December i, 1901.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



76 



THE NEW ENGLAND RUBBER CLUB'S TROPICAL SYMPOSIUM. 



ON Thursday evening, November 21, the Exchange Club, 

 in Boston, from coat room to banquet hall, was taken 

 possession of by the New England Rubber Club and 

 its guests, the occasion being the regular Fall dinner, 

 this time a " Tropical Symposium." The banqueters began to 

 gather at 6 o'clock for an informal social held in the commodi- 

 ous smoking room, and lasting for about half an hour. Gover- 

 nor Bourn, president of the Club, then called the assembly to 

 order, and held a brief special meeting to consider an amend- 

 mentof the constitution. This amendment, which was adopted 

 by unanimous vote, creates an associate membership with no 

 initiation fees, but with annual dues of §5, this membership con- 

 sisting of those whose business or professional interests con- 

 nect them with the rubber trade, also rubber manufacturers 

 residing outside of New England. No other business being 

 before the meeting, all present made their way to the dining 

 hall, which was most beautifully decorated with tropical plants 

 and flowers, the tables being arranged in the form of a great 

 horseshoe, opposite the open end of which, in an alcove screened 

 by tropical foliage, a band furnished music during the evening. 

 The dinner was altogether the best that the club has enjoyed. 



MENU. 



Cotuit Oysters. 



Hors d'lEuvres. 



Celery. Olives. Salted Almonds. 



Soups. 



Potage, MoDte Cristo. 



Consomme Perle. 

 Fish. 



Cutlets of Smelts, Joinville. 

 Cucumbers. Potatoes. 



Releve. 

 Saddle of Lamb, i la Conde. 

 Cauliflower, au gratin. Anna Potatoes. 



Entree. 

 Sweetbreads, en caisse, Matilde. 

 Punch— h la FavotiU. 

 Game. 

 Roasted Quail, au cresson. 

 Salad. Pomme Faille. 



Dessert. 

 Fromage Glace, aux Fruits. 

 Cakes. 

 Fruit. Cheese. Coffee. 



After the coffee and cigars. President Bourn called the feast- 

 ers to order, and then made way for the Editor of The India 

 Ri;bbek World who, in a brief speech, presented a beautiful 

 hard rubber gavel, made of a blend of different kinds of rub- 

 ber — Para, Central, Congo, Assam, Madagascar, Java, and 

 Borneo— all of these names being graven on the gavel. At the 

 suggestion of the speaker, a former substitute for the gavel, a 

 policeman's club made of rubber, was presented to the chair- 

 man of the committee on Rubber Stealing. President Bourn 

 accepted the gift in the name of the Club. 



The president then called the attention of the members to a 

 letter from Mrs. Charles L. Johnson, acknowledging the receipt 

 of the resolutions of condolence which the Club had sent on 

 learning of the death of her husband. 



Governor Bourn next, in a very happy vein, reviewed briefly 

 the work that Prof. George Lincoln Goodale had done in con- 

 nection with Harvard University Museum, and introduced him 

 as the first speaker of the evening. Prof. Goodale talked inter- 



estingly on lactiferous plants and trees of the tropics, his re- 

 marks being listened to with the stiictest attention, and his 

 excellent delivery and wonderfully easy manner impressing him 

 upon all as a delightful speaker and one thoroughly at home 

 with his subject. 



The toastmaster then introduced Prof. O. F. Cook, of the 

 bureau of plant industry, United States Department of Agri- 

 culture. As the Club had already been advised, the Hon. James 

 Wilson, the head of the department, was unable to be there, but 

 had sent Prof. Cook as his direct representative, and the presi- 

 dent of the Club thus introduced him. Prof. Cook reviewed 

 briefly our new tropical possessions from the department stand- 

 point. He then, by request, spoke briefly of rubber planting, 

 particularly with regard to Porto Rico and the Philippines. He 

 was not altogether in favor of its introduction into Porto Rico, 

 for the reason that the land seemed to be needed for agricultural 

 purposes, upon which the large population there depended. In 

 the Philippines, he said that so far the department had hardly 

 had time or money to go as far as they desired in solving this 

 problem. 



The next speaker, Mr. Wilfred A. Joubert, was introduced as 

 the one man who had been further intothe jungles of Surinam 

 in charge of Balata gatherers than any other living white man. 

 Mr. Joubert briefly reviewed the condition of the country and 

 . told how Balata was gathered, and then in a humorous manner 

 sketched the many difficulties that were met by one who pene- 

 trated these tropical wilds. In the course of his remarks he 

 told several snake stories which were so thrilling and deli- 

 ciously funny that they were greeted by bursts of applause and 

 demands for more. 



The next name on the program was that of Hon. William D. 

 Owen, ex-secretary of state of Indiana, and ex congressman 

 from that state, who was to speak on American tropical plant- 

 ing in Mexico. Mr. Owen, however, being absent, Mr. Bourn 

 called upon Arthur D. Little, a well known chemist of Boston, 

 who has spent much time upon the chemistry of India-rubber, 

 for a brief impromptu address. Mr. Little spoke most inter- 

 estingly on the difference between colloids, to which India- 

 rubber belongs, as against crystalloids, to which substances like 

 salt belong. 



During the dinner, the toastmaster had discovered the pres- 

 ence of Mr. T. E. Stutson, who was there as the guest of Treas- 

 urer Whitmore. Mr. Stutson at a former dinner made a bril- 

 liant record as a teller of stories. The toastmaster therefore 

 suggested that the gentlemen present would be very glad to 

 hear from him and he at once responded in his best vein. The 

 anecdotes that he related were certainly equal to after dinner 

 stories by Dr. Depew, Mr. Choate, or Mark Twain, and the audi- 

 ence greeted them with gusts of laughter. Indeed they were 

 so delighted with Mr. Stutson's stories that when he seated 

 himself they demanded more, whereupon he gave them an- 

 other round equal to the first. 



The toastmaster then made a formal presentation of the rub- 

 ber policeman's club to Mr. F. C. Hood, chairman of the com- 

 mittee on Rubber Stealing, and the gathering dispersed. 



NOTES OF THE DINNER. 

 The members of the New England Rubber Club certainly 

 owe a debt of gratitude to Prof. Goodale, who, although suf- 

 fering from a severe cold and against the advice of his physi- 

 cian, refused to disappoint them by being absent. 



