504 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[July 1, 1913. 



of conditions widely prevalent, there certainly is a 

 vast amount of work for humanitarians yet to ac- 

 complish ; and if these imputations are not true, those 

 interested in rubber gathering along the Amazon 

 should take the promptest means of absolutely dis- 

 proving them ; for the rubber industry has now as- 

 sumed such a large place in the general progress of 

 civilization that it cannot aiiford to rest under any 

 suspicion of being associated, at any stage, with bar- 

 barities such as the Putumayo investigation has brought 

 to light. 



can secure sufficient votes, to reduce these duties ; but if, 

 under such a reduction of duty, the manufacturer feels 

 compelled to reduce his scale of costs, including cost of 

 labor, so as to meet the new situation, how can he be 

 prevented from so doing? .Mr. Kedtield has made it 

 plain that in such a case the manufacturer will be visited 

 by the strong disapproval of the administration : but 

 would not the average manufacturer prefer to incur even 

 this distressing consequence rather than to run his mills 

 at a continuous loss? 



WHY THIS DISCRIMINATION? 



NATIONS don't get the opportunity every day to 

 celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of an em- 

 peror's coronation; s<i undoubtedly some allowance 

 must be made at such a time for an excursion or two 

 from the paths of sound thinking. On that ground, 

 and only on that ground, can an explanation be found 

 for a queer bill under discussion in the German 

 Reichstag making it a misdemeanor to feed babies 

 from a bottle with a rubber mouthpiece, on the theory 

 that it is an unsanitary practice. This is humorous 

 enough to make even the Kaiser, oppressed by the 

 glories of his twenty-five years' reign, give a good, 

 honest guffaw ; for if the rubber mouthpiece on the 

 baby's bottle, which can be sterilized outside and in- 

 side, and put to soak in boiling water, if need be, is 

 unsanitary, what can be said for the substitute for 

 the rubber mouthpiece provided by nature, where 

 none of these drastic processes of disinfection can be 

 employed? If the rubber mouthpiece is to be made a 

 misdemeanor, mothers should be made a crime. 



HOW WILL MR. REDFIELD DO IT? 



MR. REDFIELD, the Secretary of Commerce and 

 Labor, has attempted at divers times to express 

 himself as to the dire consequences that will come upon 

 the American manufacturer who, in case the Underwood 

 tariff becomes law, tries to readjust himself to the new- 

 conditions by reducing the wages of his employees. But 

 just what can Mr. Redfield do ? Where is the law that com- 

 pels an American manufacturer to pay a higher wage than 

 he feels he can afford to pay, or in fact to pay any wages 

 at all, if he prefers to cease manufacturing? If, in the 

 opinion of the present administration, certain tariff duties 

 are too high, it is the privilege of the administration, if it 



COLLEGE MEN IN RUBBER FACTORIES. 



COLLEGE men appear to be coming into their own. 

 at least in rubber manufacture. There is an item 

 in our news columns in this issue regarding the action 

 of one of the large Akron rubber companies — already 

 employing a number of college men — in sending out in- 

 vitations through these college employes to the insti- 

 tutions from which they graduated, for promising can- 

 didates for employment in the company. The man- 

 ager, referring to college men, remarks : "We like 

 their spirit and enthusiasm. The broad viewpoint and 

 training these men receive has helped wonderfully in 

 fostering friendl)- relations with our customers." The 

 young university graduate, with his fresh sheepskin 

 under his arm, ought to be full of spirit and enthusi- 

 asm and have a broader outlook than the less edu- 

 cated man, but for a long time he was not at all in 

 favor with manufacturers generally. They thought 

 him altogether too theoretical and impractical. Evidently 

 this view has changed. 



TO DO THE ATLANTIC BY DIRIGIBLE. 



INTERESTING advices have been received from 

 Berlin to the effect that Count Zeppelin will probably 

 try to cross the Atlantic this summer in one of his big 

 dirigible balloons. This appears like a dare-devil 

 thing to do, in view of the fate of the lamented "Akron" 

 and A'animan's ill-starred crew. Some day of course 

 some intrepid navigator of the air will cross the Atlantic, 

 but to the layman it would seem the better part of dis- 

 cretion to manoeuvre airships over land until they show 

 less liability to explosions and to other disturbing tenden- 

 cies before essaying the long leap from Europe to 

 America. 



It is quite intelligible, to be sure, that flyers should look 

 on the Atlantic passage with longing eyes. The man who 

 first accomplishes this flight will go dow^n in history as a 



