July i, 1902.] 



IHE INDIA RUBBER W^ORLD 



331 



RUBBER MEN AND RUBBER TOPICS. 



IT is not often that it falls to the lot of the tourist in Egypt 

 nowadays to get even a single genuine scarab. But Mr. H. 

 C. Corson, of New York, and lately of the Akron Rubber Works, 

 while on the Nile last winter, became the possesser of a brace- 

 let composed of nine genuine scarabs, some of them bearing 

 the inscriptions of Pharaohs antedating the builders of the 

 great pyramids. The scarabs are gems, usually cut in obsidian, 

 in the form of a beetle, engraved with hieroglyphics, each 

 meant to represent one of the many Egyptian deities, and were 

 worn by the ancients as an amulet. Mr. Corson's " find " is a 

 valuable one and lately formed the subject of a page of descrip- 

 tion by an authority on such subjects, in the New York Times. 



* • * 



In connection with the inquiry that appeared in a recent 

 issue of The India Rubber World for rubber suction cups, 

 Mr. George A. Alden, of Boston, says that he recollects the 

 time, somewhere back about 1867, when there were a number 

 of articles in newspapers, claiming that thieves were purchas- 

 ing rubber suction cups, attaching them to both hands and feet, 

 thus enabling them to climb up the sides of buildings and enter 

 second story windows in the pursuit of their calling. The in- 

 cident is an interesting one, although Mr. Alden appears to be 

 sceptical regarding the ability of the thieves to scale brick walls 



in that manner. 



* * * 



A SUMMER residence is to be erected for Colonel Harry E. 

 Converse, of the Boston Rubber Shoe Co., at Marion, Massa- 

 chusetts, which will probably be the largest and finest on the 

 shore of Buzzard's Bay. The house will be located on the pic- 

 turesque promontory, on the north shore of the bay, known as 

 Charles's Neck, the whole of which has been purchased by 

 Colonel Converse, who has chosen "The Moorings" as the 

 name of his new country seat. The architect for the house and 

 barn is Tristam Griffin, of Boston. It is expected that a year 



will be required for the completion of the buildings. 



« » * 



Mr. John J. Watson, Jr., of Providence, Rhode Island, 

 who was lately elected assistant treasurer of the United States 

 Rubber Co., is one of the bright young men that Colonel 

 Samuel P. Colt, president of that company, has as business 

 allies and associates. He was formerly in the employ of the 

 Industrial Trust Co., of which Colonel Colt is also president, 

 and was promoted from his position with that concern to the 

 treasurership of the Joseph Banigan Rubber Co. He still re- 

 tains the latter position, and remains in Providence a day or 

 two every week, devoting the rest of his time to his duties in 

 the office of the United States Rubber Co. in New York. 



* * » 



What is known as the Hagberg bill, now before the Massa- 

 chusetts senate, is causing considerable feeling in the city of 

 Worcester. The bill in brief provides that manufacturing cor- 

 porations in Massachusetts must pay their employes in cur- 

 rency, instead of in checks. This has stirred up the American 

 Steel and Wire Co., so it is said, and it is hinted that its Wash- 

 burn & Moen plant, in case the bill passes, may be moved from 

 Worcester to some town in the West. Of course, that would 

 mean also the removal of their very large rubber plant, used in 



the insulation of wire. 



* » * 



The following incident may be somewhat apocryphal, but it 

 is nevertheless true to nature, and it would, therefore, be a 

 pity if it remained untold. It seems that about the time Mr. 

 Joseph Banigan was quietly marketing his holdings of United 



States Rubber stock, and indeed when he had parted with 

 nearly all of it, a high official entered his private office in great 

 agitation and said : " Mr. Banigan, I understand that you sold 

 most of your stock." " Genial Joseph " drew himself up to his 

 full height of six feet and one, and towering above his ques- 

 tioner replied : " Mr. Blank, I believe that I am at this moment 

 the largest individual stockholder in the United States Rubber 

 Co." The gentleman apologized and retired, whereupon Mr. 

 Banigan turned to a listener and said : "As I weigh nearly 250 

 pounds I think it is perfectly true that I am the largest stock- 

 holder." 



* * * 



Edward Atkinson's work toward the establishment of a 

 school for insurance engineering, in connection with the Mas- 

 sachusetts Institute of Technology, seems about to bear fruit, 

 and it is to be hoped that the $150,000 to start the work will 

 be soon raised. The way in which this interests rubber manu- 

 facturers is in connection with the apparatus that will be in- 

 stalled for the extinguishing of fires, and also the knowledge 

 the new engineers will get of various types of fire hose. 



"PARA RUBBER" FROM CEYLON. 



CEYLON exported last year 7392 pounds of rubber from 

 cultivated plantations, stocked with the " Pari" variety, 

 which was sold in London at good prices, one lot bringing 4^-. 

 i>^(/. per pound, against 3^. 9>^^. paid for the "best Para" during 

 the same week. Director Willis, of the royal botanic gardens, 

 in Ceylon, states in his annual report for 1901 that " India- 

 rubber may now be regarded as established as a minor product 

 in the low country. . . . Extension of planting continues 

 in suitable districts, and probably 3000 acres are now in rubber." 

 An English rubber manufacturer writes to The India Rub- 

 ber World : " We have made several experiments with Cey- 

 lon rubber which have turned out fairly satisfactorily. There 

 is little or no difference between it and the Pard obtained from 

 Brazil." What follows, from the same letter, is not so clear, in 

 view of the. information already given in regard to prices real- 

 ized for the Ceylon product : " The difference in price makes it 

 a useful adjunct to the rubber manufacturer's list of economi- 

 cal rubbers, but I do not know whether this information will, 

 in the near future, render it less economical ; I hope not." 



NOTES FROM PARA. 



THE United States consul, Mr. Kenneday, reported, May 7 : 

 "Owing to hard times, low prices, and certain unfavora- 

 ble local conditions, there are various opinions as to whether 

 the steady increase in the output of rubber during the past few 

 years will be maintained in 1902-03. It is generally believed, 

 however, that the rapid development of the new rubber dis- 

 tricts on the upper Amazon River and its affluents will more 

 than make up for any falling off from these causes. I am in- 

 formed that already many large bands of rubber gatherers are 

 organizing, and that preparations on a large scale are being 

 made for harvesting next season's crop." 



The contract for the improvements at the port of Para has 

 been signed by the Brazilian government, and includes the 

 building of a wall in the river, somewhat beyond the end of 

 the present piers, parallel with the shore, for about I'/z miles, 

 the space inshore to be occupied by warehouses and all facili- 

 ties for loading and unloading vessels, wharves, etc. The 

 channel is to be dredged, so as to admit the dockage of the 

 largest vessels. The amount of the contract is about $4,250,- 

 000 and the time limit ten years. 



