172 



IHE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[February i, 1903. 



Wall street, New York, as a broker. His office there was 

 frequented for years by Christopher Meyer, the leading rubber 

 manufacturer of his day; Benjamin F. Breeden, and others 

 connected with the rubber trade who were investors in railway 

 stocks. 



=John A. Meyers, for more than forty years an emplojc ol 

 The J. & H. Phillips Co., rubber goods dealers, of Pittsburgh, 

 Pennsylvania, died on January i at his home in that city. He 

 was a prominent mason and is survived by a widow and three 

 children. 



= Louis Muller, one of the oldest American residents, of Pan- 

 ama, Colombia, died there on January 11. About 50 years ago 

 he had headed an e.xploring expedition to the gulf of D.jrien in 

 search of India rubber for an American syndicate. 



NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE (QUOTATIONS. 



United States Rubber Co. : 



PRICES OF RUBBER FOOTWEAR. 



Rubber Goods Manufacturing Co.: 



t'KEKEKKHD. 



Low. 



69^ 



71 



721^ 



73 



77 



CALENDARS FOR igO^ 

 Theodore Hofkli.er & Co. (Buffalo, New York) issue a 

 handsomely got up vest pocket calendar, with spaces for memo- 

 randa for each day in the year, together with a good map of 

 the United States and various information desirable for ready 

 reference —-—James Boyd & Brother (Philadelphia) send a con- 

 venient memorandum calendar for desk use, with one page for 

 every week = =Boston Belting Co. (Boston) send a hand- 

 some leather mounted desk calendar with a set of cards, one 

 for each month. = =B. C. Tillinghast, a rubber goods jobber 

 (Philadelphia), sends a new pocket memorandum book bound 

 in celluloid, with a calendar for three years and useful memo- 

 randa for reference S. Birkenstein & Sons, waste rubber 

 merchants, of Chicago, send a new desk calendar mounted in 



aluminum The Stamford (Connecticut) Rubber Supply 



Co. send a hanging calendar ornamented with an attractive pho- 

 togravure and containing a reminder of their rubber substi- 

 tutes. ==The Ohio Rubber Co. (Cleveland, Ohio) issue an at- 

 tractive calendar, in a series of four floral pictures, each cover- 

 ing three months of the year.==La Favorite Rubber Manu- 

 facturing Co. (Paterson, New Jersey) advise us that a copy of 

 their Pocket Diary for 1903 will be sent to any engineer writ- 

 ing to them and mentioning The India Rubber World. = = 

 J. Schnurmann (27-29. Downham road, London, England), 

 dealers in waste rubber, has sent us an attractive illustrated 

 calendar. 



The Dunlop Tire Co.. Limited, of Toronto, Canada, are 

 manufacturing two styles of rubber shoe heels, and are gradu- 

 ally adding to their production a number of articles in rubber 

 Other than tires. 



April I, 1901 $2 33 



January i, 1902 2 50 



January i, 1903 2.44 



June 1 , 1903 2.5S 



' I ^HE leading rubber shoe manufacturers announced a revis- 

 *■ ion of list prices on January i. The changes in prices 

 are not uniform, and on many items no change has been made, 

 it being stated that the object of the revision has been to adapt 

 the selling prices more closely to the cost of production. A 

 comparison of the new lists of several companies with those for 

 the preceding year shows an average decline ol 5 per cent, on 

 rubber boots; there are variations of 5 to 20 cents per pair on 

 heavy rubber shoes, but a number of items show no change, and 

 the average is the same as last year; on lighter goods there has 

 been a general advance in list prices, ranging from 4 to 10 cents 

 per pair, and averaging 2.2 per cent, over last year's list. All 

 prices are subject to change without notice. 



Discounts to retailers from the lists of the United States 

 Rubber Co. will remain without change, as follows, until May 

 31, 1903 (discounts to jobbers also remaining the same as last 

 year) : 



First quality brands (except Woonsocket and 



Mf^yer 35 @ 10® 3 



Woonsocket and Meyer brands 35 @ 10 @ 3 @ 5 



.Second quality (except Khode Island). ...... 3; @ 10 ^ 10 (ffi 3 



Rhode Island brand. 35@io@io@3@5 



From June i to November 30, 1903, or thereafter, one 10 per 

 cent, discount on each brand will be changed to 5 per cent. 



The following figures show the net cost to the retailer of 

 short boots, listed formerly at $4.20, during 1902 at $4.50, and 

 this year at $4 30 per pair : 



April I, 1900 $2-99 



November i, 1900 315 



January 3, 1901 2 gg 



February i, 1901 2 46 



The United States Rubber Co.'s " memorandum of agree- 

 ment" with the jobber embodies no restriction upon prices to 

 be charged by jobbers to retailers, as was insisted upon in for- 

 mer years. As a result the impression prevailed at the begin- 

 ning of the year that price cutting might become general. 

 This, however, now appears less probable. It will be remem- 

 bered that upon the first adoption of the form of contract used 

 by llie United States Rubber Co. for a number of years, the 

 point was urged by some jobbers that, having once bought 

 goads, it was within their right to sell at any price they chose 

 to. The bad results from price cutting, however, led the job- 

 bers after aw.iile to a voluntary indorsement of the policy of 

 maintaining prices, through a series of shoe jobbers' associa- 

 tions now extending over most of the country. These associa- 

 tions still remain active, and have practically committed them- 

 selves since the opening of the year to maintaining the rate of 

 discounts in force. It has been pointed out that the system of 

 branches and selling agencies now maintained by the rubber 

 shoe manufacturers is so general that the cutting of prices by 

 a jobber in almost any part of the country could be met 

 promptly by the local agency of the manufacturers, in view of 

 which fact it is not regarded as probable that the jobbing trade 

 will depart from the policy of the past lew years. 



The new rubber shoe catalogues present no marked change 

 in styles or shapes. There are, on the whole, perhaps fewer 

 items listed than in former years. The introduction of the 

 " service " or " extension " heel and " rolled edge " goods has 

 become more general. Fewer widths of toes are shown in sev- 

 eral catalogues, the narrowest lasts disappearing where any 

 change is made. 



The Canadian rubber shoe manufacturers will announce new 

 lists and discounts on March i, involving an advance, on ac- 

 count of the high cost of raw materials. 



