March 1, 1913, 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



301 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN AKRON. 



liy a Resident Correspondent. 

 A T the time of writing this, a strike among the rubber work- 

 ** ers in Akron has been under way for ten days, and has 

 assumed a serious aspect. The leaders of the I. W. W. and of 

 the American Federation of Labor have been exceedingly active 

 in getting the rubber workers to join their organizations. A 

 great many of the employes are standing loyally by their em- 

 ployers, but it cannot be denied that the work of the rubber 

 factories at the present time in this city is badly crippled. The 

 origin of the strike came about through a dispute between the 

 management of the Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., and the em- 

 ployees, over a new schedule for tire finishers ; the management 

 contending that under this new schedule finishers could make 

 $3.50 a day, while the employes contended that this could be 

 done only by exceptional men under exceptional conditions. 



This new schedule was proposed February 11 or about that 

 date. Mr. H. S. Firestone made the following statement re- 

 garding it : "This new schedule, which will give the average 

 tire finisher $3.50 per day, w'as occasioned by the use of more 

 machinery in the production of the tire. By this new machine 

 method one man builds the carcass and the other finishes the 

 tire. That makes two processes where formerly there was but 

 one. The tire finisher was therefore a new feature for us to 

 deal with. We desire to fix a rate that will give the finisher 

 $3.50, believing that to be a just and reasonable wage. While 

 e.xperimenting with the machine we made a rough allowance to 

 the tire finisher of one-third the price formerly given the man 

 who made the whole tire by hand. This allowance was to last 

 only until a reasonable just rate could be arrived at by practice. 

 The temporary rate given tire finishers lasted only a few weeks. 

 It is true that finishers made unusually large wages during that 

 time, but it was understood that it was merely a provisional 

 arrangement. This led to the differences that appeared when 

 our $3.50 scale was reached. 



"The rate first decided upon, it was felt, would bring this 

 result. The men in the tire finishing department agreed that 

 under this scale they could on some days earn $3.50, but they 

 felt that they could not maintain this rate week in and week 

 out. After another careful consideration of the whole subject, 

 we decided upon the scale now in force. It enables beyond 

 question any experienced tire finisher who is an average worker 

 to make $3.50 a day. 



"The installation of machines for the making of tires makes 

 the labor of building tires lighter, and while the output of tires 

 would be increased, and the rate paid the tire maker less for 

 each tire, the tire makers are able to earn the same average of 

 $3.50 a day with lighter work. 



"The new scale affected less than sixty men, but later would 

 have affected more. I am sure that now our men in their own 

 hearts have no grievances and are perfectly satisfied." 



Mr. Firestone further said, "There has been nothing in the 

 present situation that we could not or would not have adjusted 

 to the satisfaction of the company and its employes, and 

 all the present trouble in the rubber industry is caused directly 

 by the agitation of men who do not live in Akron, who have 

 no real interest in Akron or its people, and who would, when 

 peace has been restored here, pass on to the next place where 

 trouble will be started." 



The workmen refused to accept the schedule and walked out, 

 and have been endeavoring to create a sympathetic strike by 

 inducing the other rubber workers to come out and by threaten- 

 ing to have the strike extend through all the rubber factories in 

 the United States, and by trying to induce the allied trades and 

 the railroad and street car men to walk out. The local and 

 national organizers of the I. W. W. have been in Akron and 

 have tried to arouse discontent among the rubber workers, and 

 to prevail upon them to join the I. W. W. Many without know- 

 ing the purpose of this organization have joined it. Several 



of the smaller factories have felt the effects of the strike more 

 than the larger factories. 



Work in the rubber plants is to a great extent dependent 

 upon the different departments working together, and the loss 

 of a few men in one department may tie up a whole plant, %<> 

 that it is hard to state how many are actually striking, and how 

 many are home on account of some other person striking upon 

 whose work their work depends. At present the State Board 

 of -Arbitration is endeavoring to bring about an adjustment. The 

 strikers arc peaceful and most of them claim no cause of dis- 

 content with their present employment and wages. The con- 

 ditions of Akron rubber workers have been good and cannot 

 be compared with Lawrence, and with rare exceptions the Akron 

 rubber employe is well dressed, well fed and well housed, which 

 is evidenced by the large number of workingmen's homes which 

 are owned and paid for, or being paid for, by the rubber em- 

 ployes of Akron. 



It is believed that all differences will be speedily remedied 

 and efforts to this end are being put forth by the Akron Chamber 

 of Commerce, State Board of Arbitration of Ohio, and by men 

 iiifiiiential with employers and employes of Akron industries. 



A STATEMENT BY THE AKHON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 



On February 19, the Board of Directors of the Akron Chamber 

 of t'ommerce issued, and published in the local papers, the fol- 

 lowing statement, under the caption: 



A PL.MN ST.\TEMENT OF F.\CTS IN BEH.ALF OF AKRON: 

 In view of the many misleading and exaggerated reports sent 

 out regarding the rubber strike and rubber strike conditions in 

 .•\kron, it is only fair to those who have the best interests of 

 Akron at heart and earnestly desire a speedy and fair minded 

 settlement of any difficulties which have arisen, to recount some- 

 thing about where Akron stands in relation to its rubber industry, 

 and reversely, where the Akron rubber industry stands in relation 

 to the welfare of the community at large. 



\\"hatever plea is contained in this article is directed towards 

 but one end— the keeping with us of that prosperity which has 

 made -Akron conspicuous — not only as a great manufacturing 

 center, but beyond all, as a good town to work in — a good town 

 to live in. 



Wages In General. The 1912 report of the Ohio State 

 Bureau of Labor Statistics is compiled from figures covering the 

 year 1911. The general average of wages paid in Akron rubber 

 factories is considerably higher at the present time than in the 

 year 1911, yet the Bureau's figures show that for 1911 the average 

 annual income of .Akron rubber workers, not including superin- 

 tendents, salesmen, and office help, was $655.08 each, for an 

 average of 278 days at work — the average daily earning for 

 workers (both men and women), being $2.36. The average work 

 day was 10 hours. 



Comparing the general average of wage conditions in Akron 

 with other cities, from figures contained in the same report, it is 

 seen that Akron factories paid to wage earners in 1911 a total of 

 $14,259,262.30, as against a total of $13,984,129.09 so paid in 

 Dayton and $13,561,048.95 so paid in Toledo, each of these cities 

 being much larger in point of population than is Akron. 



.Akro-\- Pays -All Workers Well. The tremendous growth 

 of the rubber industry in -Akron and the consequent ever-growing 

 demand for workers, has established in this city a wage standard 

 above the average in every other field of industry. Manufacturers 

 in other lines than rubber have been obliged to keep steadily 

 recruiting the ranks of employes because their men were attracted 

 away from them by the rubber industry. 



Merchants have experienced the same difficulty. Laundrymen 

 in -Akron are paying higher wages for women workers than in 

 any other city in Ohio, for the same reason. 



The wages on farms adjacent to -Akron average above those of 

 most other sections, for the same reason. 



-Akron Is a City of Homes and Home Owners. There is 

 practically no building in -Akron that could in any sense be styled 

 a tenement house. The very great majority of -Akron people in 

 every walk of life live in detached dwellings. Figures compiled 

 the past year by the -Akron Real Estate Board, show 68 per cent, 

 of the heads of families in Akron to be home owners, a figure 

 high above the average, if, indeed, it is equalled anywhere. More 

 than two of every three married men you see in -Akron, then, are 

 living in homes of their own. 



