Feiiruary I, 1903.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



173 



THE RUBBER TRADE AT AKRON. 



BV A RESIDENT CORRESPOiNDENT. 



TO THE Editor of The India Rubber World : As was 

 foreshadowed in this correspondence last month, the 

 rubber manufacturers of Akron have made a general advance 

 in prices. The increase varies more upon different lines of 

 goods than among the different manufacturers. While the ad- 

 vance in the price of crude rubber, and the indication that it 

 will continue indefinitely at high figures, is the chief reason 

 given for the increase, the added cost of nearly every kind of 

 raw material, fuel, etc., have all contributed to the necessity 

 for the change. The B. F.Goodrich Co., were the first to send 

 out formal notices to the trade, but others have rapidly done 

 the same, the advanced quotations dating from about January 

 I. Orders booked prior to the notices of the advance are 

 being filled at the old figures, but for all other business there 

 are higher quotations. From talks with representatives of sev- 

 eral factories, it appears that there are no lines of rubber goods 

 which are not affected by the advance in prices, though the in- 

 crease is not uniform on all goods. The increase ranges from 

 5 to 10 per cent., at this time, but the opinion is expressed by 

 manufacturers that another advance is likely to be necessary 



by April i. 



* * * 



Notices of an advance of 10 per cent, in the wages of all the 

 people upon their payroll (there are about 2400) were posted 

 by The B. F. Goodrich Co. on January 8. While the advance 

 was nominally effective January i, it really began a few days 

 earlier, dating from the pay day just prior to New Year's. 

 The increase makes the payroll of the company a little more 

 than $1,000,000 a year, the advance adding$ioo.ooo annually to 

 the salaries and wages account. The raise was a surprise to the 

 employes and they received the news with hearty cheers. The 

 notices of advance read : " Until further notice, on account of 

 the increase in the expenses of living." While the Goodrich 

 Co. are the only ones making formal announcement of a gen- 

 eral advance in wages, other companies have been increasing 

 the pay of employes in a somewhat less general way but nearly, 

 if not quite, to the same extent. Advances in this and that de- 

 partment have been made by the different factories from time 

 to time during the past several months, and the general average 

 of wages paid was never before so high in the rubber business 



in Akron. 



* * * 



The automobile tire business seems to grow brisker every 

 day. While the local factories can meet the existing demand 

 only by running at night, they are ever reaching out for more 

 trade — and getting it The B. F. Goodrich, the Diamond, 

 the Goodyear Tire and Rubber, and the Firestone Tire and 

 Rubber companies all made large exhibits at the recent auto 

 mobile show in New York, and will also be generally well rep- 

 resented at the coming show in Chicago. But the value of 

 such displays to the manufacturers of tires is being questioned 

 more and more. Not less than fifteen exhibitions have been 

 scheduled to take place this year, and the tire men have been 

 invited, solicited, urged, to make displays. To most of them 

 the cold shoulder will be turned. 



" There is nothing for us in the smaller exhibitions," said a 

 leading manufacturer; "nothing except expense. The New 

 York and Chicago shows are legitimate. They are under the 

 auspices of the Automobile associations and we can be profita- 

 bly represented at such. But the exhibitions which are fathered 

 by promoters after the money there is in them, have no attrac- 

 tions for us. In the old days of the bicycle business, shows 



were held in towns of no more than 5000 population. The ma- 

 jority of them were schemes to get money from the manulac- 

 turers and there were few that did not succed — in this. The 

 drift of the automobile shows is the same way and the tire men, 

 at least, will pretty generally stand together in refusing to be 

 taken in.' " 



Other Akron manufacturers have confirmed the expression 

 above quoted, and said further that the rule adopted here was 

 being put into practice by rubber manufacturers elsewhere. 

 At best, the tire makers can only show their goods. The nature 

 of the improvements upon them are such that, unlike the im- 

 provements in automobiles, they are not at once apparent. 

 There are no new escape valves or other outward evidences of 

 superiority to catch, at once, the casual observers' attention. 



Already, however, there is some talk of the exhibits to be 

 made at the Louisiana Purchase exposition in St. Louis next 

 year. Not only the tire manufacturers, but other local rubber 

 concerns expect to be represented. One concern has already 

 reserved space. Its exhibit will include a showing of all its 

 several products. " But, after all," said a prominent rubber 

 man, "an exhibit at the St. Louis fair will not be of much im- 

 mediate account ; it cannot be, in the rubber business. If we 

 could show machinery in motion it would be worth while, but 

 there is not much in a stack of belting, tires, and plain, every- 

 day articles of manufacture, to attract attention," 



* * * 



The Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. made their first tires in 

 their own plant and with their own men, January 12, and were 

 entirely successful. The company will keep their machinery 

 going night and day to catch up with orders and accumulate 

 goods in stock. They are making special efforts to enter the 

 automobile field on a large scale, competing with solid tires 

 against the more generally accepted pneumatics for road ma- 

 chines, and seeking to demonstrate that the solid tire is equal- 

 ly if not more desirable than the pneumatics. 



The B. F. Goodrich Co. are now occupying their new five- 

 story addition. On the fifth floor has been placed the ma- 

 chine-made hose department ; on the fourth floor the hand- 

 made hose department; and on the third floor the cotton hose 

 department. The second floor will be a warehouse for staple 

 manufactured goods to be made up in large quantities, insur- 

 ing more prompt delivery on such orders than the company 

 have been able to make heretofore. The first floor of the new 

 building is occupied by the shipping department, and a belt 

 line railroad, connecting with all the trunk lines entering Ak- 

 ron, passes the door. The space made vacant by the removal 

 of the hose and shipping departments from the other buildings 

 will be used for the extension of other departments which have 

 long been in need of additional room. 



The Goodyear Tiie and Rubber Co. are moving into the 

 three story addition lately completed, placing therein all their 

 tire departments. The new structure will be entirely occupied 

 by March 15, and it is expected during February and March to 

 increase the number of employes by 200. The removal of the 

 tire departments to the new building will make room for a 

 great extension of the company's molded goods departments. 

 Since December the Goodyear factory has been in operation 

 night and day in the tire and the stock preparing departments. 



William Cary has purchased the stock of A. D. Logan in the 

 Lyon Rubber Co. and succeeds him as secretary and treasurer 

 of the company. The Lyon company are devoting their main 

 attention to gloves, claiming to produce a grease proof glove 

 of exceptionally high merit. Mr. Logan will return to the 

 grain and feed business with which he was formerly identified. 



The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. will begin about Feb- 



