December I, 1910.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



105 



LOWER PRICES FOR TIRES. 



A GENERAL reduction in pneumatic tires and inner tubes is 

 ■^^ ainiounced to be in effect on December 1. Approximately 

 the reduction is to be from 12 to 15 per cent. This information is 

 supplied to The India Rubber World in advance of the details 

 promised for the date mentioned. From what has been gained 

 in regard to the new prices, they may be said to compare as 

 follows with prices in the past, taking 34 x 4 inches as a type, 

 and using the quotations of one of the larger manufacturers : 



Casing. Tube. 



December 1, 1910 $41.35 $7.25 



July 1, 1910 48.30 9.70 



September 27, 1909 43.65 8.75 



September 1, 1908 34.50 6.90 



September 1, 1907 45.25 10.20 



The prices of and from 1904 to 1907 were about the same, but 

 slightly lower than September, 1907, prices. The loss of tires 

 prior to 1907 was much larger than at present on account of 

 lack of experience of both user and manufacturer, the user giving 

 little heed to save and less precaution in the care of the tire. The 

 manufacturer, pioneering an untrodden field, was gathering data 

 and laying a foundation for a stable article. The short period of 

 twelve years covers the life of the manufacture of automobile 

 tires in America. This period has brought forth a wonderful 

 evolution, not only in the methods of making tires but in the 

 durability and strength of the tire so that the life of the tire 

 to-day is from 15 per cent, to forty per cent, more than four 

 years ago and this should be taken in consideration in studying 

 the above data. 



The Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. are out with a circular 

 letter quoting 10 per cent, off former prices on their "side wire" 

 tires, and other makers of solid tires are expected to make similar 

 reductions. 



THE BAD ENDING OF "KORNIT." 



f~^ HARLES E. ELLtS and Erwin R. Graves, sentenced to 

 ^^ three years imprisonment, after having been convicted in 

 the United States circuit court in New York city on a charge 

 of conspiracy to use the mails to defraud, started for the Fed- 

 eral prison at Atlanta, Georgia, on November 2. 



They were described respectively as president and vice presi- 

 dent of the Kornit Manufacturing Co., incorporated under the 

 laws of New Jersey in 1904, with an authorized capital of 

 $500,000. It was represented that the company owned a valu- 

 able process for the manufacture of a substitute for hard rubber 

 for insulation and other purposes from the horns and hoofs of 

 cattle. This material they called "Kornit." The shares were 

 alluringly advertised, particularly in the Magazine of Mysteries 

 published by Ellis, with the result that much money was re- 

 ceived, in small individual sums, through the mails. 



The Kornit company did rent factory space in a building at 

 Belleville, New Jersey, which was burned soon afterward, on 

 March 1, 1907. The fire was used as an excuse for asking for 

 more money from the shareholders. The total amount collected 

 has been estimated as high as $1,000,000, though the actual 

 amount charged against the company by the Federal authorities 

 was only $371,000. It is alleged that at the time of the fire only 

 $104 worth of "Kornit" had been turned out, and that none 

 was made afterward. 



A petition in involuntary bankruptcy was filed against the 

 company in Newark, New Jersey, in August, 1909, as a result 

 of which a considerable amount of money was tied up for the 

 benefit of investors. Ellis owned a hotel in New York. His 

 wife was burned to death on last New Year's day. 



THE EDITOR'S BOOK TABLE. 



DE CULTUUR VAN HEVEA. HANDLEIUIXG VOOR DEN PLANT- 

 er. Door Dr. 1*. J. S. Cramer, Directeur van den Landbouw in Suri- 

 name. Amsterdam: J. H. de Bussy. 1910. [Cloth. 8vo. Pp. XV + 

 138 + plates. Price, 2 florins.] 



