December 1, 1910.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



77 



the world demands rubber as a necessity, somebody 

 will find it pay to produce rubber, and from the pres- 

 ent outlook the owners of good plantations seem to be 

 particularly well placed in this regard. 



A GOOD BEGINNING HAS BEEN MADE by tile United States in the 

 export of automobile tires; This item appears in the customs re- 

 turns for the first time this year, and the shipments have been 

 at a rate which points to a total in value of more than $2,000,000 

 for the fiscal vear. 



Ik the K.M.I, IN RUBBER PRICES had occurred earlier, it doubtless 

 would liave had a greater effect in limiting preparations for this 

 season's crop on the Amazon. As it is, preparations must have 

 been completed for the season through a great part of that region. 

 Rut it present indications in the automobile trade hold good, the 

 <)emand for tires is likely to call for the rubber that can be pro- 

 duced, and at higher prices than now prevail. 



It is re.\lly distressing that the friend of The Indi.\ Rubber 

 World who favors us with the following extract from a local 

 newspaper should have omitted both his own address and the 

 name of the newspaper. Our only means of identifying the 

 paper is that it was printed on October 12 : 



New York bankers now control the Raw Rubber Trust, which con- 

 trols the Congo and the Mexican fields. The protest against Wall 

 street influence will soon be worldwide. 



We may be permitted the hope, however, that the bankers of 

 our correspondent's town may in time control the Cooked Rubber 

 Trust, with a heavy thumb on the Amazon and Federated Malay 

 States rubber fields, with the effect of offsetting the "Wall Street 

 influence." 



MEMORIAL FOR CHARLES GOODYEAR. 



■T^O THE Editor of the Indi.\ Rubber World: In the past 

 •^ century, and especially in the rush and whirl of the Twen- 

 tieth, the march of progress has been accompanied by inventions 

 and discoveries unfolding in unbroken sequence. So many have 

 there been, in fact, that the modern has come to receive the 

 most important announcements of science or mechanics and 

 marvelous creations for human comfort and convenience with a 

 feeling of half anticipated right. 



But at a time, when, enjoying so mucli, we arc still looking 

 forward in reveling wonder of the marvels this century, the 

 heralded "Century of Electricity," is to afford us, it were fitting 

 to single out and to assign to merited place those who have chiefly 

 contributed to make our progress possible. And among them 

 should be ranked Charles Goodyear, the discoverer of vulcaniza- 

 tion and the founder of the rubber industry, who recently 

 received but seven ineffective votes in the choices for the Hall 

 of Eame. 



To those acquainted with Goodyear's life, its recurring intervals 

 of keen poverty, the elusive ditficulties of his long prosecuted 

 task and his extraordinary faith in its final achievement, it would 

 seem that science, art and industry in the United States, so much 

 indebted to him, by monument of preferably memorial foundation, 

 ought to accord him that distinctive recognition, which the in- 

 estimable importance of his discoveries in rubber deserves. 



This idea was long ago expressed in France, ready to accord 

 to Goodyear his ptimal right to his great discovery, as she i^ 

 ever alert to encourage genius in science, art discovery or inven- 

 tion. And I beg in closing to translate a paragraph from the 

 •comprehensive work of E. Chapel, "Le Caoutchouc et la Gutta 

 Percha," published in Paris : 



"Sufficient account has not been taken, in the United States. 



of the character of this researcher. It is owing to him that we 

 have been able to take so great advantage of caoutchouc, that 

 its employment has become indispensable in medicine, in chemis- 

 try, in physics, in electricity — in a word, in all the arts and 

 sciences, in which, in many cases, it permits the realization of 

 progress of the highest importance. We should consider Good- 

 year one oi the benefactors of his race, and must regret that no 

 statue to that end has been raised to this Bernard de Palissy of 

 the New World." Clarke doolev. 



Brooklyn, New York, November 7, 1910. 



THE NEW RUBBER CHEMICAL SECTION. 



npilR annual meeting of the American Chemical Society will 

 ■*• take place at Minneapolis on December 27-30. On this oc- 

 casion the first meeting of the Rubber Section since its organiza- 

 tion will be held. The committee on Standard Methods of 

 Analysis and the committee on Specifications will make their 

 first reports. .^ great deal of interest has been aroused in the 

 work of this rubber section, and it is expected that there will be 

 a full attendance. The Section will be pleased to have any of the 

 rubber fraternity who are members of the Society enroll also as 

 members of the Section. To those who would like to join the 

 Section, but who are not members of the Society, the secretary of 

 the Section, Dr. Frederick J. Maywald, No. 89 Pine street. New 

 York, will be pleased to send application blanks, together with 

 full information. 



At a meeting of the American Chemical Society, on the even- 

 ing of December 29, the Editor of The India Rubber World 

 will deliver an illustrated lecture on "Rubber in the Amazon 

 Country." 



It cannot be urged too strongly on the rubber trade that it 

 should support the efforts of the Rubber Section, to standardize 

 not only the methods of analysis, but also the specifications on 

 which rubber goods are prepared. This can best be done by active 

 participation in the work of the Section, and by giving it financial 

 support. Membership in the Section will contribute to its sup- 

 port. Further details regarding it appear in The India Rubber 

 World, February, 1, 1910 (page 178). 



RUBBER AT THE CHEMISTS' CI.UB. 



At the meeting of the American Chemical Society held at tlie 

 Chemists' Club, in New York, on the evening of November 

 11, Mr. Henry C. Pearson, Editor of The India Rubber World, 

 gave an illustrated lecture, "The Rubber Country of the Amazon," 

 descriptive of his extensive tour of that region, to a large audi- 

 ence composed of members of the society and its guests. The 

 subject as handled by Mr. Pearson dealt with the locations 

 visited, bodies of water, types of people, public buildings, munici- 

 pal conditions, and methods of obtaining, handling and sliipping 

 rubber — all of which were reflected in the illustrations, many of 

 which were colored. At the conclusion of the lecture a vote of 

 thanks was tendered to Mr. Pearson by the society. 



Papers were read by members of various sections of the society 

 on "The Electric Conception of Valence," "The Influence of 

 Vapors on the Surface Tensions of Mercury," and the "Electro 

 Chemical Oxidation of some Hydrazine Salts." Tliese were 

 highly interesting and well received. 



BALATA IN TIRES. 



TO THE Editor of The India Rubber World: Regarding the 

 very interesting paragraphs on balata in your November 

 issue, allow me to say that the man who tries to get elasticity 

 out of balata is, of course, crazy, but he certainly can add 

 strength and wear. I can show tires, salid and automobile, made 

 of one-third balata, one-third manicoba and one-third fine Para, 

 for the rubber portion, compounded as usual, that outwore tires 

 made of an equal amount of fine Para. a manufacturer. 



