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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[Mav I, 1901. 



QUALIFICATIONS OF SALESMEN. 



TO THE Editor of The India Rubber World: I have 

 for some time past been reading with great interest your 

 correspondents' articles on the qualifications of a salesman. In 

 the rubber line, as in all lines that are susceptible of adultera- 

 tion, in a manner not easily determined by the consumer or 

 dealer, a great deal more of the buyer's confidence is required 

 than in those lines whose value is easily determined. In the 

 latter, only price and quality interest the buyer, while in the 

 case of rubber goods, what the buyer is told by the salesman 

 more often influences the direction which the order takes, and 

 the buyer, knowing his weakness in this matter, very naturally 

 leans towards the man in whom he has the most confidence. 

 That man is likely to be the one who is best posted on his line. 

 By being posted, I do not mean that one should necessarily 

 have a factory training, although that cannot possibly do a man 

 any harm, provided he has been taken away from it early 

 enough in life to adapt himself to his new surroundings as a 

 salesman. 



But I mean by being posted that a salesman should acquaint 

 himself with those matters which are likely to interest those 

 buying rubber goods, either as a consumer or dealer. Knowl- 

 edge of the various kinds of rubber, which are exported from 

 Para and Africa and other places, would be sure to be of value. 

 If a salesman can quote the market value of Para and African 

 sorts and show the amount of exports in his own line, he is all 

 this time impressing his customer with the fact that he is in 

 earnest in his business and is worthy of his confidence. Knowl- 

 edge of how rubber is grown, how the same is taken from the 

 tree, and how it is coagulated cannot militate against him in a 

 conversation with an intelligent perspective customer. 



I believe that frequent meetings between the heads of the 

 departments and the travelers are very beneficial if they are 

 conducted honestly. I do not believe, however, that they have 

 any value if facts are to be suppressed and compliments be- 

 stowed on those who called the meeting. The dissecting of the 

 goods, the honest argument that is sure to follow when one 

 salesman claims that another house is producing an equal 

 article for less money than his firm is putting out at a higher 

 price, the merits of the duck (if it should happen to be a belt), 

 the closeness of the weave, the looseness of and the strength 

 of the friction, and the quality of the cover, are all sure to be 

 discussed very thoroughly, and if the opposition are really do- 

 ing better than the ot' it fellow, then the other fellow sees the 

 point and it is not long before his belt is either lowered in price, 

 or the quality improved, and every salesman who has been to 

 that meeting is wiser ; he is more loyal to his house and he has 

 learned that all that is necessary is for him to find the weak 

 points in his line and that his firm is more than willing to cor- 

 rect them, but life is short and the manager does not have so 

 much time on his hands that he can always educate his travel- 

 ers, and the traveler must rely on himself toa very considerable 

 extent. 



How then is he to learn the things that will interest his cus- 

 tomer, as well as benefit himself .' He must first of all read his 

 trade journal and not least of all the things to be found in his 

 trade journal is the advertisements. This gives him a line on 

 what his competitors are offering, and frequently gives him an 

 idea of their method of marketing what they consider high 

 grade articles. He must study the market. He must, in a 

 word, learn what the people in his world (the rubber world) are 

 talking about and what they are putting on the market. He 

 must or should know these things long before he has actually 

 seen a sample of some new and much talked of article, so that 



when he does finally get to the sample, he will not pass it with- 

 out taking a good long look, and determining to his own satis- 

 faction the merit or lack of merit in the article, but he must 

 follow his trade journal, or he may never know until a cus- 

 tomer tells him that the article is in existence, and it may be 

 months before he can give his customer some doubtful reason 

 why he should not use the article referred to. 



I should think that much could be done in the way of edu- 

 cating the rubber salesman in his line by forming a fraternal 

 organization. Other trades have it and much good is done 

 thereby. There are no more thoroughly good set of fellows 

 under the sun than the rubber men. There are enough of us to 

 form one of the strongest social, educational, and beneficial 

 organizations in the country to-day. r. c. k. 



.\pril 15, 1901. 



FLOUR IN CRUDE RUBBER. 



THE late Joseph Banigan once issued a circular letter in 

 relation to the extent to which Para rubber was being 

 adulterated during the process of curing, in its original prepa- 

 ration, and called upon other rubber manufacturers to join him 

 in trying to check the evil. The circular said " that a farinace- 

 ous floury matter had been discovered in the mixture, and was 

 made with such villainy that it is difficult to detect, and it has 

 interfered with our manufactured products." But what Mr. 

 Banigan complained of was no new thing ; nor have the spor- 

 adic efforts, made at times in all the leading markets, ever re- 

 sulted in wholly stopping the use of other vegetable products 

 of the Amazon valley in making rubber. As long ago as 1850 

 Lieutenant Herndon, of the United States navy, on making an 

 exploration of the Amazon under orders from his government, 

 took pains to study the crude rubber business as then con- 

 ducted. He reported that there was much deterioration, 

 due to the tricks of the natives. For instance: "The rubber 

 is frequently much adulterated, by the addition of tapioca or 

 sand, to increase its weight." 



In a book entitled " In Amazon Land," by Mrs. M. F. Sessel- 

 berg, published in 1893, are chapters on life among the rubber 

 gatherers, from which one extract is pertinent here : " In the 

 great rubber emporium. Para, the soul of the princely rubber 

 merchant is grievously vexed at the tricks civilization has 

 taught many of these rubber gatherers. Balls of clay, sand 

 and what not, are introduced into the /iranir/tas, or moulds, to 

 increase their weight. To augment the quantity of milk, sap 

 from other trees is mixed. And worst of all, to avoid the tedi- 

 ous process of preparation, the seringuetro (rubber gatherer) 

 makes a blazing fire, and when the milk is liquid, puts in a kind 

 of flour, and if this causes it to coagulate too quickly, acid like 

 lemon is added, to prevent its consolidation. Consequently 

 the purity of fine rubber is greatly damaged." 



The New York Chamber of Commerce, at a recent meeting, 

 adopted a report from its committee on foreign commerce and 

 the revenue laws, urging the importance of the construction of 

 an American Pacific cable, as a means of promoting trade 

 direct with Asia, but favoring the idea of a privately owned 

 cable, for the reason that fewer facilities would exist for effect- 

 ing a landing on Asiatic shores for a cable owned and controlled 

 by the United States government. 



The new schedule of import duties in Venezuela imposes 

 upon rubber belting, hose, and tubes a rate equivalent to 14.46 

 cents per kilogram, and on other manufactures of India- 

 rubber, 48.2 cents per kilogram. 



