April :, 1913.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



349 



A Big American Rubber Factory for Rio de Janeiro. 



rilK iSKAZILIAN GOVKKN.MKNT ACCEPTS THE TENDER OF THE GOODYEAR TIRE AND Rl'BBER CO. 



THE great awakening that has taken place in the rubber 

 interests of Brazil during the last two years has been 

 e.Kceedingly significant in itself, but it has of late become 

 more interesting because of the important part that an Ameri- 

 can manufacturing company promises to play in it. 



The leading men of Brazil began two years ago to discuss 

 seriously the steps that it would be necessary to take if Brazil 

 was to keep its old commanding position in the rubber produc- 

 ing world. This discussion finally resulted in the act of the 

 Brazilian Congress of January 5, 1912, which was further elabo- 

 rated by the decree of April 17, 1912. This act and this decree 

 have been described in considerable detail in the pages of The 

 India Rl'bber World — especially in the issues of March and 

 June of last year. It was the purpose of this legislation to 

 encourage — by the offer of generous inducements — domestic and 

 foreign capital to embark in the various forms of the ruljbcr 

 industry already established in Brazil, and also to enter upon 

 new phases not hitherto attempted in that country, but which 

 in the opinion of the legislators could lie inaugurated with great 

 benefit to the state. 



Among the inducements for the entrance of new capital into 

 the rubber field were certain large prizes offered for the first im- 

 portant washing and refining plants opened at sundry Brazilian 

 points. Among those who have entered this competition and 

 tendered bids to erect such refining plants is the Goodyear 

 Tire & Ruliber Co. of South America, a child of the Goodyear 

 Tire & Rubber Co., of Akron, Ohio. The inducements offered 

 by the Brazilian Government for the building of refining plants 

 and the tender made by the Goodyear company, to erect two 

 such plants — one at Para and one at Manaos — are given in 

 detail in another article which will be found on page 345 of this 

 issue. But the Goodyear company was not content to enter 

 the Brazilian field with a plant for washing and refining, but 

 also made a tender under that paragraph of the decree of April 

 17, which offered a premium amounting to about $166,000 to 

 the company that should first erect a plant in Brazil, in one of 

 several points mentioned, for the manufacture of rubber 

 goods, under the detailed specifications cited in that decree. 



The bid of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., which will be 

 found quite fully described a little farther on. covered the erec- 

 tion of a factory at Rio de Janeiro, and a cable recently received 

 from the American Consul at Para states that this offer has 

 been accepted by the committee appointed by the government 

 to pass upon the bids submitted; and unless some untoward event 

 arises to change the present plans, it is highly probable that 

 within a year's time, a large rul)bcr manufacturing plant — the 

 first one on the South American Continent — will be in operation 

 in the chief city of Brazil, owned and operated by an American 

 manufacturer. 



This entrance into the foreign field by the Goodyear Tire 

 and Rubber Co. was not the result of any sudden impulse; its 

 directors evidently have had such an ambition for some time. 

 Two years ago or more they had practically completed arrange- 

 ments with President Diaz of Mexico for the erection of a 

 rubber goods factory in that Republic, under conditions that 

 would have been exceedingly favorable to the company. But 

 the revolutionary disturbances that came soon after, accom- 

 panied by the flight of Diaz and the ascendency of the un- 

 fortunate Madero, brought all these plans to naught. The com- 

 pany then sent Mr. J. C. MacFadgean to South America to 

 look over the situation there. He made a careful investigation, 

 first of Buenos Aires and then of Rio de Janeiro, the latter 

 place appearing to him to offer the best advantages as a site for 



such a factory. He returned to Akron and made his report and 

 then went back to Rio with Mr. Litchfield, the factory superin- 

 tendent, and together they went still more thoroughly over the 

 ground. They were satisfied that it was an exceedingly promis- 

 ing field, and they located a site where there was abundance 

 of water. Then in order properly to prosecute the enterprise 

 the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. of South .America was 

 incorporated under the laws of the State of Maine, in .-\ugusta, 

 Maine, on October 14, 1912. The certificate of incorporation 

 states that "The purposes of said incorporation are to engage 

 in. carry on and license others to carry on the business of 

 manufacturing articles from rubber and other materials ; to lease, 

 purchase, or otherwise acquire, and to hold lands for the cultiva- 

 tion, collection and refining of crude rubber; and to do all things 

 incidental thereto." Further amplification of the purposes of 

 the comjiany, as given in the certificate, permits it to engage 

 in practically any sort of undertaking ( except banking and 

 insurance) anywhere in the world where not contrary to the 

 laws of the community in which the enterprise is to be under- 

 taken. Specifically it is the intention of the company to manu- 

 facture tires, mechanical rubber goods, insulated wire and 

 druggists' sundries. With this charter and armed with creden- 

 tials not only from the State of Ohio, but from the authorities 

 of Washington, Mr. MacFadgean returned to Rio de Janeiro 

 and got into communication with the government. Hearing 

 what was under way a number of Rio de Janeiro people went 

 to England and interested capitalists there in the same enter- 

 prise. However, either they were not sufficiently familiar with 

 the conditions or did not put their proposals in proper shape, 

 for they were not successful. The bids were submitted to the 

 Defesa da Borracha. a commission of which Raymundo P. da 

 Silva is the head, and after several adjournments the bids w'ere 

 opened and read at a public hearing and published in the "Diario 

 Official." Then a committee of five, consisting of four promi- 

 nent professional men in Rio, and J. Simeo de Costa, whose 

 knowledge of rubber is recognized, w-as appointed to pass upon 

 them, and the bid made by the Goodyear company was the one 

 accepted. 



The Goodyear people plan to have their factory in operation 

 inside of a year. They intend to take the foremen of the de- 

 partments from ."Vkron, and they purpose also to send a number 

 of young Brazilians to the great Ohio rubber centre to learn 

 the rubber business. One interesting feature of the enterprise 

 will be the erection of several hundred cottages for the employees. 

 In addition to giving them suitable shelter, the company pro- 

 poses to furnish them with a substantial and wholesoine mid-day 

 meal. The specifications of the tender made by the Goodyear 

 company and accepted by the Brazilian Government are as 

 follows. 

 TffE rROPO.SED GOODYEAR MANUFACTURING PLANT AT RIO. 



The Rio "Diario Official" of February 13, following up the 

 proposals of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., published Febru- 

 ary 9 (reproduced on page 346 of this number) for washing and 

 refining plants at Manaos and Para, published the text of that 

 company's estimate for a manufacturing plant at Rio. While in 

 various points it is based on the same fundamental principles as 

 the washing plants, it is of a much more extensive character, as 

 may be seen by a comparison of the various estimates, that for 

 the manufacturing plant being subjoined. 



Briefly summarizing its main features, it will cover a space 

 exceeding 150,000 square feet and will have 10 buildings, each 

 with three floors, in which will be conducted the operations con- 

 nected with practically all branches of the rubber manufacturing 



