304 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[July 



1 90 1. 



the interment was at Mt. Pleasant cemetery. The honorary 

 pallbearers were George M. Allerton, of New Haven. Conn., 

 and Henry C. Burton and George F. Hodgman, of New York 

 — members of the rubber trade ; Andrew Schneider, of Newark ; 

 John H. Eastwood and A. H. Osborne, of Belleville. The active 

 pallbearers were heads of departments in the rubber works ; 

 Thomas Murray, J. H. Hand. George L. Conover, R. S. Wes- 

 tervelt, Charles Hellweg and John Trescher. 



REGARDING TITLES TO RUBBER LANDS. 



THE first consideration, where one contemplates going 

 into the cultivation of India-rubber or other tropical 

 products in Mexico, naturally relates to the land. The greatest 

 and perhaps the first difficulty that besets the purchaser of lands 

 in Mexico is in the matter of titles. Many titles are imperfect 

 and require great expenditure of time and money to overcome 

 the difficulties of perfecting the same ; and even should the 

 titles be good, it requires about the same expenditure to prove 

 them so, unless purchases are made from parties or a corpora- 

 tion who have been put in judicial possession of their lands. 

 The Mexican Coffee and Rubber Growers' Association has 

 been put in judicial possession of its holdings of over 100,000 

 acres by the Mexican government, and its titles have been 

 passed upon by the ablest lawyers in Mexico, who have pro- 

 nounced them absolute and perfect, and purchasers can there- 

 fore enter into immediate possession of their purchases. An- 

 other advantage had by purchasers from the Association is 

 that the Association is developing several large plantations for 

 itself and maintains a storehouse from which supplies may be 

 drawn. All these facilities the Association offers to the pur- 

 chasers of its lands. This is vastly different from going oflf 

 into a wilderness, far from civilization and with no accessible 

 base of supplies. The lands of the Association were chosen 

 over three years ago by a committee which visited the whole of 

 tropical Mexico, on account of their great fertility, their health- 

 fulness, and their easy access to the markets of the world. 

 Rubber grows wild here, and its cultivation has been begun 

 on these lands under conditions which give promise of great 

 success. 



STRIKE IN A GERMAN RUBBER FACTORY. 



THE women employed in the shoe department at the Har. 

 burg works of the Vereinigte Gummiwaaren-Fabriken 

 Harburg-Wien left their work before noon on March 19, with- 

 out any previous notice of their intention to do so. Director 

 Louis Hoff, on inquiring the cause, was told that, on account 

 of a change in the finish in certain styles, it was impossible to 

 earn as much money as formerly. He advised the employes to 

 return to work, promising that an advance in wages would be 

 made when he could confer with Director Maret, then absent 

 in Austria. They did return to the factory in the afternoon, 

 but remained idle while a committee of five called upon 

 Director Hoff to demand a general increase in wages. This 

 was declined, in the absence of Senator Maret. The work- 

 women did not appear at the factory on the next day, but in- 

 stead held a meeting under the leadership of a well known 

 socialist who is not an employe of the rubber company, at 

 which resolutions were adopted, demanding more pay and the 

 discharge of the employes who remained at work. Meanwhile 

 200 men, whose work was dependent on the stock prepared for 

 them in the shoe department, had to be laid off. 



After several meetings, and conferences with the manage- 

 ment, at which, although the strikers were courteously received, 



their demands were for the most part refused, a general strike 

 in all the departments was ordered on May 18. In the interim 

 the company had issued a bulletin requiring the employes 

 who had left their work in the shoe department to return not 

 later than May 14, or consider themselves permanently dis- 

 charged. For those who returned, permanent employment 

 was promised, with protection against any violence from those 

 who remained out. After the general strike was ordered, the 

 com.pany declined further to recognize the cnployes' commit- 

 tee, charging them with bad faith, and giving notice that for- 

 mer employes asking for work would receive the same treat- 

 ment as new comers, of whom 150 had been employed. The 

 strikers then sought the intercession of the mayor of Harburg, 

 in the interest of (i) an advance in wages on canvas shoes; (2) 

 the reinstatement of all the former employes; (3) the discharge 

 of those who remained loyal to the company ; and (4) the dis- 

 charge of all the new employes. 



The rubber company refused to recede from their position, 

 in which they were supported by the Verein der Arbeitgeber 

 fiir Harburg und Umgegend (Society of Employers of Harburg 

 and Vicinity), which offered a reward of 100 marks for informa- 

 tion leading to the conviction of any person interfering with 

 those who returned to work. On May 29 the company was 

 running all its departments, with 828 people employed, and ex- 

 pecting soon to have a complete force. More recent reports 

 are to the effect that the strikers were still holding meetings, 

 while the company were adding to the number of people at 

 work. The Gummi-Zeitung predicts the ultimate failure of 

 the strike. 



OTHER NOTES FROM EUROPE. 



Pirelli & Co., the Italian rubber manufacturers, have ar- 

 ranged to establish in Spain a branch of their submarine cable 

 works, in preference to paying the Spanish duty on imports. 

 Their capital will be increased from 5,500,000 to 6,500,000 lire. 

 The net profit in the last business year amounted to 550.878 

 lire, and a dividend of 10 per cent, was declared. 



= Herr S. Seligmann, one of the directors of the Continental 

 Caoutchouc and Gutta-percha Co. (Hanover, Germany), cele- 

 brated recently the twenty-fifth anniversary of his connection 

 with that company. Herr Seligmann was formerly in the 

 banking business from which he retired to take the financial 

 management of the Continental company, in which he has 

 achieved a signal success, working in conjunction with Herr 

 A. Prinzhorn, the technical director of the rubber works. 



= Isidor Frankenburg, Limited (Manchester), in addition to 

 their extensive mackintosh and cable making branches, are 

 taking on the production of rubber canvas shoes on a large 

 scale. 



= Under the name Verband Osterreichischer Kautschuk- 

 waren-Fabriken, the rubber manufacturers of Austria, at a 

 meeting in Vienna on March 14, formed an association for 

 their mutual benefit, particularly with a view to securing de- 

 sired legislation. A. Vogl, a director in the Vereinigte Gum- 

 miwaren-Fabriken Harburg-Wien, was elected president; Karl 

 Kuhlemann, director in Osterreichisch-Amerikanischen Gum- 

 mifabriks A.-G., Vienna-Britensee, vice president; and Wil- 

 helm Reithoffer, of the firm of Josef Reithoffer's Sohne, Vienna, 

 secretary. 



=The Austro-Hungarian consul general in Cape Town advises 

 Austrian waterproof manufacturers that the Cape is a splendid 

 place for the disposal of such goods. 



=The directors of the Vereinigte Hanfschlauch und Gum- 

 miwaaren-Fabriken, of Gotha, Germany, recommended a divi- 

 dend of 9 per cent, for the last business year, against 7 per cent, 

 (or the year preceding. 



