February i, 1903 ] 



THE INDIA RUBBER V/ORLD 



165 



THE TEXTILE GOODS MARKET. 



THE new year in the cotton goods market opened under 

 varying conditions. In attempting to inform the India- 

 rubber trade as to the position of the cotton goods market it 

 is much easier to tell where it will not be found for the next 

 two months than to indicate the point where it will progress 

 before the limit has been reached and something resemblit g 

 stability in prices is established. It is hardly possible just now 

 to keep pace with the rapid movement of values. To-day's 

 range becomes the subject of radical revision to-morrow, and 

 the average man can scarcely get his bearings, whether buyer 

 or seller. The entire trade is in a fever of expectancy and un- 

 certainty. It is possible to find sellers who would wish to be 

 released from contract obligations, despite the fairly good le- 

 turn, for they feel that it would be more profitable to sell now 

 than it was in September last, when most of the rubber manu- 

 facturers placed their orders for the year. Perhaps this soit of 

 reasoning would be more pertinent if certain conditions ex- 

 isted to give force to it; but they do not exist, and it is still 

 the belief that the seller is better off with an assured outlet for 

 his product for the next year than he would be if business was 

 not in concrete form and subject to the capriciousness of the 

 buyer. 



In connection with the raw cotton market, Alfred B. Shep- 

 person, an undisputed authority, declares that, from present in 

 dications, the crop will not exceed 11,000,000 bales. Of late 

 the market has been only moderately active, although prices 

 have displayed remarkable firmness. Ever since New Years 

 prices have been gradually advancing. The strength has been 

 almost wholly due to the smallness of receipts and the general- 

 ly strong statistical position of the staple. The world's visible 

 supply is gradually decreasing as compared with last year's 

 total. These facts furnish' the " bulls " rather good material to 

 work with, although thus far they do not seem to have devel-. 

 oped the possibilities to a great extent. There is no better 

 barometer of the market's strength, viewed from the stand- 

 point of the rubber manufacturers, than the fact that the latter 

 are advancing the price of their products. They contend that 

 it will be impossible for them to maintain the present standard 

 of quality without realizing more money for their goods. 



During the past month there has been a very marked im- 

 provement in the demand for sheetings from the manufactureis 

 of rubber boots and shoes, and the prices paid have been from 

 }^i to X cent per yard advance over the prices asked in Decem- 

 ber. Prices made are for spot supplies for which the demand 

 has been running principally, for some weeks. The following 

 figures will show the comparative cost of sheetings during the 

 past three years in the local market : 



■903- 1902. igol. 



Forty-inch, 2.50 bsy^c b'/gc by^c. 



Forty iLch, 2.70 6c i}{c 6}^c. 



Forty-inch. 2 85 5>sc sKc 5^r. 



Forty inch, 3.60 4 j^c 4^c 5/-sc- 



Thirty six inch, 3 jards'sc 5}-^c S^c. 



The following figures show the price of spot cotton at the 

 ports of New York, New Orleans, and Liverpool on Wednesday 

 of each week in January : 



New York. New Orleans. Liverpool. 



January 7 S.goc Sfj^c 4 781/. 



January 14 8.85c. S^c 4.701/. 



January 21 8.95c Sjitc 480a'. 



January 28 q.ooc 8|^c 4.8cfl'. 



The demand for fellings during the month has been excep- 

 tionally good, and sellers have been compelled to ask consumers 

 to use a little patience in the event that deliveries are not 

 made to suit them. The Joseph Wild Co. have been making 



some extensive additions to their facilities, in hope to better 

 cope with the fast growing demand for their product. 



The textile manufacturers of Canada are pushing their cam- 

 paign to force the Canadian government to increase the tariff 

 schedule in its application to cotton goods. They have been 

 issuing literature and obtainingsignatures to monster petitions 

 which are to be presented to parliament at its next meeting. 

 Their object is to raise a great popular tariff cry, which will be 

 at its zenith about the time that parliament convenes. A rich 

 " lobby " is to be sent to Ottawa, and there are expressions of 

 confidence that, despite objections from rural constituencies, 

 the house of commons will erect a much higher tarifj wall. 



RECLAIMED RUBBER AND RUBBER SCRAP. 



' I ^ HE market for reclaimed rubber during the past year has 

 ' not exhibited such fluctuations as have occurred in con- 

 nection with crude rubber, which in itself would hardly be an 

 occasion for remark, since these two lines do not always keep 

 together in the matter of price. It rhight be well, however, for 

 rubber manufacturers to pay careful attention to the present 

 situation with respect to reclaimed rubber, which has become 

 so important an item of raw material for the American rubber 

 industry. The steady growth in the production of rubber 

 goods has called for a proportionately larger amount of re- 

 claimed rubber, and since the capacity for the production of 

 this material is limited, a higher range of values in the near fu- 

 ture should not occasion surprise. Besides, crude rubber has 

 ruled low, comparatively, during most of the year, and a gen- 

 eral advance in all grades is likely to lead to a wider consump- 

 tion of reclaimed stock in certain branches of the industry, 

 which would prove an additional force in advancing pricas of 

 the latter. While the total volume of rubber goods going into 

 consumption increases year by year, the chief basis thus far foe 

 the production of reclaimed stock is the supply of old rubber 

 shoes. It is pointed out by a member of the reclaiming trade 

 that an increasingly large proportion of the reclaimed rubber 

 produced is going into products of a class which do not again 

 contribute anything to the rubber scrap market. This is nota- 

 bly true of insulated wire, carriage cloth, and some other goods 

 which, as everybody knows, never figure in rubber scrap, while 

 another large proportion goes into lines of mechanical goods 

 which have not yet been successfully devulcanized, whatever 

 may prove true in future. 



To sum up, therefore, the tendency in reclaimed rubber is 

 toward the extension of the demand at a more rapid rate than 

 the increase in the collection of its principal source — rubber 

 shoe scrap. The fact that reclaimed rubber prices have not ad- 

 vanced materially during the past year has been due to the 

 even tenor of the rubber scrap market. This latter fact has 

 been due in part, no doubt, to conditions which have been 

 growing up in the reclaiming trade, whereby consumers of scrap 

 have accumulated large stocks and have been rendered inde- 

 pendent of the market to the extent of not being obliged to 

 buy whenever prices showed a tendency to rise. The result 

 has been to keep prices of scrap down below the figures which, 

 prevailed two or three years ago, and, correspondingly,reclaimed 

 rubber prices have remained lower than at the time referred to. 

 With an increased demand, however, and without increased 

 supplies, these conditions cannot exist continuously, for which 

 reason manufacturers of rubber goods may find themselves 

 forced in the not distant future to figure on higher prices for 

 reclaimed stock. 



Our quotations on rubber scrap at New York show no in- 

 crease over those printed last month 



