June i, 1901.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER ^VORLD 



259 



On the back of the menu was printed " Our Creed," which 

 struck the keynote of the evening : 



All competition is forgot — 

 Disputes are in the dust, 

 We meet as friends and brothers here 



A social " rubber trust." 

 The " glad hand " is held out to all 



With good luck at its beck, 



It welcomes every rubber man 



Except the " rubber-neck." 



The speakers of the evening included General Curtis Guild, 

 Jr., Lafayette Blair, Esq.. Prof. Stephen P. Sharpies, Dr. Joseph 

 C. Stedman, and Mr. T. E. Stutson. 



The president elect, ex-Governor A. A. Bourn, was toast- 

 master, introducing as the first speaker General Guild, who 

 immediately got in touch with his audience by his opening 

 sentence—" Mr. President and Brother Rubberers." In the 

 happiest possible way he then related a series of anecdotes that 

 were full of vim and humor and earned him frequent and en- 

 thusiastic applause. He then eulogized Benjamin Franklin as 

 the father of American industries, and briefly summarized the 

 latter's achievements in the invention of stoves, the discovery 

 of the electrical current, and the intro- 

 duction of broom corn. 



He described the gradual transition 

 of the United States in 100 years from 

 a nation absolutely dependent upon 

 Europe and Asia for every manufact- 

 ured article to a nation that now sup- 

 plies both Asia and Europe with man- 

 ufactures, as well as other exports. 



Speaking of rubber, he said : In a 

 decade you gentlemen have seen the 

 imports of crude rubber double. In 

 value the imports of rubber are seventh 

 in the entire list, and that value last 

 year was $3 [,559,37 1, against $14,854,5 1 2 

 in 1890. 



In a decade we have not only doubled 

 our imports of raw material, but more 

 than doubled our exports of manufact- 

 ured rubber goods. Our imports of 

 rubber manufactures are but a third of 

 the value of our exports. Ten years 

 ago we exported barely $1,000,000 

 worth of rubber goods. Last year our 



exports were worth nearly $2,500,000. The American rubber 

 boot has marched around the world, and you find its noiseless 

 track not merely in Canada and Germany and England, but in 

 Haiti and Hongkong, in Ecuador and Japan. 



The American mackintosh coat has beaten its English com- 

 petitor, as the American hat and the American shoe are driv- 

 ing foreign competitors out of the home market. 



Then, to wind up with, the general told humorously of his 

 experiences while in Colorado last fall, campaigning with Col- 

 onel Roosevelt. 



Lafayette G. Blair, the next speaker, skilfully and wittily 

 " guyed " both General Guild and Secretary Pearson until he had 

 his listeners, including the victims, convulsed with merriment. 

 He spoke eloquently for the profession of law and Rufus Choate 

 and the "good young days" when commercialism did not rule 

 mankind to quite the extent which it does to-day. Then, said 

 he, honor and integrity were the chief capital of lawyer and 

 merchant. But some day in the future, he prophesied, a time 

 will come when the lawyer will argue not for the almighty dol- 

 lar in it, but for the simple love of justice. 



" I hope the day will come," said he, " when collections, di- 



AUGUSTUS 



The New Presidi 



vorces, torts, and other things of the kind will be taken care of 

 by the state, without the intervention of lawyers at all." He 

 suggested that perhaps someday we shall have a court of arbi- 

 tration, where poor people can go and tell their stories, when 

 in dispute, without the need of counsel or technicalities or 

 pleading. And he went back to the days of Cicero, and won- 

 dered—could the author of the famed philippics go into the 

 Suffolk county court house to-day— if he would find that much 

 real progress had been made since the days of Rome, after all. 

 Governor Bourn introduced Professor Sharpies as one who 

 had kept track of the chemistry of rubber as had few others, 

 giving interesting incidents in connection with certain notable 

 rubber law suits in which both of them had been brought in 

 contact. 



Professor Sharpies gave an interesting and scholarly talk on 

 '' The Chemist's Opportunities in the Rubber Industry." He 

 was not certain, he said, that we cannot some day make rubber 

 by artificial means, and he quoted other instances, almost as 

 remarkable, where as great results of inventive genius have 

 been obtained. 



The experiments so far in this direc- 

 tion have been made in the wrong way. 

 Adulterations have been made, not sub- 

 stitutes. He told of " recovering " rub- 

 ber, and said that old shoes yield the 

 best result in this line. 



Dr. Stedman gave, in his remarks 

 upon " India-rubber from a Physician's 

 Standpoint," a wonderful list of uses 

 to which this commodity has been put. 

 And he told of the Irishman who.after 

 having used a rubber hot water bag, on 

 his doctor's advice, replied to a quest- 

 ion as to how it worked : " Well, be- 

 gorra, it cured the colic, sure, but the 

 water had a mighty sthrong taste of 

 rubber ! " 



Mr. Stutson came on very late, but 

 the stories which he had with him were 

 so witty and so well told that he had 

 the real honor of a clamorous demand 

 from all present to "tell another," and 

 *' another " very laughable one was 

 given before the orchestra played 

 " Auld Lang Syne." 



ECHOES OF THE DINNER. 

 Mr. J. Edwin Davis, sales manager of the Mahoning Rub- 

 ber Manufacturing Co. (Youngstown, Ohio), attended the din- 

 ner and his many friends took occasion to bid him good-bye 

 and good luck in his new field. He brought for guests two of 

 the official board of his company, Mr. J. S. McClurg, general 

 superintendent, and Mr. John Tod, treasurer, the trio leaving 

 for Youngstown the next day. 



= Mr. John J. Voorhees, of the Voorhees Rubber Manufac- 

 turing Co. (Jersey City, N. J.), expected to be present as a guest, 

 but, business interfering, was obliged to remain in Jersey. 



= Mr. Wm. J. Kelley (Boston) was unable toattend the recep- 

 tion and so missed the many appreciative things that were said 

 of his helpfulness in arranging with the club steward the de- 

 tails of the dinner. 



= Mr. Arthur W. Stedman was unable to be present, as he 

 was called out of town suddenly. His regrets were shared by 

 all present, as his unfailing good humor and courtesy are a po- 

 tent factor in the social features of the club. 



=Assistant Secretary Gleason was in fine humor all the eve- 



O. BOURN, 

 eiit of the Club 



