February 1, 1913.1 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



229 



Published on the 1st of each Month by 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING GO. 



No. 15 West 38th Street. New York. 

 CABLE ADDRESS: IRWORLD. NEW YORK. 



HENRY C. PEARSON, Editor 



Vol. 47. 



FEBRUARY 1. 1913. 



No. 5 



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COPYRIGHT, 1913. BY THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING CO, 



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TABLE OF CONTENTS ON LAST PAGE OF READING. 



THE RUBBER CLUB OF AMERICA. 



'T~'HE anmial dinner of tlie Rublier Cluli of America, 

 *• recently held in New York, and described in some 

 detail elsewhere in this issne, was such a successful func- 

 tion — in the large attendance, general atmosphere of good 

 fellowship and in the excellence of the addresses — that it 

 may with propriety serve as a te.xt for a brief dissertation 

 on the general idea and purposes of the club. 



This club was organized (under the name of the "'New 

 England Rubber Club") fourteen }ears ago, for the pur- 

 pose of promoting acquaintance and a feeling of fellow- 

 ship among the members of tlie rubber trade. As the 

 American rubber industry had at that time completed 

 almost two-thirds of a century, obviously the time was 

 ripe for such an organization. Its original purpose was 

 solely a social one, and it has remained distinctively a 

 social organization practically u]) to the present time — its 

 meetings consisting of two annual events — a mid-winter 

 dinner and a mid-summer outing. Both of these functions 

 havt ahva> - ' »en marked, not only by a large attendance, 

 but by the heartiness and zest with wiiich the members 

 have responded to the opportunities of social enjoyment 

 which they afforded. In July, 1909, the name of the club 

 was changed to the "Rubber Club of America," in order 

 to make it national rather than local in its character, and 



to permit the admission of many members of the trade 

 outside of X'ew England who wished to join. Its strictly 

 social character, however, was not changed. 



l!ut great develo])ments have taken place in the -Ameri- 

 can rubber industry in the last fourteen years. The an- 

 nual product of manufactured rubber goods has during 

 t!iat time increased over 100 per cent, in value. In 1900 

 it was 5100,000,000; in 1912, $220,000,000. .\nd many 

 of tile leading members of the club have fell that this or- 

 ganization was fitted to do more than simjjly bring its 

 members together twice a year in friendly fashion to 

 share an inviting menu; they have felt that this organiza- 

 tion could undertake and successfully accomplish serious 

 work that would be of great and permanent benefit — not 

 only to its members — but to the trade at large : and with 

 this idea in mind at the last annual meeting, in .\pril, 

 1912. the constitution and by-laws were revised, and an 

 entirely new class of membership called "Firm Alember- 

 .■^hii)" was added to the club. The Firm .Members were to 

 retain all the social privileges previously enjoyed, but in 

 addition, on the payment of slightly increased dues, were 

 to share in benefits of a strictly commercial and industrial 

 nature; the excess dues — over those paid by other mem- 

 bers — to be used exclusively to meet the expenses of anv 

 work of a commercial character which, in the opinion of 

 the Executive Committee, might advantageously be under- 

 taken for the general benefit of the Firm members. 



Space does not permit to enumerate here the various 

 projects which this inner organization might profitably 

 undertake, but two illustrations will be sufficient to show 

 how wide is its field, and how pressing the problems to 

 which it may apply itself. All the members of the rubber 

 trade — and especially dealers in crude rublier and manu- 

 facturers — are interested in the simplification of crude 

 rubber nomenclature. Again, practically all the members 

 of the rubber trade — and especially manufacturers and 

 distributor.s — are interested in maintaining such a level 

 of duties as will protect the .\merican rubber industrv 

 against competition from foreign countries, where labor 

 recei\es materiall\- lower wages, and where the condi- 

 tions of living are much below those of the American 

 workman. It will lie obvious without further enumera- 

 tion, that there are many enterprises that could be for- 

 warded easily — and with slight expense to any one man 

 or company — where 100 or 200 men were associated in 

 an organization like the Firm Membership of the Rubber 

 Club, while these same undertakings would be exceed- 

 ingly expensive — if not impracticable — for any individual. 



The Firm ^Membership class of the Rubber Club has 

 enjoyed a substantial growth during the past year, and is 



