188 



THE INDIA RUBBER ^?VORLD 



[March i, 1902. 



bers. The feeling is the prejudice of the retailer ; he thinks he 

 cannot sell but one brand of rubbers although his competitor 

 sells another and does equally as well. I believe the day has 

 gone by for branded goods in this era of combination, when we 

 know the combination as it is. If they must brand, brand 

 them first quality and second quality. I have done business in 

 this city in three different sections, with the poorest class, with 

 the middle class, and where the best classes congregate. I 

 therefore feel, as far as Boston is concerned, I know something 

 of the ideas of the people here. When you buy rubber goods 

 you buy that grade that the location calls for. I want to say 

 now in all sincerity that in my experience that there is not one 

 man in ten or one woman in fifty who enters my store who 

 knows or cares what brand is on the goods. They want a pair 

 of rubbers to fit their shoes and if they don't want first quality 

 that will pay you a profit, then have the second quality which 

 you can sell at their price and still make a profit. A good 

 many retailers insist that they will carry nothing but first class 

 rubbers. Why not follow it along and carry nothing but $5 

 shoes? They carry different grades of shoes, why not carry 

 different grades of rubber footwear ? 



If it is in our power as an organization to get the men who 

 control the destinies of the United States Rubber Co. to give 

 this business proposition proper business attention, I think it 

 is possible we can get the dating of bills January i. Then if 

 we do not get our snowstorm we will get the Christmas trade, 

 and the United States Rubber Co. would not suffer much, for 

 they do not get their money anyhow until that time. My idea 

 is that if they will intelligently grasp the situation we can get a 

 small percentage more profit on our goods. If we can do this, 

 this meeting in Boston will not be in vain. 



A REQUEST TO THE RUBBER COMPANIES. 



Among the questions discussed was the desirability of having 

 rubber footwear sized to correspond with leather goods. As 

 one member said: "Children's shoes, kid goods run from S}4 

 to 1 1 ; rubbers run from 4 to io}4 ; we have a four to 8 infants' 

 shoe ; we have no 4 to 8 infants' rubbers. Our children's rub- 

 bers only run to ioj4, where leather goods run to 11. They 

 should be uniform." A motion was adopted, instructing the 

 executive committee of the association to consult with the 

 rubber shoe manufacturers on this point. The same motion 

 expressed a desire that some arrangements should be made for 

 holding the prices of rubber footwear at the same figures from 

 the beginning to the end of the season. A separate motion, 

 made by the Mr. Hagan named above, was carried as follows: 



I move that we, as an organization through our secretary and our 

 executive committee, endeavor to bring influence enough to bear upon 

 the United States Rubber Co. to have our rubber bills dated January i 

 instead of December i. 



THE PRACTICAL JOKER AT WORK. 



ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



THE Worcester (Mass.) Telegram gives space to a report 

 that " the Woonsocket Rubber Co. and the Boston Rub- 

 ber Shoe Co. contemplate forming a company independent of 

 the trust." 



The Baltimore American lately reported the presence in 

 that city of " a number of New York capitalists, representing 

 some of the very richest men in the metropolis," " relative to 

 starting a rubber factory in Baltimore, where it is proposed to 

 manufacture every variety of rubber goods." 



In Poland and Lithuania, says an exchange, there is a very 

 large export from Russia of old goloshes, which are subse- 

 quently melted down and made into new goloshes and other 

 India-rubber goods. 



INQUIRIES reach The India Rubber Worlh almost daily 

 for reading matter relating to the practicability of plant- 

 ing rubber, the most desirable locations, the best methods of 

 procedure, and so on. We can refer to no other publication 

 that has contained so much information on the subject, ap- 

 plicable outside of the Far East, as The India Rubber 

 World. Specific inquiries will be answered, as far as possible, 

 but the general subject is too broad to be covered, either in 

 letters or in single article in a trade journal. 



To THK Editor of The India Rubber World : Referring to the 

 report on " The Balata Movement," in your issue of January i [page 

 126], may I ask if that was shett ox block Balata? n. 



The report referred to Venezuela. While it failed to dis- 

 tinguish between sheet and block, we understand that'very 

 little sheet Balata is shipped from that country, it being 

 cheaper to boil the sap in mass than to dry it in the sun, in 

 thin sheets. 



To THE Editor of The India Rubber World : I read in your 

 December i issue [page 73] that the United States consul at Leipsic re- 

 ports that a recently patented insulating material is made by taking pul- 

 verized casein and mixing it with vegetable oils. Can you inform me 

 where I can get a copy of this report ? M. B. 



The consular report gives no further details than were men- 

 tioned in our paper. An unverified report reaches us that the 

 patents have come into the possession of the Vereinigte Gum- 

 miwaaren-Fabriken, Harburg a/d Elbe, Germany. 



To the Editor of The India Rubber World : I am desirous of 

 learning the date and number of the United States patent covering what 

 is known as Kiel's compound, and to whom issued, and whether the 

 same has expired. c. o. 



July 24, 1890, to William Kiel, Butler, New Jersey. No. 

 430,958, for " vulcanized plastic compound " ; No. 430,959, for 

 " process of manufacturing vulcanized plastic compounds." 

 The same expire in 1907. 



To the Editor of The India Rubber World : Is there any mar- 

 ket in this country for worn rubber pump valves? We are constantly 

 discarding a number of these, and have thought that we might possibly 

 dispose of them. B. a. 



In the scrap rubber trade rubber pump valves are included 

 in the general classification of " black heavy rubber," for which 

 the price of late has been 4 to 5 cents a pound. Sometimes 

 small lots of valve scrap are offered separately, but as a rule 

 the quantities handled are too small to form a separate class 

 of goods. While fluctuations in rubber shoe scrap prices are 

 frequent, the market for black heavy rubber is little affected by 

 them. 



To THE Editor of The India Rubber World : I enclose a news- 

 paper clipping: "An India rubber gatherer in Brazil averages t6 

 pounds of juice daily." Kindly tell me if this estimate is correct, and 

 what is the percentage to a pound of juice. H. w. H. 



The amount of rubber collected daily, on well paying 

 estradas, ranges from 5 to 20 pounds per man. The percentage 

 of dry rubber is 50 to 60 of the total weight of latex. The 

 average collection of rubber, therefore, is probably a good deal 

 less than 16 pounds of sap daily per man. But since our cor- 

 respondent probably is concerned about planting the Castilloa 

 elastica — a different species— in Mexico, it may be mentioned 

 that this tree yields its product, of 2 pounds or more of dry 

 rubber, at one or two tappings a year, whereas the Brazilian 

 rubber tree has to be bled every day or two throughout the 

 season to produce the same amount. Ten or more Mexican 

 trees can be tapped in a day. 



