November 1, 1912.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



77 



Commissioner for the Imperial Institute of London. Promptly 

 at the hour set, Acting-President Pearson arose and in a brief 

 address which was very distinctly heard by all on the large 

 floor — as well as by those looking down from the balconies — 

 he stated the object of the Exposition, described the stupendous 

 amount of work that had been done to accomplish it, and spoke 

 of the beneficial results which were expected to accrue from 

 it. in the increased acquaintance with one another of the dif- 

 ferent members of the great rubber industry, and in the wide 

 interest that would be created in the industry among the people 

 at large. Ho then introduced Commissoner Tomkins, who 

 in the inability of Mayor Gaynor to be present — as had been 

 his intention — spoke in behalf of the mayor and welcomed the 

 commissioners and delegates to the city of New York. Com- 

 missioner Tomkins' address had been carefully prepared, and 

 it contained a wonderful volume of rubber infornKition — con- 

 sidering the spe;iker had never been intimately identified with 

 the rubber trade. The Commissioner was listened to with deep 

 interest ; and he represented the great city of New York — • 

 which receives about half of the crude rubber of the world at 

 its docks — most acceptably. 



At the expiration of his address the Chairman jironounced 

 the Exposition to be formally opened, and remarked that he 

 would take Commissioner Tomkins on a tour of inspection, 

 beginning with the crude rubber exhibits in the bal;ony. pass- 

 ing thence to the allied trades on the second floor, and coming 

 down to the manufactured products and manufacturing ma- 

 chinery on the main floor. He suggested that this would be a 

 profitable schedule for all those present to follow — either at that 

 time or later — at their inclination. This concluded the open- 

 ing exercises, and most of those present adopted the Chairman's 

 suggestion and started for the wonderful exhibits of crude rub- 

 ber in the Brazilian. Malaysian, Ceylon, and other departnieiUs 

 on the balcony floor. 



WHERE COMMERCIALISM YIELDED TO ART. 

 Taking it all in all the most noticeable exhibit nn the main 

 floor was that of the United States Rubber Co., which was 



feet, divided into two reception rooms of about 30 feet square ; 

 the two rooms being divided by the central aisle of the hall. 

 These two reception rooms were closed in by a solid mahogany 

 partition, handsomely panelled, running all the way around 

 and having an aggregate length of about 240 feet. At the 

 top of this mahogany partition, there was a sloping glass show- 

 case containing pictures of the 36 different factories whose 

 product is sold by this company. 



The United St.\tes Rubber Co. 



There were eight marble pillars included in these booths, 

 which were draped with flags, with extremely fine tflfect, each 

 having four — the two flags at the top representing rubber pro- 

 ducing countries, and the two lower flags representing rubber 

 manufacturing countries. As these flags were combined in a 

 way that gave an exceedingly artistic color effect, it might be 

 interesting to mention the various combinations. 



The Opening Exercises. 



conspicuous, both by reason of its position at the head of the 

 grand stairway, and by reason of its character. It is quite 

 safe to say, that there never was an exhibit in the Grand Cen- 

 tral Palace more sumptuously conceived. The space was 1,800 



The first pillar had at the top two Brazilian llags, and In- 

 low them the flags of Canada and France. The second pillar 

 had an arrangement of British Malay and Ceylon flags, with 

 the flags of England and Holland beneath. 