'T'HE author of this very practical volume, director of agri- 

 ■*• culture in Dutch Guiana, in the latter part of 1909 pro- 

 ceeded under a government commission to the Far East for the 

 purpose of studying the details of the cultivation there of Para 

 rubber (Hevea Brasitiensis) , with a view to making the infor- 

 mation of value in connection with planting in his own colony. 

 While he visited the Dutch East Indies his attention was de- 

 voted principally to Ceylon and the Malay States, where rubber 

 plantations have been longer established. The book is concise 

 in style and devoted to definite details regarding soils, drainage, 

 :he comparative merits of planting seeds and stumps, the em- 

 ployment of catch crops, plant diseases and pests, tapping meth- 

 ods and implements, and the preparation of rubber from the la- 

 tex. The 40 illustrations, which greatly enhance the value of the 

 work, are mainly half tones, which are of excellent quality and 

 printed on inserted leaves of extra paper. 



BOLETIM DO MUSEU GOELDI (MUSEU PARAENSE) DE HIS- 

 toria Natural e Ethnograpliia. Tome VI — 1909. Para, Brazil: Es- 

 tabelecimento Graphico C. Wiegandt. 1910. [Paper. 8vo. Pp. 267 -f- 

 tables.] 



This volume contains the annual reports of the Para museum 



for 1907 and 1908, followed by several scientific memoirs — mostly 



relating to botanical subjects. Throughout the book the work of 



the director, Dr. Jacques Huber, is much in evidence. 



RUBBER SHARE HANDBOOK. DETAILS OF COMPANIES OWN- 

 ing Rubber and Other Produce Properties, in Ceylon, tlie Malay Pen- 

 insula, British North Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Africa and South Amer- 

 ica. [Seventli edition.] London: The Financier and Bullionist, Lim- 

 ited, 1910. [Boards. 8vo. Pp. iv -j- 648. Price, 2s. 6d., net] 



Of the various directories and compendiums of rubber plant- 

 ing companies, this book, issued under the auspices of a lead- 

 ing financial journal in London, which was a pioneer in the 

 advocacy of rubber planting investments, is the most compre- 

 hensive and informing. It is, in particular, up to date. The 

 volume now before us revised up to August 31, 1910, reached 

 New York by mail only seven weeks later, which is a brief 

 period, considering the details to be put through the printing 

 office. It may be of interest to note here that the new edition 

 embraces 648 pages, against only 500 pages in the April 8, 1910 

 edition. The number of companies reported is 582, against 467 

 in the preceding edition, and 113 1 directors are named, against 

 776 before. These larger figures indicate a rapid growth in the 

 extent of rubber planting interests. 



THE MEXICAN YEAR BOOK. A STATISTICAL. FINANCIAL AND 

 Economic Annual, Compiled from Official and Other Returns. 1909-10. 

 Issued Under the Auspices of the Department of Finance - - - 

 Mexico City. New York and London; Mexican Year Book Publishing 

 Co. [1910.] [Cloth. 8vo. Pp. XV -I- 700 + Maps. Price $6, 

 gold.] 



This is one of the most comprehensive year books relating to 

 any country which has yet reached The India Rubber World. 

 Beginning witli a historical summary of the Mexican republic, 

 it gives in full the constitution of Mexico, together with statis- 

 tical details regarding imports and exports, customs duties, in- 

 formation regarding banking, railroads, mining and the like, and 

 particularly a compendium of such Mexican laws as are most 

 likely to be of interest to foreigners contemplating business oper- 

 ations in or connections with Mexico. A considerable part of 

 the work is devoted to a concise description of each of the states 

 in the republic, with information suited both to Mexicans and 

 foreigners, a detailed folding map being included for each state. 

 The edition before us is printed in English. 



A BOOK for rubber planters — Mr. Pearson's "What I Saw in 

 the Tropics." 



Mr. Philip Glass, of Melbourne, Australia, after a visit to the 

 Far East, was instrumental in the organization of the Port 

 Swetttenham Rubber Co., with ;£6o,ooo capital, which was sub- 

 icribed in three days. 



