January i, 1902.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



97 



cle once again and see if every statement does not point 

 to vulcanization by bieat. To be plain, the rubber is not 

 snrayed on, it is not softened, except on the mixing mill 

 or calender, and it is not cold cured or vapor cured ; 

 hence the point made that cold cured goods are less dura- 

 ble than heat cured is entirely foreign in this discussion. 



The citation of failure regarding the " revolution in the 

 machinery for tire making" is peculiarly apt, for after the 

 most searching and exhaustive tests those same revolu- 

 tionary machines are now being shipped to Europe and 

 will shortly be in use in England, France, (Germany, and 

 Russia. 



With regard to German patents " issued to Mr. Joseph 

 O. Stokes " there is another misunderstanding. The gen- 

 tleman named, as far as we know, is not the patentee here 

 or abroad. He is rather the visible and active head of a 

 syndicate that controls the United States patents. The 

 India Rubber World has been promised early informa- 

 tion concerning patents for machinery and processes, both 

 in the United States and Europe, and as soon as that is 

 secured will gladly forward to its friends in Germany the 

 information that they are seeking. 



Our esteemed contemporary's position reminds us of an 

 anecdote. Once upon a time a man was arrested and put 

 in jail. As soon as possible he sent for his lawyer, who, 

 standing outside of his cell, heard his story, and then ex- 

 claimed, " Why they can't put you in jail for that ! " 



" But," said the other, " whether they can or not, I'm 

 here." 



The Shoe Machine is here. 



THE INFLUENCE OF SUGGESTION. 



00 many large and enterprising manufacturers, both in 

 ^ and out of the rubber trade, have made a special fea- 

 ture of their own fire brigades, furnishing them with com- 

 fortable quarters, drilling them, and showing them off to 

 visitors, that it is a bit of a surprise to find that the insur- 

 ance experts do not look upon them as an unmixed good. 

 According to their statistics, there is a tendency toward 

 unaccountable fires where such organizations are existent, 

 rather than where they are absent. The reason for this is 

 given that their presence suggests to the evil minded and 

 to the irresponsible lovers of excitement the desirability 

 of occasional conflagrations. The experts, therefore, are 

 pronounced in their belief that it is better to rely upon 

 brick walls, tinned doors, cleanliness, sprinklers, and a 

 good outside fire department. 



Coincident facts of interest are that the exports of Am- 

 erican rubber footwear are increasing rapidly and that the 

 range of heavy snowfall in Europe appears of late years to be 

 widening. Perhaps after awhile it will not matter much to our 

 rubber manufacturers where snow falls — they will supply the 

 needed rubbers just the same. 



The first American Pacific cable is being manufactured 

 abroad, but already an order had been placed with an Ameri- 

 can factory for 472 miles of submarine cable, by a foreign gov- 

 ernment. In view of the successful working of greater lengths 



of deep sea cable than this, supplied by each of two American 

 factories, it seems reasonable to expect that the cable industry 

 will yet become established on an important scale on this side 

 of the Atlantic. 



NoTHiNc; reflects general industrial prosperity 

 more truly than the condition of the belting business. It is of 

 more than passing interest, therefore, to note that of late almost 

 all of the large manufacturers of both rubber and cotton belt- 

 ing have been forced to run their plants up to their limit, and 

 it is also probable that more large belt presses have been in- 

 stalled during 1901 than in any other single year. Rubber belt- 

 ing to-day is made so well and is so generally useful that it is 

 crowding leather belting very hard. Indeed, one rubber manu- 

 facturer predicted recently that the time will come when leather 

 belting will be seen as rarely as leather hose. 



The charter of The Atlantic Rubber Shoe Co., men- 

 tioned in another column, marks an era in the incorporation of 

 stock companies. It is a radical departure from all previous 

 charters in that it not only more fully recognizes the rights of 

 the stockholder, but gives to him the fullest information con- 

 cerning the condition of the company of which he is a part 

 owner. That the new company is a trust, or that it is formed 

 to amalgamate existing rubber shoe companies, or fight the 

 " Rubber Trust," Is pointedly denied by the incorporators. 



Our friends of the London India-Rubber Joicmal \-iye. to 

 heart too seriously our failure to view through spectacles as 

 optimistic as their own the prospects of a new Bolivian rub- 

 ber exploiting enterprise which, in other channels more than 

 in our contemporary's columns, has been treated as a coming 

 great " monopoly." Our own treatment of the matter was to 

 deprecate any Idea of a monopolybeing possible in the quarter 

 referred to. Besides, it is difficult to treat seriously any article 

 which drags in the " Rubber Trust " as a factor in any devel- 

 opment in rubber, whether in forest or factory. No other jour- 

 nal has devoted more space than The India Rubber World 

 to the rubber resources of Bolivia, and no other journal has 

 contained so much definite information on this subject. Bo- 

 livia undoubtedly contains a wealth of rubber, and no supplies 

 of good rubber can be too remote for their exploitation ulti- 

 mately, when the more available supplies have become inade- 

 quate for the demand. But these considerations are not new 

 to our capitalists, and we yet fall to see any reason, in current 

 developments, for manufacturers to begin to figure on lower 

 priced fine rubber from Bolivia in the near future. 



TO IMPROVE CONAKRY RUBBERS. 



T N view of the depreciation which has been evident for some 

 ■*■ time past in the quality, and consequently in the selling 

 price, of rubber coming from French Guinea, the commission 

 of commerce and agriculture of that colony has adopted some 

 regulations which appear In the Bulletin de la Sociite d' Etudes 

 Coloniales. The adulteration of rubber is prohibited after 

 August I, 1901. Adulterated rubbers are such as are weighted 

 with water, or obtained from roots, or such as contain glue or 

 any other foreign substance, apart from particles of bark that 

 may have become mixed with the rubber In coagulation, not to 

 exceed the proportion of i per cent, of the total weight. The 

 customs officials are charged with the enforcement of these 

 regulations. It is hoped that, by this means, the Conakry rub- 

 bers will regain the reputation which they enjoyed formerly 

 in the European markets. 



