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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[May 1, 1913. 



fortunate national guardsmen, notably the men from Toledo, 

 who walked about — even in the lightest drizzle — well protected in 

 rubber coats. The floods had, of course, gutted the stores of 

 the rubber dealers, and, where not, left everything beneath a 

 coating of mud a foot deep, so that until relief came in from 

 without, little could be obtained from local purveyors. 



The photograph shows a major of the guard halting the autos 

 and sightseers at the borders of Hamilton, until they secured the 

 needful passes. 



NEW TRADE PUBLICATIONS. 



THE INCREASING DEMAND FOR RUBBER TOYS. 



A PHASE of the kindergarten system which is making de- 

 mands upon dealers in rubber toys, is the use of such object 

 teachers to convey to infantile minds the forms of characters in 

 fairy tales, as portrayed by book illustrators at home and abroad. 

 As a teacher leads a fairy tale she places on the desk, one by one, 

 a rubber doll designed to portray this or that fairy, gnome or 

 elf, as for instance, the "Mad Hatter," the dormouse, and the 

 Queen, and other characters in "Alice in Wonderland." When 

 the tale is told, the teacher passes the rubber toys about the room 

 for the children to play with while the impression of the story 

 is active in their minds. 



At first thought, it would seem as if this development of the 

 idea of teaching by means of toys would not be of consequence 

 in sales of rubber products, but the contrary is the case as The 

 India Rubber World has learned in interviews with makers, dis- 

 tributors and retailers of toys. The reason is not far to seek: it 

 is that there are at least three million children in domestic kin- 

 dergarten schools, and that the parents of many of these children, 

 buy at the urging of the children, such rubber dolls and other 

 rubber toys as are used in the school for conveying certain ideas 

 set forth in fairy and other tales. 



A very large order was recently placed for rubber toys of these 

 kinds by a large corporation of cut-rate druggists. The designs 

 to which the manufacturers will conform in filling this order 

 provide for following the drawings of famous child-life illustra- 

 tors of England, France, Germany and our country. Many of 

 the patterns will be in colors, but the most of the order calls for 

 terra cotta finish. 



All buyers for department stores, and for the larger retail 

 druggists give it as their opinion, that the market for rubber toys 

 is enlarging. In almost all instances, rubber toys as sold by these 

 branches of trade are advertised in the press and bulletined by 

 placards in the stores as unbreakable toys. This is a catchy term 

 that goes far with those who buy gifts for children, and who 

 know that for a number of years the guile of many makers of 

 toys has been to make the products extremely fragile, for the 

 purpose of giving the shortest possible life to the object, in order 

 that the whimpering of the child over a soon broken toy may 

 quickly lead to the purchase of a duplicate. It is becoming the 

 practice both in drug stores and department stores to place a 

 good assortment of rubber toys in the show cases that display 

 rubber bath tubs, basins, spraying bottles, hot water bottles, and 

 many other articles in rubber of especial design for use by 

 mothers and nurses in the care of young children. In many hos- 

 pitals where children are treated, and where a long time is occu- 

 pied in giving special forms of baths, the nurses keep the children 

 from fretting by placing rubber ducks, geese, swans and dogs in 

 the tubs. This is a sound method of preventing the fretting in 

 children which in adults is termed worrying. 



NAVy DEPAKTMENT WANTS RUBBER StTPPLIES. 



The Bureau of Supplies and Accounts of the Navy Depart- 

 ment, Washington, invites bids until May 6 for rubber boots, air 

 hose, garden hose, rubber hose for flexible voice tubing, rubber 

 pipe hose, suction rubber hose, upper-deck fire hose, wash deck 

 hose, and rubber steam hose. 



ELBERT HUBBARD DISCOURSES ON THE DEVINE VACUUM DRYER. 



""PHAT seer, sage and most hilarious metaphysician, Elbert 

 •*• Hubbard, has penned a treatise entitled "The Age of Rubber 

 ^Being an Appreciation of the Vacuum Drying Apparatus Manu- 

 factured by J. P. Devine Co." The vacuum drying apparatus 

 manufactured by the J. P. Devine Co., is interesting enough in 

 itself, but when touched up by Elbert Hubbard, and set ofif by the 

 spangles of wit, humor, history, logic and philosophy that charac- 

 terize the literary style of the prophet of East Aurora, it becomes 

 more than doubly interesting. This is the way he starts : "Three- 

 fifths of the surface of the earth is covered with water. The 

 world seems very much better adapted to raising fish than men, 

 althougli man in his existence passes through an aqueous stage, 

 and to a degree he never gets out of it." And then he goes on to 

 describe, in his own way, the vacuum drying process as done by 

 the Devine apparatus. If you are not familiar with this vacuum 

 drying machinery, you should get one of these books and find out 

 about it, and if you are familiar with the machinery but would 

 like to know more about Mr. Hubbard's peculiar gift of writings 

 get tlie book on that account. 



"THE STAGGARD." 



The Republic Rubber Co., of Youngstown, Ohio, issued on 

 April 1, Number 1, Volume I, of "The Staggard," a four-page 

 illustrated publication, devoted primarily to the exploitation of 

 the Staggard tire. It appears to be intended chiefly for circula- 

 tion among the employes of the company, and of its branches and 

 agencies, but it contains quite a little news of interest to the tire 

 industry generally. This first number contains some interesting 

 illustrations, among them a typical scene in the recent Ohio flood, 

 which shows some Youngstown factory (not the Republic) so 

 deep under water that the freight cars alongside are buried to 

 their roofs. 



IF YOU ARE GOING TO MOTOR IN EUROPE. 



If you have any expectation of touring Europe this summer 

 in your motor car, you should get a "Goodrich Auto Map and 

 Guide to Continental Europe," just published by The B. F. 

 Goodrich Co. The map when opened out is 20 x 24 inches, 

 and covers England, France, Germany, Switzerland, and a very 

 considerable part of Spain, Italy and Austria. It shows the 

 principal thoroughfares in all that vast section. On the reverse 

 side of the map there is a good deal of information of im- 

 portance to the Continental tourist. It gives the various cus- 

 toms and other laws of each country, with the requirements 

 for local registration, and much other information necessary 

 for the motorist's welfare and comfort. It also reproduces the 

 road signs generally in use in England and the Continent, so 

 that the motorist can familiarize himself with them in advance. 



In addition to the Continental Guide, the Goodrich Co. has 

 just issued a number of other leaflets — one being a route book 

 showing how to get from St. Louis to Kansas City without having 

 to ask a question of anybody. Three other smaller leaflets are 

 entitled "Goodrich Service," which is devoted to tennis balls; 

 "Police," which treats of the Goodrich clincher tires, and "The 

 Newest Chocolate Lines in Rubber," describing various syringes 

 and pumps made of chocolate colored rubber. 



A FOLDING RUBBER WASH BOWl. 



One of the convenient little travelers' kits, provided for the 

 comfort and physical well-being of the motorist, contains among 

 other helps for cleanliness, a folding rubber wash bowl, which 

 takes practically no room when not in use, and can be filled with 

 a plentiful supply of water when it is needed. 



Should be on every rubber man's desk — The Rubber Trade 

 Directory of the World, 1912. 



