June 1, 1913] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



48' » 



WILLIAM E. BARKER MANAGER OF SALES. 



Those students of luiman affairs who champion the theory that 

 only homely men ever get very far, thought that their case was 

 proved for all time when Mr. Wilson went to the Wliite House 

 and Mr. Sulzer was sent up to Albany; but they have since re- 

 ceived a tremendous set-back, for on the 8th of May their theory 

 was utterly exploded by the appointment of Mr. William E. 

 liarker to the position of Manager of Sales of the United States 

 Rubber Co. 



Mr. Barker is not so very venerable — some little titne has still 

 to elapse before he reaches the half century mark — but notwith- 

 standing that fact he is one of the veterans of the rubber industry, 

 for his rubber career runs back to the early 80's, when he became 



Wii.i.i.vM E. Barker. 



connected with Charles M. Clapp & Co., who had a large and 

 successful store on Devonshire street, Boston, and who were, in 

 addition, proprietors of the .\i-tna Rul)1>er Mills of Roxbury, 

 Massachusetts. 



Mr. Barker stayed with this company for seven years and when 

 he left had reached the position of general manager. It would 

 have been impossible to select at that time, or in fact at any time 

 since, any place in the rubber trade where seven j'ears could be 

 more profitably spent. Mr. Clapp was not only a very successful 

 manufacturer and merchant, but he was a man of large vision 

 and held an important position in commercial and civic affairs. 

 Anyone who spent seven years with him without having all that 

 was good in him made still better would be a psychic phenom- 

 enon. 



.\fter leaving this company Mr. Barker was for a year with the 

 ■.clling agents of the Para Rubber Co.. and then, in 1891, he 

 started the Enterprise Rubber Co. of Boston, being made its 

 president, a position which he still holds after 22 years of office. 

 In 1909 the branch store system of the United States Rubber Co. 

 had grown so large and was such an important channel of dis- 

 tribution, that the management decided that it was desirable to 

 have some capable person take full charge of all the merchandise 

 distributed through these stores — and Mr. Barker was put in that 

 position, w'ith the title of Merchandise Manager of Branch Stores. 

 This practically made him a sort of first lieutenant to Mr. E. R. 

 Rice, the manager of sales. It was natural, therefore, that the 

 directors, on Mr. Rice's death, should look upon Mr. Barker as 

 his logical successor. 



The position of Manager of Sales of the big corporation is a 

 highly important one. It has been filled in the past by such 

 notable figures in the trade as Charles L. Johnson and Eben H. 

 Paine. 



MR. MAYO APPOINTED TO AN IMPORTANT POSITION. 



Mr. Geo. H. Mayo has been made ".Mercl andise .Manager of 

 Branch Stores'' of the United States Rubber Co.. in place of 

 Mr. Barker, who has recently been promoted to the position of 

 manager of sales. 



Mr. Mayo was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, in 1875, which, 

 it will be noticed, places him on the safe side of the line at 

 which Dr. Osier says men should normally be chloroformed. 

 Though born in Chelsea, Mr. Mayo evidently never came under 

 those devitalizing influences which — around Boston, at any rate 

 — are so generally attriljuted to the city of Chelsea, for he was 

 only 19 years old when, having graduated from the famous 

 Boston English High School, he was hard at work in the large 

 and important wholesale distributing house of Wm. H. Mayo 

 & Co., of which his father was the head. At that time they dis- 

 tributed leather footwear and rubbers, but in 1900 they devoted 

 themselves exclusively to rubber footwear, and from that time 

 on liandled all the damaged goods of the United States Rubber 

 Co., which had previously been sold at auction. It is currently 

 reported that the Mayo company has done not so badly in this 

 r\rhi«ive field. 



George H. M.^vo. 



Five years after entering the rubber business, and at the age 

 of 24, Mr. Mayo had become a partner in the firm, and his work 

 there made such an impression upon the selling department of 

 the United States Ru1)ber Co. that when it was found desirable 

 to add three new branch stores to the company's list, to sell 

 the new "Hub-Mark'' brands in Boston, New York and Detroit, 

 these stores were put in Mr. Mayo's charge. This was a year 

 ago. Evidently he has given a good account of himself in the 

 management of these three branch stores, for he is now promoted 

 to the general management — as far as control of the merchandise 

 is concerned — of all the company's branch stores, which fairly 

 comfortably cover the map of the United States — at least that 

 part of it where rubbers are chiefly sold and worn. 



If the charge should be brought against Mr. Mayo that he 

 has climbed rather rapidly, the defence could be made for him 

 that he was compelled to, being constructed exclusively on climb- 

 ing lines. 



The United Stales Tire Co. is making rapid progress in the 

 transformation of its big Detroit plant, and expects to make it 

 the largest tire factory in the world. 



