest of them being from Mr. H. D. Warren, president of 

 the Gutta Percha and Rubber Manufacturing Co. of Toronto, 

 Limited, which was read by Governor Bourn during the course 

 of the dinner, and was thoroughly enjoyed by the listeners. 



THE TEXTILE GOODS MARKET. 



NEVER in the history of the rubber trade has the demand 

 for textile fabrics been of greater volume than during 

 the past month. In seasons past rubber manufacturers have 

 c illed for their supplies fully as early as during the first 

 two months of the present season, but they have been sat- 

 isfied with small quantities with which to start. Not so this 

 year. Where contracts have been made by rubber manufac- 

 turers for cotton ducks they have been asking for immense 

 quantities at the start, and in every instance quick deliv- 

 eries are demanded. The India Rubber World has said 

 before that these annual contracts have called for a much 

 larger quantity than in former years, but it is predicted that 

 if the demand keeps up throughout the year anywhere near 

 as it has commenced, it will be seen that even the most op- 

 timistic anticipations of the consumers did not reach the 

 maximum consumption. 



Not a few buyers were inclined to express a little fear 

 lest they had made a mistake in contracting for goods at 

 such a comparatively high price level. This, however, was 

 while raw material was gradually easing off in price, but 

 since cotton has been recovering its lost ground and is to- 

 day only a few points below the level when contracts were 

 made, these purchasers have felt more at rest. The recent 

 decline in cotton was quickly caught up by those who had 

 refused to make a yearly contract as an argument to strength- 

 en their position, but the prop has been knocked from un- 

 der them. In its last issue The India Rubber World re- 

 ported that some of these hand-to-mouth buyers had been 

 paying in some instances 3^ cents a pound more than those 

 who had made yearly contracts, but the writer is able to an- 

 nounce this month that one concern in particular, has since 

 paid 5 cents a pound in excess of the contract price. This 

 manufacturer has recently been in the market and bought a 

 good sized quantity of belting cloth for which he paid the 

 above mentioned excessive figure. 



Perhaps the most important feature in connection with the 

 textile division of the market this month is the Canadian 

 trade. For years the United States has been supplying the 

 rubber manufacturers of Canada with their cotton duck, and is 

 doing so at the present time. Yearly the business has been in- 

 creasing, until now when it has reached formidable propor- 

 tions. This season the Canadian manufacturers have been 



buying more heavily than heretofore, and some who have 

 never patronized American manufacturers have become good 

 customers. And it should be said at this juncture that the 

 general impression among American rubber manufacturers that 

 the Canadians are getting their cotton ducks at a lower rate 

 than our home consumers, is without foundation. The writer 

 has been as ured by one of the largest sellers to the Canadian 

 trade that the latter are paying lully as much for their goods as 

 are the consumers in this country. 



But to such an extent has the business between the Ameri- 

 can manufacturers of cotton duck and the Canadian rubber 

 manufacturers grown, that a movement has been started in 

 Canada to block it is far as possible. Cotton ducks are the 

 only cotton fabrics that the Canadian government exempts 

 from duty. All other cotton finished goods are taxed a duty 

 of 25 per cent. There are but two cotton duck manufacturers 

 in Canada, but the production of these is about equal to the 

 consumption by the manufacturers of belting and rubber goods. 

 These concerns have recently instituted measures tending to 

 the absolute control of the cotton duck trade. They are going 

 to put an embargo on American goods by introducing a mea- 

 sure in the Canadian parliament in February which will result 

 in a tariff of 25 per cent, on cotton ducks as well as on all other 

 cotton fabrics. That is, they are going to accomplish this if 

 they can. But the American manufacturers have not been 

 asleep. They are taking steps to thwart the designs of the 

 Canadians, and it remains to be seen whether the latter will 

 succeed. Should the Canadian tariff laws be so altered as to 

 make this class of goods dutiable, it will have considerable 

 effect upon the manufacturers of American textiles, as all con- 

 tracts have been made for the coming year, on the basis of no 

 duty. 



Manufacturers of rubber footwear showed a disposition dur- 

 ing the early part of November to ignore the fabric market, 

 owing to the continual decline of raw cotton, which they were 

 perfectly justified in doing. They were in need of sheeting, 

 but were inclined to see raw material touch bottom before they 

 operated in the finished goods market. During the latter part 

 of the month, however, when cotton began to show signs of 

 recovering its lost ground, the rubber people became more nu- 

 merous as buyers, and have been taking some fairly good 

 stocks. The market for brown sheetings and osnaburgs at 

 present is tending in the buyer's favor and prices on the vari- 

 ous lines are a fraction lower than they were last month, as 

 will be seen by the following quotations : 



Forty inch, 2.50 6J^ cents. 



Forty inch, 2.70 5% cents. 



Forty inch, 2.85 5!^ cents. 



Forty inch, 3.60 4?^ cents. 



Thirty-six inch, 3 yard 5)/^ cents. 



Manufacturers of fabric hose have been drawing on their 

 contracts for yarn during the past month quite heavily. Spin- 

 ners of cotton duck yarns are well employed, and have orders 

 sufficient to keep them going for some time in the future. 

 Sellers have been inclined to hold their yarns at a little higher 

 figure than last month, despite the weakness shown by the raw 

 material market until very recently, when it has been showing 

 some signs of recovering. It is not known, however, that 

 prices have undergone any quotable changes. 



Rubber druggists' sundries from the United States are in 

 good demand in Chile, according to the consul for this coun- 

 try at Valparaiso. The glassware used in the drug trade, how- 

 ever, comes mostly from Europe, being lighter in weight than 

 the American. Rubber plasters from the United States are 

 used largely. 



