March 1, 1913. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



315 



A VERY PLEASANT COMPLIMENT FROM THE PAN- 

 AMERICAN BULLETIN. 



MID-WESTERN FLOODS AND THE RUBBER BOOT 

 TRADE. 



THE Bulletin of the Pan American Union gave an exceedingly 

 comprehensive and interesting account of the Rubber Exhibi- 

 tion held in New York last fall, in the issue immediately succeed- 

 ing that exhibition; and in the description there appeared this 

 .extrenuly gracious paragraph regarding the exliil)it of The Indi.\ 

 Rubber World: 



"One exhibit which was of absorbing interest to all visitors, 

 whether personally interested in the industry or not, was the 

 booth of The India RtraBER World, the greatest industrial maga- 

 zine not only in this country, but probably in the world, devoted 

 solely to the india-rubber industry. This exhibit, while confined 

 to a space of 20 -x 35 feet, was unirpie and could not have been 

 duplicated anywhere on earth, should it have been destroyed, for 

 many of the interesting articles shown were the only ones in ex- 

 istence. .'\mong these were relics of the days of Goodyear, some 

 being products of his personal skill, other souvenirs of the tri- 

 umphs of his later years. They included the book, made entirely 

 of India rubber — leaves, covers, and all — which Goodyear labored 

 on so long, and of which there is no duplicate. There were also 

 the two fine life-size portraits, one of Goodyear and one of Dan- 

 iel Webster, painted on hard-rubber panels, by Walsh, a distin- 

 guished artist of those days. There were also speciments of hard- 

 rubber jewelry made by Goodyear and the Cross of the Legion 

 of Honor conferred upon him by the French Government in 1854. 

 Other interesting exhibits in this booth were articles and curios 

 gathered by Mr. Henry C. Pearson, editor of The India Rubber 

 World, during his sojourn in the rubber-growing countries of 

 .South America. .Xmong these were unique designs made from 

 rubber, such as a miniature rubber tree with a tiny seringueiro 

 tapping it ; snakes, insects, etc., molded out of balata or gutta- 

 percha ; and many other articles of interest to the casual visitor 

 The most instructive feature, however, of this exhibit was the ex- 

 tensive herbarium, showing the various botanical speciments of 

 rubber, which was arranged around three sides of the booth. 

 Large photographs of Castilloa trees and other plants decorated 

 the walls and added to the attractiveness of the exhibit." 



THE AMERICAN RUBBER MANUFACTURING 00, 



The American Rubber Manufacturing Co., of Emeryville. 

 •Cal., has recently elected the following officers: President, .'\. 

 Borland, of the firm of Bates, Borland & .'^yer, general con- 

 tractors; treasurer, H. C. Norton, formerly manager of the 

 Pacific Coast Rubber Co.; secretary and factory manager. 

 H. .•\. MacKusick; superintendent, F. I. Young. Mr. X. C. 

 Dodge, formerly manager of the Western Belting & Hose 

 Co., of San Francisco, has been appointed general sales 

 manager. 



The company is now building in its own machine shop a 

 25-foot by 50-inch. belt press, and also another circular loom 

 to take care of its increased fire hose business. They have 

 also taken up on an extensive scale the recovering of paper 

 mill rolls, and recently received one of the largest single 

 orders ever given a rubber company for this class of work. 

 consisting of ten 20-inch diameter by 120-inch face rolls. 

 They have just been awarded 8.000 feet of 234-inch fire hose 

 for the city of Oakland, 3,000 feet for the Isthmian Canal 

 Commission, lYz-'mcXx size, besides 7,200 feet 2'-<-inch for Manila. 



THE U. OF P.'S AMAZON EXPEDITION. 



The expedition which the University of Pennsylvania has been 

 organizing during the last year for the purpose of exploring the 

 Amazon, and particularly the tributaries of the Upper Amazon, 

 will be ready to sail from this country within the next few days. 

 The leader of the expedition is Dr. William Curtis Farabee. the 

 Commander of the yacht is Captain J. H. Rowen, U. S. N., 

 retired, and the physician is Dr. Franklin H. Clnirch. 



IT is truly an extremely ill wind that blows nobody good, and 

 *■ even at the heart of the gale some one is sure to benefit. 

 Just for example, while most of the unfortunates who live close 

 enough to the margin of the mid-western rivers to be reached by 

 the usual spring inundations, yearly bewail their lot, the dealer 

 in rubbers — and particularly in rubber boots — looks upon the 

 situation with a great deal of complacency, not to say positive 

 satisfaction. The recent floods that visited this section were the 

 highest ever recorded, but as usual, people in the "bottoms" all 

 knew that the flood could not come so high as to reach them. 

 Government flood-warnings? They knew better! Over-night 

 the rivers would surely go down. So they delayed and waited, 

 and took things calmly. 



.And then j't liappened ! The muddy, relentless water crept up 

 and up. It filled the cellar. It ciw.c into the first story. It rose 



.A. CiNciN.MATi Street i.\ the Recent Fh.od. 



to the ceiling, and still higher. Skiffs came to the second-floor 

 windows to bring the prisoners supplies. In other places, skiffs 

 rowed in and out the parlor windows. 



Then came the demand for rubber boots. One needed these, 

 and high ones, too, to wade about in the water, rescuing one's 

 possessions. They couldn't be had quick enough; nor did it seem 

 as if one could buy enough of them to supply the family, and 

 willing rescuers. Rubber boots went up to a premium and. even 

 when the river began descending, they were still above par, — for 

 the work of clearing cellars, and of floundering through the mud 

 left behind. 



The picture, taken in Cincinnati, gives a good idea of the in- 

 dispensability of rubber boots at flood-time. 



A NEW RUBBER COMPANY IN ST. LOUIS. 



A new rubber company, the British .American Rubber Co., 

 has taken a long lease of property on the corner of Tenth and 

 St. Charles street, St. Louis, Mo., for the manufacture of rub- 

 berized cloth, raincoats and other waterproof garments, and will 

 soon install machinery. -Among those interested in the com- 

 pany are Gerard B. .Allen. John H. Gundlach, H. Lueddinghaus, 

 Jr., and W. H. Geisse. 



A CHANGE OF NAME. 



The name of the Simplex Electrical Co., with offices in Boston, 

 Chicago and San F'rancisco, was changed on February 1 to Sim- 

 plex Wire & Cable Co. This does not, however, involve any 

 change in the management or interest. 



