130 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[December 1, 1912. 



as a laboratory standard. The so-called "National 

 Standard Specifications" were the outcome of these 

 conferences. 



With this theoretically good fire hose quality estab- 

 lished by these specifications, ways and means of pre- 

 venting the manufacture and sale of hose inferior to the 

 established minimvim were next considered. The insur- 

 ance committee demanded that their laboratory should 

 furnish and attach to each section of hose a label at a 

 cost of 25 cents per label to show that the hose was ap- 

 proved and in accordance with the specifications. The 

 manufacturers argued that to do this they would bring 

 down to one minimum level all brands of the better cla^s 

 of fire hose, as the label would not show that the hose to 

 which it was attached was in any respect better than the 

 specification requirements, and would eliminate all in- 

 centive to improve quality in the future. For these 

 reasons, which must be apparent to any unprejudiced 

 mind, the manufacturers could not agree to this propo- 

 sition, and such was the unanimous opinion, and it was 

 so unanimously voted. 



The manufacturers in order to show their integrity 

 of purpose submitted the following plan : 



Each and every manufacturer of fire hose was to send 

 to the Chicago laboratories of the insurance companies a 

 section of each and every brand of fire hose manufac- 

 tured by him or his company, guaranteed to be at least 

 within the specifications proposed as a standard. The 

 laboratory would upon testing, and finding said sections 

 of hose to be at least within the specifications, at once 

 register and approve each brand. By this means it was 

 hoped to establish a long list of brands of fire hose, not 

 one of which would be theoretically poor from the labora- 

 tory standpoint, and leaving the field open for competi- 

 tion in quality, which would otherwise be prevented by 

 the use of one standard specification quality. 



As part of the proposed plan of registering brands, the 

 manufacturers even went so far as to agree to furnish 

 the insurance laboratories with a list of their sales of 

 fire department hose each month, with the understanding 

 that they might send representatives to any city or town 

 to which hose had been shipped, and there test it; and 

 should any be found inferior to the specification standard, 

 and not strictly in accordance with the sample on which 

 the brand was approved and registered, that the ap- 

 proval should be withdrawn, the name of this particular 

 brand and manufacturer stricken from the list, after a 

 trial by a committee consisting of one expert chemist 

 appointed by the manufacturers" association, one by the 



insurance laboratories, and the third by a joint selection. 



All these overtures on the part of the manufacturers 

 were finally turned down by the insurance companies, the 

 specifications which were compiled by the manufacturers 

 confiscated and promulgated ; and they are now endeavor- 

 ing to force their adoption by the manufacturers and fire 

 departments as the one standard for fire department hose. 



The manufacturers resent the accusation made by the 

 insurance companies that their standard brands of fire 

 hose had deteriorated in quality. They maintain, and 

 stand ready to prove, that the quality of their best 

 products has been improved from year to year, as expe- 

 rience and facilities for manufacturing have advanced. 



The rubber manufacturers were the creators of the 

 present type of fire hose. It took them years to supplant 

 the cumbersome leather article. They have kept pace- 

 with fire needs wonderfully. That the last word has been 

 said in fire hose improvement they deny. Nor do they 

 propose to allow any interests to handicap them in further 

 progress. 



A LITTLE LIGHT ON TIRE ADVERTISING. 



A N advertising agency, which has special facilities- 

 ■* * for informing itself regarding the advertising 

 being done and being planned by the tire manufactur- 

 ers, has furnished us with a list of ten of the leading 

 tire makers, together with the amount of their adver- 

 tising appropriation for the current year. These ap- 

 propriations range from $20,000 to $450,000. One 

 company is spending this large sum ; one other ap- 

 propriated for the year $350,000; two others $250,000- 

 each, and two others $100,000 each. The aggregate 

 advertising appropriations for these ten companies- 

 amount to $1,666,000 — a very substantial sum cer- 

 tainly. And yet this represents the advertising outlay 

 of only ten companies ; and this list, while to be sure 

 it includes most of the large companies, does not in- 

 clude them all. It would undoubtedly be safe to say 

 that American tire manufacturers all together are 

 spending this year at least $2,500,000 in advertising. 

 This is about 2 per cent, of their gross receipts from 

 tires, so that while the amount seems large, considered 

 on the basis of percentage of the business done, it is 

 not at all extravagant. 



SHIPPING RUBBER DIRECT TO NEW YORK. 



IN the exceedingly interesting addresses made by Mr. 

 '■ Crosbie-Roles and Mr. C. E. S. Baxendale. at the 

 banquet held at the Hotel Plaza at the conclusion of 



