November i, 1901.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER \?VORLn 



33 



ting down of rubber mills on account of differences be- 

 tween employers and employes, and as time advances the 

 probability of such an occurrence becomes more remote. 

 This latter suggestion is ventured here for the reason that 

 the tendency of wage-earners in general to resort to strikes 

 is apparently becoming less marked. The " leaders " of 

 the labor unions have not the same strong hold upon their 

 followers as has been e.xhibited in times past, and it must 

 be admitted that, oftener than otherwise, the initiative in 

 strikes has been taken by the " leaders " rather than by 

 the rank and file of the workers. The failure of the great 

 steel workers' organization in this country to rally in 

 force to the call to strike, a few months ago, foreshadows 

 what may be expected generally under like circumstances 

 in future. 



It may be of interest to consider why strikes have not 

 occurred more frequently in rubber factories in the past. 

 One reason may be found in the comparative segregation 

 of the rubber workers. While their number in the United 

 States is large, in the aggregate, they are scattered among 

 about 200 factories, in more than a dozen states, while the 

 nature of the industry is so diversified as to render impos- 

 sible any such universal wage scale as operates as a bond 

 of union among the steel workers, for example. The length 

 of the working day, the amount of work to be accomplished 

 in a day, the rate of wage, and all other such details may 

 vary widely among the different factories, and in the same 

 factory at different seasons. There have not been more 

 strikes in rubber mills, therefore, because the workers have 

 been less thoroughly organized in unions than in some 

 other industries. 



But there are other considerations. The largest rubber 

 factories in the country, as a rule, each had a small begin- 

 ning, often with the owner working side by side with his 

 employes at first, and as the factory grew, there remained 

 a community of interest throughout the establishment 

 which permitted any grievance, real or fancied, to be dis- 

 cussed freely, without the necessity of stopping work and 

 wages in order to force a settlement. It may further be 

 noted that rubber work calls for a higher standard of in- 

 telligence than some other branches of industry, one 

 evidence of which is found in a relatively high rate of 

 wages, and this fact doubtless has discouraged a resort to 

 strikes in rubber factories as a means of arriving at an un- 

 derstanding with employers. 



RUBBER SHOES MADE BY MACHINERY. 



T" HE manufacture of rubber shoes as it is carried on 

 •* to-day consists of a series of processes in which 

 there is a maximum of hand labor and a minimum of labor 

 saving machinery. In this particular it stands almost 

 alone among great industries. From its inception, some 

 fifty years ago, there have been modifications of com- 

 pounds, and minor machines for special parts of the work, 

 but no radical departure from the first idea of engraved 

 rolls, a cumbersome cutting room, many separate shoe 

 parts, booking.cementing, and building up by hand, wooden 



lasts, varnishing, and the long slow cure in the dry heater. 

 To bring the business down to the basis that other lines of 

 rubber manufacture have reached, calls for the elimination 

 of the more costly of the processes above mentioned, and 

 the production of goods that are better in respect to ap- 

 pearance, wear, and cost. A careful examination of the 

 new processes and product, which are referred to elsewhere 

 in this issue, with the completest liberty to question or 

 disprove any claim, leads the Editor of The India Rubber 

 World to state unreservedly that an absolute revolution 

 in the manufacture of rubber footwear of all kinds is now 

 at hand. In its originality, completeness, and simplicity, 

 the new process seems absolute finality. 



The death of Charles L. Johnson, general manager of 

 the United States Rubber Co., has brought out expressions of 

 sorrow and sympathy from the rubber trade at large, as the 

 death of few men connected with it would do. Leaving out the 

 rare business ability, which it is acknowledged he possessed 

 in fullest measure, the impress that his considerate and gentle- 

 manly deportment made upon all those with whom he came in 

 contact is a most delightful recollection. The narrow proverb 

 that " There is no friendship in business" falls very flat in re- 

 viewing such a personality; nor is the reason for Mr. John- 

 son's wide circle of friends far to seek. He met the whole 

 world in a genuinely friendly manner, with the broadest char- 

 ity toward human failings, receiving in return general respect 

 and affection. 



The first authentic information regarding Gutta- 

 percha in the Philippines appears this month in a letter from a 

 correspondent of The India Rubber World in an island 

 which, during the first months of this year, exported to Borneo 

 over 400,000 pounds of gum which was designed to be worked 

 over on the latter island and put on the market as Gutta-percha. 

 While the nature of this gum remains to be estimated by ex- 

 perts, the price obtained for the material is evidence that it has 

 practical value. By this time the forestry laws enacted by the 

 American administration in the Philippines have been put in 

 force, with the double result that the wasting of the gutta trees 

 will be checked, and a revenue will be derived from the exploit- 

 ation of the gum. 



Our able contemporary, the Cincinnati Post, deserves a 

 large rubber medal for having unearthed a surprising piece of 

 information, which it very properly makes prominent, instead 

 of keeping it a secret. It appeared in the issue of that paper 

 for October 2, and is as follows, including headlines : 

 rubber advances. 

 Manufacturers have Doubled and Trebled Prices. 

 Rubber goods have gone up 100 to 200 per cent, in the past 

 week. This affects both the wholesale and retail trade. The man- 

 ufacturers have made an agreement, guarded by a $5000 bond, to 

 maintain the new scale. 



It is strongly advised that everybody read the Cincinnati 

 Post; otherwise there might be further advances in rubber 

 prices without manufacturers or dealers being aware of it. 



Why not try wireless telegraphy between Para and 

 Manaos ? At latest accounts the Amazon river cable had 

 broken down again, thus shutting off prompt communication 

 with Mandos. which has superseded Para as the most impor- 

 tant center of the Brazilian rubber interest. 



