484 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[June 1, 1913. 



Mr. H. T. Dunn, president of the Fisk Rubber Co., has been 

 visiting in San Francisco, and while here is making his head- 

 quarters with Mr. Pratt, manager of the local branch. Mr. Dunn 

 is very well pleased with the progress which the tire industry is 

 making on this coast. In his belief, the automobile industry must 

 thank the tire manufacturers to a large extent for the increasing 

 popularity of the automobile, which is largely due to the increased 

 efficiency and better service of automobile tires. 



* i< :!* 



\V. H. Bell, Pacific Coast manager of the Firestone Tire and 

 Rubber Co., reports that the tire business is keeping up to its 

 high standard of activity on this coast. Mr. Bell keeps well 

 posted not only on the commercial demand for tires, but also on 

 all improvements in tire construction, and is a strong believer in 

 the idea that the longer a manufacturer can make a tire last the 

 greater will be the ultimate demand for its general use. Im- 

 provements on the rims, to keep the dust and rocks out, are im- 

 portant, he says, and also improvement may be looked for in the 

 matter of fibres of which the fabric is composed. The best that 

 are now to be obtained arc the fibres of natural grown plants, and 

 it is really the toughness and efficiency of the fabric which goes 

 to make up the Hfe and efficiency of the tire. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN TRENTON. 



By a Resident Correspondent. 



(^ H. OAKLEY, president of the Essex Rubber Co. and 

 ^-'* William G. Grieb, of the Ajax-Grieb Rubber Co., local 

 concerns, were two of the committee of four representing the 

 rubber manufacturers of this country which presented to Congress 

 a joint memorandum on the Underwood tariff bill, as to the 

 necessity of granting a measure of protection in the matter of 

 tariff considerably in excess of that contemplated by the Demo- 

 cratic administration. 



Other Trenton rubber manufacturers who assisted in the prepa- 

 ration of the appeal to Congress were : W. H. Sawyer, of the 

 Mercer Rubber Co.; R. J. Stokes, Thermoid Rubber Co., and 

 J. K. Pellinger, Morrisville Vulcanite Rubber Co. 



The Finance Committee of the Senate received the committee 

 at the hearing, w-hich lasted about two hours. Mr. Oakley and 

 Mr. Grieb both spoke against the contemplated action of the 

 administration. The memorandum presented represented fac- 

 tories producing an annual output of $75,000,000 worth of rubber 

 goods, a great portion of which is manufactured in this city. 

 * * * 



Tibor Miklos, administrator of the estate of John Mikulas. 

 has instituted suit in Mercer Supreme Court to recover $10,000 

 damages for the loss of the life of the deceased. Mikulas was 

 killed in one of the rubber mills some months ago, as the result of 

 the explosion of a vulcanizer. It is charged that the machine 

 was defective, and that it was improperly and unskillfully 

 operated. 



The reputation of Trenton as the home of expert tire makers, 

 is again borne out by the effort to induce local men to accept 

 positions in other sections of the country. The Akron Rubber 

 Co., Akron, Ohio, has run large advertisements in the local news- 

 papers calling the attention of workmen to the advantages of 

 locating in the Ohio town. A rubber company at Rutherford, 

 Xew Jersey, another in New York State and a New England' 

 concern have advertised in the local newspapers for tire makers, 

 offering all kinds of inducements. 



THE SENATE HEARING ON THE TARIFF. 



.\bout the middle of May there was a meeting of rul)l)tr manu- 

 facturers held in New York City, and a committee of four was^ 

 appointed to present a memorandum on the Underwood Tariff 

 Bill before the senate committee, which was holding Tarifif 

 hearings at that time. The committee consisted of F. A. Seiber- 

 Ung, president of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., Akron,. 

 Ohio; Geo. B. Hodgman, president of the Hodgman Rubber Co.,. 

