260 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[June i, 1901. 



ning. It is claimed that he shook hands with everybody in the 



hall, includinp; himself, at least three times, and, although nor- 

 mally an avowed critic, found nothing but good in sight. 



= Mr. F. L. Torres, one of the most experienced rubber 

 planters of Mexico, was present at the dinner as the guest of 

 Mr. Fletcher. 



= Mr. R. A. Loewenthal of New York, and Mr. H. F. Wan- 

 ning of Birmingham, Conn., enjoyed the reception and dinner 

 as guests of Mr. Theodore S. Bassett. 



= It is only through the invitation of a member that an out- 

 side organization can make use of the Exchange Club. Each 

 individual member of the New England Rubber Club was there 

 actually as the guest of Mr. C. C. Converse, who for that eve- 

 ning cheerfully stood sponsor for him, financially and other- 

 wise. 



= Treasurer Whitmore was on hand from start to finish 

 greeting members and keeping a keen eye on the many details 

 that go to make up the successful dinner. 



HEARD AND SEEN IN THE TRADE. 



ALL reports on the rubber shoe situation are to the elTect 

 that never before, at this season, have orders been 

 placed on so large a scale. Dealers, large and small, 

 are anxious to provide for next winter's trade before 

 prices, which are " subject to change without notice," are ad- 

 vanced. Rubber footwear can now be bought for less money 

 than at any time since the period of cut-throat competition 

 nine or ten years ago — with the exception of a brief period in 

 1897, and, having in view the high prices attained only two 

 years ago. jobbers and retailers are determined not to take the 

 risk of waiting until the manufacturers put up prices before 



sending in their orders. 



» * « 



The factories are busy, too. Most of them are running to 



full capacity, and in the rubber shoe centers advertisements 



have appeared for a month past, calling for additional labor. 



Many of the plants have orders in hand that will keep them 



busy for months to come, which is a welcome condition for the 



employes, for whom steady work has not been afforded for a 



year or more. 



« « * 



Stocks of rubber footwear in the hands of dealers at the end 

 of the past season were not so heavy as might have been ex- 

 pected, in view of the " open " winter. In the first place, jobbers 

 and retailers ordered less freely last summer, inconsequence of 

 the preceding winter having been, in many parts of the country- 

 unfavorable for their business. At the beginning of last year's 

 season it was estimated by the Western Association of Shoe 

 Jobbers that 26 per cent, of the purchase of rubbers by their 

 customers since May i, 1899. were still on their hands. Another 

 effect of this condition was to render manufacturers more con- 

 servative, so that last year's production was not so large aS' 

 otherwise, would have been the case. It may be added that 

 dealers ordered less freely last season on account of the high 



prices. 



• » » 



A PROMINENT jobber in New York is convinced that retailers' 

 stocks in his territory had been well reduced by the end of the 

 season, by the fact that the rainy season in April and May led 

 to many orders for rubbers from retailers, which would have 

 been unnecessary if they had been well stocked with goods of 



this class. 



» • » 



The demand for solid rubber vehicle tires continues to in- 

 crease steadily. There is some complaint, by the way, on ac- 

 count of the general activity of the steel industry, of diificulty 

 in getting prompt delivery of channels for tires, besides which 

 there has been an advance in cost. 



• » * 



And still new designs in rubber shoe heels are coming in, 

 and patented ones, too. There is doubt ibout there being a 



very considerable consumption of rubber in catering to the 

 demand for this new article in trade. The best evidence that 

 the wearing of rubber heels is a habit that is growing is the 

 frequency with which leather shoes equipped with rubber heels 

 are called for. It is not known that any leather shoe factory 

 is turning out goods of this class for stock, but such goods are 

 being made right along on orders. One leather shoe manu- 

 facturer is mentioned as having placed an order lately for 10,000 

 pairs of rubber heels, to be put on shoes before shipment from 

 his factory. 



* » « 



There is one important and long established concern in the 

 mechanical goods trade which has never as yet offered any 

 kind of rubber tire to the trade, and yet which'has been in a 

 state of readiness, from the beginning of the growth of bicy- 

 cling on a large scale, to make bicycle tires. At the factory 

 exists a complete outfit for the manufacture of tires, in order 

 that, if it should at any time seem desirable to enter the trade, 

 tires could be produced on short notice. The company may 

 have seemed to some people ultra conservative in not putting 

 this part of the factory to work at the time when the tire craze 

 was at its height, but in view of the experience of many other 

 concerns in the rubber trade, the stockholders probably are now 

 quite well satisfied with the policy of holding back adopted by 

 their managers. 



* « * 



"One thing that struck me about the rubber business 

 abroad," said a returned American, " was the difiference in the 

 relations between the crude rubber merchants and the manu- 

 facturers. Meeting a rubber merchant, I asked him if he knew 

 a prominent manufacturer in the same city. No, he did not; 

 he had never met him, and therefore had never offered him any 

 rubber. I wondered if a crude rubber man in New York could 

 have remained so many years unacquainted with a near by 

 manufacturer." 



* * * 



A MAN of long experience in the crude rubber trade has 

 called my attention to his list of rubber manufacturers, which 

 he has divided into classes, beginning with those who discount 

 their bills, and ending with those who give notes at four 

 months. Some companies which, not so many years ago, be- 

 longed to the latter class, now discount their bills, and the 

 general improvement which has taken place in this regard 

 would seem to be evidence that the industry in the United 

 States is steadily getting upon a firmer footing. The crude 

 rubber man referred to believes that the industry as a whole 

 was never in a sounder condition than to-day. One other evi- 

 dence of this condition may be found in the small number of 

 rubber companies who have failed during the past five years, 

 to say nothing of the new concerns that appear to be making 

 money. 



