April 1, 1913. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



367 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN BOSTON. 



By a Resident Correspondent. 



BUSINESS has hardly started out into springtime activity. 

 Not nuic!i change is noted since last report. The boot and 

 shoe trade — in rubber goods — has received a severe blow, when, 

 after an almost snovvlcss and nearly iceless winter, a warm and 

 tarly spring lias discouraged the jobbers an<l the retailers, all 

 of whom are likely to carry over considerable stocks of rubber 

 footwear. Thousands, proljably millions, of New England and 

 New York people have gone through the entire season without 

 wearing rubbers for a single day, and, of course, they haven't 

 bought any. 



The druggists' sundry business, it is claimed, is likely to lie 

 a misnomer if things continue to develop, as at present, for the 

 department stores now prove to be the largest buyers of these 

 goods. To be sure, the two syndicated drug store concerns com- 

 pete with each other in seeing which can cut prices the deeper, 

 and this discourages retail druggists from stocking up. The re- 

 sult is large sales to the syndicated druggists and to the depart- 

 ment stores, but as they are very close buyers, the result isn't so 

 extremely satisfactory. 



The mechanical lines still feel the effect of conservatism and 

 the tendency of mill men to allow the manufacturers and jobbers 

 to carry the lion's share of the stocks. Many purchasing agents 

 are so reducing supplies of belting, etc., in their stock rooms that 

 they have to shut down some of their machinery while waiting 

 the filling of rush orders, this in some cases proving costly 

 economy. 



Hut whatever may be the report in other lines, the automobile 

 tire business continues lively. Some of the factories are working 

 overtime to increase their capacity to supply the urgent demand. 

 A man well posted in the tire business estimates that there are 

 700,000 cars now in use, which will require 3,000,000 tires to 

 run them through this season, and judging from last year and 

 the year before, about 300,000 new machines will be sold this year 

 which will require 1,200,000 tires to equip, and at least 400,000 

 more to renew those worn out or seriously damaged. Thus the 

 whole country will need 4,500.000 tires during 1913, and to make 

 these will require more rubber than in all tlie other rubber in- 

 dustries combined. 



The reclaimers are feeling the effects of the lack of rubber- 

 wearing weather mentioned above. As few people have worn 

 rubbers, not many cast-oflf rubbers are found by the junk men. 

 and prices of scrap rubber shoes are soaring. There is a sym- 

 pathetic rise in the prices of scrap tires, etc., with the result that 

 reclaimers are paying out large sums for desirable lots of second- 

 hand material. 



* * * 



The automobile show last month was a gigantic success in 

 many ways. The show itself made good, clearing a handsome 

 profit above all expenses. The attendance was larger than ever, 

 and at times the great building proved too small for the careful 

 inspection of the exhibits, owing to the crowded condition of the 

 aisles and enclosures. As a means of inducing business this has 

 far surpassed any previous show, and with the aftermath of 

 orders which will come later as a direct result of the exhibition, 

 will certainly prove that Massachusetts stands near the top in 

 the proportion of automobiles to the number of inhabitants. The 

 tire men were unusually well represented, and seem perfectly 

 satisfied with the results of their exhibits. 



Among the exhibits at the Truck Show was a fine Packard 

 ■motor-truck, specially designed for the Monatiquot Rubber 

 Works, of South Braintree. This truck has since been added 

 to the service department of that company for use between the 

 ■factory and the Boston store on .Atlantic avenue, and is intended 

 •for emergency shipments where rush delivery is required. 



The new building of the United States Tire Co. briefly men- 

 tioned in this department in the March India Rubber World, is 

 now fully completed and is occupied. Manager E. H. Kidder is 

 very proud of the new headquarters which in location, thorough- 

 ness of detail, adaptability to the requirements of the business, 

 and elegance of fittings are in perfect accord with the enterprise 

 (jf the company. The building is neatly triangular in ground- 

 plan, at tlie junction of Beacon street and Commonwealth 



^liinmiSS!;;;};:;! 



U.NiTKD .St.mes Tire Co.'s New Bosto.n' Buildi.nc. 



avenue, at the very gateway of Boston's Automobile district. 

 It is of reinforced concrete, four stories and basement, with 

 large windows giving a flood of fight on all sides. A large clock 

 occupies a prominent position, which will be consulted daily by 

 the thousands who pass along these two prominent streets every 

 day in the year, while in the evening strikingly conspicuous elec- 

 tric signs flash out the name of the company. 



The first floor is utilized as salesrooms, suitably and hand- 

 somely fitted. The second floor contains the business offices. 

 Both these floors are carpeted with artistic rubber tiling, a 

 product of the United States Rubber Co. The third and fourth 

 floors are for stock, and here are carried, ready for immediate 

 sale or shipment, a full assortment of all the different styles and 

 sizes of tires, including pneumatic, motor-truck, motorcycle and 

 bicycle tires made by the company. In the basement, which is 

 reached by an inclined run-way. a complete motor truck depart- 

 ment is installed, with everything in the way of machinery and 

 tools to repair and equip trucks with the tires of this manu- 

 facture. 



* * * 



Hon. L. D. Apsley, president of the .\psley Rubber Co., in- 

 variably plays a game of checkers on March 13 of each year, 

 unless that day falls on Sunday. March 13 is the birthday of 

 his venerable father, who was born ninety-five years ago. Mr. 

 George Apsley, of Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, is a wonderful 

 man, straight, active and vigorous. He opens his store in the 

 morning, waits on customers, and closes up at night. When 

 his son, of -whom he is very proud, visits him on his birthday 

 there is always a game of checkers on the program, and the 

 older man is fully as often the winner as the younger. It is 

 because L. Dewart Apsley has seen so many games played in 

 little shoemakers' shops and country grocery stores that he dec- 

 orates every case of Apsley rubbers with a checker board on 

 one end, and distributes boxes of checkers to dealers. 



* * * 



George H. Hood, who is well known to our readers as a 

 former rubber footwear manufacturer, but who sold out his 

 business to the United States Rubber Co. some years ago, has 

 not been in rugged health for the past year or two, while Mrs. 

 Hood was also an invalid. Last January, they left their hand- 



