August i, 1902.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER V/ORLD 



363 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



"GERMAN PRICES OF RUBBER SCRAP." 



''1^0 THE Editor ok The India Rubber World: The 

 I writer of a communication from London under this 

 heading, in your issue of July i, thinks that American 

 manufacturers of reclaimed rubber make a big mistake 

 in buying foreign scrap through agents. If your correspond- 

 ent has ever handled any foreign scrap, I should like to ask if 

 he ever had any invoice of goloshes on which there was not a 

 deduction of some kind claimed, on account either of short 

 weight, excess tare, or wrong packing of goods. I am frank to 

 say that there is always some difference between the amount 

 received by the reclaimer and my rendering of invoice, and it 

 is just for this reason that the American reclaimer prefers to 

 purchase through agents rather than direct. If he honors a 

 draft for 100 per cent, or gives a letter of credit for that 

 amount, he will have to make settlement with a shipper over 

 3000 miles away, and will be practically at the mercy, or hon- 

 esty, of that party — I don't care which way you put it — to set- 

 tle a claim for deduction. But in dealing through an agent he 

 has some one on this side of the ocean to look to, to straighten 

 matters out, and whom he can hold responsible. Evidently, 

 your correspondent is not aware that foreign shoes are sold on 

 90 per cent, sight draft against bills of lading and in some cases 

 75 per cent., but I am pleased to inform him that I am taking 

 orders on these latter terms and know of other agents who are 

 doing so. 



Your correspondent also suggests that if American reclaim- 

 ers would keep the foreign dealers informed in regard to the 

 crude rubber market, it would help to keep down prices of 

 rubber scrap. It would seem hardly necessary in these en- 

 lightened days, when market reports are published daily in all 

 parts of the civilized world, for consumers in one country to 

 notify dealers in another country what the commodities those 

 dealers handle are worth. The large German exporters of 

 scrap rubber are wide awake business men, who know exactly 

 what the goods they are dealing in and such as may have a 

 bearing on these are bringing at the centers in which they ex- 

 pect to sell. But as a matter of fact, prices of scrap are but 

 slightly governed by an advance or decline in crude rubber, 

 but are controlled by the supply and demand of scrap itself. 



Again your correspondent says: "The reclaimers should 

 certainly not make any allowance for tare. I think this would, 

 be a matter for the Reclaimers' Association in America to look 

 into." There was a Rubber Reclaimers' Association once, but 

 it now exists only in name. Among the rules which it adopted 

 was this : 



Ninth. — Old rubber boots and shoes of foreign manufacture shall be 

 bought on same conditions as those of domestic manufacture, c. i. f. 

 port of entry. 



The failure to adhere to this rule has been much discussed 

 among consumers, the reason evidently being that, whenever 

 one reclaimer ignores it, the others follow like a flock of sheep. 



W. C. COLEMAN. 

 Boston, Mass., July 3, 1902. 



THE COLONIAL RUBBER CO. (EUROPE.) 



To THE Editor of The India Rubber World: Your 

 British correspondent, in referring recently to the decision of 

 the Colonial Rubber Co. to close its works at Cologne-Ehren- 

 feld, Germany, intimates as a fair supposition that the manu- 

 facture of hollow playing balls under the Cox patents, under 



which this company hold the Continental rights, may have 

 proved less profitable than was anticipated. As a shareholder 

 in the Colonial company, and familiar with its affairs, I may be 

 permitted to make a statement in regard to the same. 



The company's capital being only 3,250,000 francs, with 

 which three large rubber factories had to be kept going, and of 

 which capital of course a fairly large proportion was sunk in 

 lands, building, plant, and machinery, it was found that a 

 further increase of capital would be indispensable, and steps 

 were taken to that effect. The very unfavorable condition of 

 the Brussels market, where enormous sums had been lost in 

 Colonial and Russian ventures, rendered this financial opera- 

 tion impossible for the time being. The Ghent works of the 

 company had been considerably enlarged during the past two 

 years, and an ebonite department had been added. As this 

 factory is without doubt the largest in Belgium, a considerable 

 proportion of the company's capital had been absorbed by it. 



At Prouvy-Thiant, in France, the company possesses another 

 large factory which is constantly growing in importance, while 

 at Cologne a " mechanical " department had been added to the 

 ball manufacturing carried on there from the commencement 

 of the company's operations. It seems that with this latter 

 addition the board made a mistake ; not only was the rubber 

 trade in Germany generally in a very depressed condition at 

 the time when this addition was made, but, particularly in 

 western Germany, the trade is keenly competed for, and a new 

 and foreign factory has to struggle very hard against the old 

 established rubber concerns. 



For these reasons the mechanical department was closed 

 down, while the rubber ball manufacturing, which had always 

 been a satisfactory feature, was continued. It was soon found, 

 however, that this department alone could not carry the weight 

 of the great general expense, and the board no doubt arrived 

 at a wise decision in closing the works down and concentrat- 

 ing the company's capital and energy upon the Belgian and 

 French factories. That the Cox machine and the Eccles com- 

 pany's patents are not to blame is demonstrated by the success 

 which the Hartford Rubber Works Co. score in the United 

 States, to judge from the recent repeat order for ball making 

 machines, and from the sale of the Austrian patent of the 

 Eccles company to the Oesterreichisch-A merikanische Gummi- 

 fabrik Actiengesellschaft, in Vienna. 



The Eccles Rubber Co. herself, thanks to the preeminence 

 which the English patent assures her for the ball trade in the 

 United Kingdom, is gradually gaining a firm footing again, 

 which she lost owing to the great break in the cycle trade dur- 

 ing the last few years, and which affected her through the Bir- 

 mingham steel fittings works, where a large share of her capi- 

 tal was invested. a shareholder. 



London, June 27, 1902. 



RUBBER EGG SHELLS A JOKE. 



TO the Editor of The India Rubber World : In regard 

 to a paragraph in your June i issue [page 288J copying a 

 newspaper statement to the effect that I had invented an 

 India-rubber cover for eggs, or something of that kind, I wish 

 to say that the story was sent out from this city by a news- 

 paper correspondent as a joke. grover harshman. 



Tiffin, Ohio, June 5, 1Q02. 



