October 1, 1912. J 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



41 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN BOSTON. 



By a l^csulcnt Coricsl>ondcnl. 



BUSINESS in rubber, and its manufacture, is enjoying; the 

 same prosperity which seems to be vouchsafed to all other 

 lines of industry. The consumption of automobile tires continues 

 unabated, and the motor section of Boston, Boylston street, Mas- 

 sachusetts and Commonwealth avenues— is busy in spite of the 

 j;eneral dilapidation and disorder of the former street, where 

 traffic is terribly constricted, because of the construction of the 

 new subway. Automobile dealers and supply houses report ex- 

 cellent business, even with these drawbacks. 



The mechanical business has been and is good. Heltiiig and 

 kiiuh-ed lines are in excellent demand, and even though the sum- 

 mer in New England has affected the domestic demand for hose, 

 other lines — industrial and fire hose — have sold well ; and even 

 now orders are coming in most satisfactorily for 1913 delivery. 

 The rubber clothing business is good. Salesmen now out are 

 cautioned not to promise deliveries for six weeks or two months 

 on orders taken now. Rubber footwear is now waiting for early 

 fall st'irms, before many more orders are likely to be received, 

 luit the mills have orders enough on hand to advertise for makers 

 right d'lng in the "Help Wanted'' columns. 

 « * * 



The new Administration Building of the Hood Rubber Co., 

 which has just been completed and occupied, is a model office 

 business structure, and the move of the company in the placing 

 of their business offices and the factory close together is one 

 which Is working out most advantageously. This building is a 

 substantially built tour-story edifice of reinforced concrete. In 

 fact It is concrete from top to bottom, all the floors and roof, as 

 well as the walls, being of this fire-resisting material. 



A walk through the building is one which will give the visitor 

 a good idea of its substantial character. The entrance opens 

 into a roomy lobby furnished with oak tables and chairs. Hence 

 the visitor is conducted to the desired dejiartment with the least 

 loss of time. 



On this floor are the main offices, all connected with a rubber 

 carpeted corridor, each office enclosed with oak partitions and 

 frosted glass. First is that of the Advertising Department, in 

 charge of*Mr. Kimball Then come the three sales offices, that of 

 Mr. Aldrich, the manager of sales, and those of Mr. Rice and 

 Mr. D;iiley, selling agents, the corner office being occupied by Mr. 

 Mason, manager .if footwear manufactures. A long aisle run- 

 ning from here to the back of the building separates the hand- 

 somely furnished .=ample room and the large Stenographic De- 

 partment from the private offices of the Auditing Department, the 

 tire salesroom, while Mr. F. C. Hood, general manager of the 

 company, has his own private business office here. The other 

 half of this floor is occupied by the extensive laboratory, and the 

 basement under that is practically a ijiiniature factory, where 

 experiments are worked out before any novelty or change in 

 manufacture is adopted. In the basement are the Paymaster's 

 and Casliier's Departments, the offices of the Purchasing Depart- 

 inent and Storekeeper, and the filing room. 



Taking the elevator to the third floor the visitor is ushered to 

 the Bookkeeping Department, where also are the offices of the 

 Superintendent. The other portion of the third floor is devoted 

 to the restaurant and welfare rooms, conducted by the company, 

 for the benefit of the office force. The restaurant is a large and 

 well-furnished room with tables and chairs in mission oak, and 

 here also is the kitchen for furnishing the meals in the restau- 

 rant. There is also here a special dining-room for the officers and 

 heads of departments. 



On the top floor is the Order Department, where the various 

 <letails of ticketing the orders for sending through the factory 

 are made nut. This floor also contains a large and well-equipped 

 printing office with several jobbing presses, a power press, fold- 



ers, binders, and addressing machines and other appliances for 

 mailing out the literature printed in this office. 



In the building adjoining the Administration Building are lo- 

 cated the Cost Department, .Sample Department, and a fully 

 equipped hospital which serves without charge all the employes 



of the company. 



* * * 



The Walpole Rubber Co. is steadily increasing its business. 

 During the first half of the present year it has done the largest 

 business in its history, showing a gain of over thirty per cent, 

 over the similar term in 1911. A large proportion of this in- 

 crease is in I he tire department, which has necessitated the secur- 

 ing of an additional manufacturing plant at Foxboro, an adjoin- 

 ing town. 



* * * 



'i'lie taking over of the Consumers' Kulibcr Co. by the Walpole 

 Rubber Co. must redound to the great advantage of the footwear 

 plant. Already a marked improvement is shown in the quality, 

 finish and style of the product of this plant. Mr. Ryder, the 

 new selling agent, is a thorough rubber shoe man. He was for 

 years with the Boston Rubber Shoe Co., and later with the 

 Apsley Rubber Co. He has opened an office and sample room 

 at .S08 Brown Building, 185 Summer street, on the same floor with 

 the Walpole Rubber Co., and is showing there some fine samples 

 of ovrs and tennis lines. 



•k it! if 



The Ilubmark Rubber Co., which is a selling agency of the 

 United States Rubber Co., constituted to push the sales 

 in Xew England of footwear specialties bearing this trade- 

 mark, is entering upon an extensive advertising campaign. Re- 

 cently it sent out to a large number of retailers one-half of a 

 storm slipper, the shoe being split lengthwise, enabling the re- 

 cipient to examine the construction thereof. To push the sale of 

 a certain brand of hip-boots it has contracted with over 50 local 

 papers published on the Xew England seacoast, to issue a series 

 of specially designed and very attractive advertisements, espe- 

 cially directed to fishermen and sailors. 



* * * 



Several of the manufacturers of rubber heels have made an 

 arrangement whereby they will co-ojierate to exploit those heels 

 which are provided vi-ith the "friction plug," a device of cotton 

 fabric and rubber which, it is claimefl, will overcome the tend- 

 ency of rubber heels to slip on wet ice or pavements. Those in- 

 terested in the combination include the Elastic Tip Co., Foster 

 Rubber Co., F. W. Whitcher Co. of Boston, the B. & R. Rubber 

 Co. of North Brookfield. Massachusetts, and the Revere Rubber 

 Co. of Chelsea, Massachusetts. The heels thus advertised are 

 the Safety Tread, Catspaw^ Velvet, B. & R. and Spring Step. 



* * * 



R. L. Chipman of Geo. A. .Mden & Co., crude rublier importers, 

 is on a business trip to Canada. 



* * * 



Wallace G. Page, for several years sales manager of the 

 .Shawmut Tire Co.. is now associated with George S. Van Voor- 

 his in the American Marine Equipment Co., which has built up 

 an extensive business in the sale of automobile tires and 

 accessories. 



The factory recently vacated by the Plymouth Rubber Co., 

 at Stoughton, Massachusetts, has been purchased by the Elwell 

 Rubber Manufacturing Co., of Trenton. New Jersey, who will 

 remove its business to the new address, Stoughton, Massachu- 

 setts. The Plymouth Rubber Co. is very busy at its new factory 



at Canton Junction. 



^ « * 



An increased popularity is noted in rubber-soled shoes. Some 

 manufacturers, who experimented last year by showing one or 