 New York; William G. Grieb, of the Ajax-Grieb Rubber Co.. 

 and C. H. Oakley, president of the Essex Rubber Co., of Trenton. 



These representatives of the rubber trade were cordially 

 received by members of the senate committee, and were given an^ 

 opportunity to state their reasons for opposing the reduction in 

 duty on manufactured rubber goods from 35 to 10 per cent. 

 Besides these four members of the committee, a number of other 

 manufacturers, including several of the leading Trenton manu- 

 facturers, were present and took part in the discussion. 



PROPOSED REDUCTIONS IN DUTIES ON MANU- 

 FACTURES OF RUBBER. 



DY the annexed table the differences between the present and 

 ^-^ proposed duties on rubber manufactures are shown in more 

 complete form than in the table published in the May issue of 

 The Indi.\ Rubber World (page 404). There is a sweeping 

 reduction to the extent of about 70 per cent, of present duty on 

 rubber manufactures in general, a reduction of 60 per cent, on 

 cables, of 50 per cent, on belting of cotton and rubber and on 

 waterproof cotton cloths, and of 45 per cent, on tire fabrics. 



Webbings containing india rubber would pay duties as now 

 according to the other materials of which they are composed. 

 Wool webbings have hitherto paid a compound rate equalling a 

 figure (according to cost per pound) from 68.94 per cent, to^ 

 148.40 per cent., nine-tenths of the quantity paying 84.13 per cent. 

 The proposed reduction to 35 per cent, will be a serious one for 

 makers of this class of web, who, however, would benefit by the 

 free wool clause of the new tariff. 



India rubber enters into the composition of so many articles 

 that it is difficult to define just how far the effects of the new 

 tariff would reach. But the annexed figures show its incidence- 

 as affecting the principal branches of manufacture. 



COMPARISON OF PRESENT AND PROPOSED DUTIES ON MANUFACTURES OF RUBBER. 



Present (Payue) Rates. 



Manufactures of india-rubber 



Rubber sponges 



Manufactures of gutta-percha 



Cables, etc. (Ic. per lb. -j- 40 per cent.). 



Cotton and rubber belting for machinery 



Waterproof cotton cloth (10c. per sq. yd. and 20 per cent.) . 



Suspender webbing — Cotton 



Fibres other than cotton 



Composed of wool, etc, chiefly. 

 Of silk 



Tire fabrics 



Cotton ducks (minimum) 



Clothing of silk and india-rubber. 



35 per cent. 

 40 per cent. 

 35 per cent. 

 51.86 per cent. 



30 per cent. 

 50.56 per cent 



45 per cent. 

 45 per cent. 

 84 per cent. 

 SO per cent. 



45 per cent. 

 45 per cent. 

 60 per cent. 



Proposed (Underwood) Rates. 

 Paragraph. 



378 — Manufactures of india-rubber or gutta-percha 10 



379 — Manufactures of vulcanized india-rubber known as "hard 



rubber** 25 



116 — Telegraph, telephone and other wires and cables com- 

 posed of metal and rubber, or of metal, rubber and 



other materials 20 



267 — Belting for machinery made of cotton or other vegetable 



fiber and india-rubber 15 



259 — Waterproof cloths composed of cotton or other vegetable 

 fiber, whether composed in part of india-rubber or 



otherwise 25 



267 — Fabric, suitable for use in suspenders and braces, of cot- 

 ton or other vegetable fiber and india-rubber; not em- 

 broidered 25 



287 — Webbings of fia.x, hemp, or same and india-rubber 30 



301 — Webbings of wool, etc 35 



324 — Webbings of silk, etc 40 



267 — Tire fabrics, etc 25 



271 — Cotton cloths (minimum) 30 



325— Clothing of silk and india-rubber 50 



per cent.- 

 per cent. 



per cent, 

 per cent. 



per cent. 



per cent, 

 per cent.- 

 per cent, 

 per cent, 

 per cent, 

 per cent, 

 per cent. 



