236 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[February 1, 1913. 



work for us without giving them the tools to properly work with. 

 Last year the club had a inembcrsliip of 254 members, includ- 

 ing active and honorary. This year there is a total membership 

 of 321. of which 36 arc tirin members, 228 active members, and 

 57 associate and honorary members. It has been estimated that 



Louisiana has lately passed a pure-lcather-slioe law which 

 goes into effect ne.xt July, and requires that all leather shoes 

 sold in Louisianr.a shall be made of nothing but pure leather. 

 This is not quite so ridiculous as if a State passed a pure rubber 

 shoe law, a pure rubl)cr tire law, a pure rubber I)elting. hose, 



George B. Hodcm.\n. Vice-President. 



Frederic C. Hcod, Presidext. 



H.\ROLD p. Fuller, Secret.\rv. 



there are over 400 linns eligiljle for linn membership, and your 

 Executive Committee have many assurances of more firm mem- 

 bers as well as active members. New flrin membership does not 

 begin until the beginning of the next fiscal year, April 1 next. 



The opportunities for usefulness of the club that are purely 

 pro bono publico are so many and so varied in kinds that 1 can 

 mention here only a few. 



How many of us understand the magnificent work of the tire 

 group of the Motor & Accessories Manufacturing .-\ssociation — 

 an extremely husky and financially strong association — and the 

 Druggists' Sundries Association, the Reclaimers' Association 

 and the Mechanical Association? The mainspring of each of 

 these groups is crude rubber, and our club, the pater familias 

 of the crude rubber industry associations, should co-operate with 

 and cordially supplement the work of all of these rubber as- 

 sociations. 



Isn't this recital sufficient to show clearly the needs of the 

 club for more support, both numerically and financially, on the 

 part of all firms dealing in rubber? And is it strarge that your 

 president strongly urges the employment of a paid secretary, and 

 strengthening of the power of the next president and next ex- 

 ecutive committee by giving them the facilities for executing the 

 work considered advisable or expedient by them, instead of forc- 

 ing them to do their own work at great sacrifice of energy and 

 time? And because your Executive Committee is composed of 

 men representative of the best of us, and consequently carrying 

 great responsibilities, sometime the work itself is sacrificed 

 simply because of exhaustion of physical energy and lack of 

 unemployed hours. 



The adage, "If you want a thing done get a man who has all 

 he can do," applies to this club. But such men must have tools 

 to do with. 



Just a few words on another association — the National Boot 

 & Shoe Jobbers' Association — which has a rubber section. Some 

 of us know that the simple meeting in open conference has tend- 

 ed to stop the secret misrepresentations of quality which are 

 usually the twin sister of price-cutting and other unbusiness- 

 like and wasteful methods. But their traffic departments and 

 ■credit department? alone justify the existence of the association. 



water Ijottle and clothing law. But who knows, now that four 

 Stales here have passed or are considering passing laws re- 

 quiring the date placed on certain kinds of rubber goods sold in 

 those States, but that some States will pass a pure rubber law 

 and imagine they are doing good similar to a pure food law ? We 

 must have some organization to meet these issues, and there are 

 enough real issues now to keep us all busy without suggesting 

 imaginary issues. 



Now another viewpoint : 



The sales of rubber goods manufactured per annum, variously 

 estimated, figured at prices received by the manufacturer, are 

 $225,000,000 to $250,000,000. Of this amount in 1912 the pneu- 

 matic tire, business was over $100,000,000 — a development for the 

 most part of the last ten years. 



The United States and Canada consume over one-half of the 

 world's production of crude rubber, and estimates give the con- 

 sumption in crude rubber for 1909 at, say 30,000 tons; while in 

 1912 the consumption in this country and Canada is estimated 

 rising 50,000 tons. Of course this increased consumption has 

 come principally from the manufacture of tires, but rubber foot- 

 wear has increased also from about forty millions in 1902 to 

 fifty millions in 1912. 



How fortunate for us all that rubber plantations have in- 

 creased the supply of crude rubber ! Estimates of Para planta- 

 tions production also help us to view our opportunities for use- 

 fulness. In 1910 the plantations produced about 9,000 tons ; in 

 1911 they produced over 18,000 tons, and in 1912 they produced 

 over 28,000 tons. The estimates for 1913 vary with different 

 people from 38,000 to 40.000 tons, while most people agree that 

 in 1915 the production will exceed 65,000 tons, far exceeding the 

 production of wild rubber from Brazil, especially when it is re- 

 membered that statistics for Brazil are figured on green weight, 

 and, for comparison with the Plantation group, must be cut down 

 an average of 20 per cert, for the wild rubber shrinkage. 



.\nd, fellow members, think of upwards of 50.000 tons of rub- 

 ber being bought by manufacturers in this country, valued at 

 somewhere about $125,000,000, and the various kinds of rubber 

 not being even named or having a definite description. This 

 nomenclature of crude rubber has been a difficult problem and 



