74 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[November 1, 1912. 



consumers of rubber goods ; and to this class the rubber 

 manufacturer might have appealed, with no little jirofit to 

 himself. And that undoubtedly is the chief lesson 

 learned from the first rubber show, the result of whicli 

 will be shown at the second American Rubber Exposition, 

 whenever that may be held. There is a great deal con- 

 nected w ith manv lines of ruliber manufacture tliat couid 

 be made extremely interesting to the general ])ul)lic. 

 There are many articles made almost exclusively by hand, 

 which, had they been manufactured at this show would 

 have proved great centers of attraction. Some of the foot- 

 wear manufacturers have gone to considerable expense 

 in sending demonstrators around the country — and even 

 abroad — to explain and to illustrate, by the actual op- 

 eration, the making of rubber footwear. It is thought 

 worth while to give the demonstration even before small 

 groups of people. .At an expositipii in such a place as 

 New York it would be possible to have thousands of 

 spectators during a single day. The public can always be 

 relied on to attend any sort of exhibition, if it is properly 

 encouraged. 



Nor would the attendance of the general public in large 

 numbers interfere with the success of the more technical 

 side of an exhibition, especially in a place like the Grand 

 Central Palace, where (as was the case in the recent 

 show) the technical departments were grouped chiefly on 

 the upper floors, the main floor being reserved for ex- 

 hibits of a more general character. 



One of the speakers at the concluding banquet held at 

 the Plaza said that if he had had his way, the public 

 school children of New York and the members of all the 

 commercial organizations would have been brought in to 

 see the wonderful rubber display. It inight not be feasible 

 to include all the public school children of New York at 

 such an exhibition, as their number runs in the hundreds 

 of thousands ; but certainly it would be beneficial, not 

 only to the students, but to all exhibitors whose display 

 was of a general character, if the older classes of the 

 ])ublic schools should attend. Quite irrespective, how- 

 ever, of any such special arrangement for any particular 

 class of visitors, it is always possible in this great me- 

 tropolis to secure a large attendance of desirable people 

 at an interesting trade exhibition. 



One feature of the recent show — which on another oc- 

 casion would undoubtedly be tnuch enlarged upon, be- 

 cause it was one of the most successful features of the 

 Exposition — consisted of the moving jjictures. There 

 were two of these moving picture shows, one on the main 

 floor under the auspices of the Brazilian exhibit, the other 



on the second floor under the auspices of the Federated 

 Alalay Stales, llotli attracted a great deal of attention, 

 and to many of the visitors proved the most interesting 

 part of the exhibition. The plantation pictures were par- 

 ticularly to be commended, as they set forth in such or- 

 derly fasJiion the whole process of rubber culture in the 

 East, show ing the clearing of the forests, the preparing 

 of the ground for the seed, the planting of the seed, the 

 destruction of weeds and insects, the tapping of the trees, 

 the gathering of the latex, its coagulation, the preparation 

 of the rubber for the market and its final shipment to the 

 rubber centers of Europe. This feature could be — and 

 probably would be at another exhibition — made much 

 more ])rominent, and with most gratifying results. 



The management of the recent Exposition is certainly 

 to be congratulated. It was a most creditable achieve- 

 ment, far beyond the expectations of many American rub- 

 ber men. But by reason of the lessons taught by this 

 first experience, the next exposition (whenever that may 

 occur) will undoubtedly be more complete, more fully 

 rounded out and symmetrical. It will not only be highly 

 instructive from a technical standpoint to rubber men, 

 but will be e(|ually attractive to the public at large. 



THE ECHO. 



THERE seems to l)e one persistent echo in the air 

 today whicli sounds like "specifications, physical 

 tests and chemical analysis." Wherever we turn that 

 echo greets us. The consumer of rubber products is 

 testing his hose and belting and what not; the manu- 

 facturer of rubber goods is determining by chemical 

 analvsis the quality of his raw material ; and the i>ro- 

 ducer of these raw materials is, as a matter of course, 

 compelled to gather accurate information about his 

 goods before he sells them. It does not astonish us, 

 therefore, when we hear that the producers of crude 

 rubber in the Miildle East are establishing rubber test- 

 ing stations in Europe and at the plantations, for the 

 purpose of gathering accurate information concerning 

 the physical and chemical properties of their product. 

 Brazil, the mother country of the rubber industry, is 

 not lagging in this respect, and if we are to believe 

 current reports, the delegates who attended the recent 

 International Rubber Conference in New York were 

 on the lookout for a scientific adviser in this matter. 

 So far as r.razil is concerned, it is most natural that 

 she should seek to establish in New York a research 



