JU.NE 1, 1913.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



487 



MR. R. L. CHIPMAN BECOMES A BROKER. 



Mr. K. L. Chipman ha.s opened an ofl'icc as a crude rubber 

 broker at 290 Broadway, New York. Mr. Chipman was for 14 

 years connected with Geo. A. Alden & Co. and the New York 

 Commercial Co. and has a very wide acquaintance in the rubber 

 trade. He graduated from Harvard in 1898 and for the next two 

 years was in the Boston office of Geo. .\. .■Mden & Co. Then he 

 represented that concern for two years at their Akron office, 



R. L. Chipm.vn. 



where he became acquainted with the Western and Canadian 

 trade. He then returned to the Boston office and remained there 

 until January of the present year, when he joined the forces of 

 the New York Commercial Co. Since this company went into 

 the hands of a receiver Mr. Chipman has been assisting Mr. De 

 Long in untangling and adjusting its affairs — until the opening of 

 his own office about the 20th of May. 



Owing to his experience and the large number of friends he 

 has made in the trade it is quite safe to say that Mr. Chipman 

 will enter at once upon a successful career. 



MR. SYMINGTONS VISIT TO AMERICA. 



Mr. William Symington, head of the firm of William Syming- 

 ton & Co.. Ltd., London, sailed for home from New York. May 

 10, on the Caronia, after a visit of two or three weeks in this 

 country and in Canada. The firm of Wm. Symington & Co.. 

 Ltd.. liandles tlie crude rubber business of the L^nited States Rub- 

 ber Co. in London, and Mr. Symington came over, primarily, to 

 confer with the officers of that company and also of the General 

 Rubber Co., through which the United States Rubber Co. pur- 

 chases its crude rubber supply. The "Boston Financial News" 

 contained a very interesting interview with Mr. Symington a 

 few days before he sailed, in which he gave his views relative 

 to the rubber outlook in the Middle East and in the trade gener- 

 ally. He is quoted as follows : 



"In the Middle East all told there were about 1.500.000 acres 

 planted at the close of 1912, which will be in full bearing in 1919. 

 So far as we can estimate, the total annual output of that 

 planted acreage will be 300,000 tons of crude rubber. The 

 world's con.sumption now is approximately 120,000 tons. Of 

 course, between these two sets of figures there is still a rather 

 wide margin, Imt it must be remembered that the output is in- 

 creasing at a very rapid rate. 



"The exports of plantation rubber from the Federated Malay 



States and Straits Settlements for the first quarter of this crop 

 year showed an increase over the corresponding three months of 

 last year of 70 per cent. On this basis this year's crop will be 

 50,000 tons, which will represent a very substantial increase over 

 last year's. This estimated output of plantation rubber for the 

 current year will be in excess of the Amazon crop, which was 

 43,000 tons for the calendar year 1912." 



Mr. Symington, speaking of the tremendous increase of plan- 

 tation rubber, says that unless new uses are found for it, produc- 

 tion will soon greatly exceed consumption ; and he states that 

 in Europe representatives of some of the large producing com- 

 panies are offering manufacturers a certain amount of crude 

 rubber free of charge, to be used for experimental purposes with 

 a view to finding new uses for the product. But he is not at all 

 a pessimist on the situation, for he calls attention to the fact 

 that the crude rubber supply of the world ten years ago was 

 only 50,000 tons, while now it is 120,000 tons. That is, in ten 

 years' time the production of crude rubber has increased nearly 

 two and a half times and yet the consumption has fully kept 

 pace with this increase, so that rubber is selling no lower now 

 than it was ten years ago. 



MR. GILBERT LEAVES TIRES FOR AUTOS. 



The resignation of Mr. J. M. Gilbert from the general man- 

 agership of the United States Tire Co. — which occurred the last 

 of .\pril — came as a surprise to most people in the trade. This 

 step however, was fully explained when immediately after his 

 resignation he w'as elected president and general manager of the 

 Lozier Motor Co., of Detroit. 



Mr. Gilbert has been a prominent figure in the tire industo' 

 for a number of years. He has been associated with rubber 

 manufacture for the last twelve years. Two years ago he was 

 general manager of the Continental Caoutchouc Co., one of the 

 constituent companies of the Rubber Goods Manufacturing Co. 

 At that time — in March, 1911 — the United States Tire Co. was 

 formed, embracing the Continental Caoutchouc Co., Morgan & 

 Wright, the G. & J. Tire Co., and the Hartford Rubber Works 

 Co., all belonging to the Rubber Goods Manufacturing Co. It 

 was currently reported that Mr. Gilbert was largely instrumental 

 in bringing about this consolidation of interests and in gradually 

 supplanting these four individual brands of tires by the United 

 States Tire Co. brand. 



The annual reports of the Rubber Goods Manufacturing Co. 

 show that the business of its tire department during the last two 

 years has been most successful, and it is stated that the first 

 months of the present year indicate an increase of over 40 per 

 cent, in volume of sales over the corresponding months of last 

 year. 



-After tlie announcement of Mr. Gilbert's resignation there 

 was much speculation as to who would succeed him as general 

 manager of the tire company, but this speculation has been 

 quieted by the action of the directors of the United States Rub- 

 ber Co.. who, at their annual meeting for the election of officers 

 — held May 23 — elected F.lisha S. Williams — president of the 

 Rubber Goods Manufacturing Co. — to be "general manager of 

 the tire, mechanical and miscellaneous business of the company, 

 both manufacturing and selling." 



A testimonial dinner was tendered Mr. Gilbert early in May, 

 at the New York Athletic Club, by his former associates in the 

 tire company, and he was presented W'ith a handsome combina- 

 tion cellarette and humidor. 



RUBBER REGENERATING CO. TO HAVI A NEW YORK LABORATORT. 



The Rubber Regenerating Co., recently purchased by the 

 United States Rubber Co., is to have a well-equipped laboratory 

 in New York City, and the four-story-and-basement building, 

 located on the northeast corner of Eleventh avenue and Fifty- 

 eighth street, has been leased for a term of years for this purpose. 



