Marcu 1, 1911.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



1«7 



iniinediatelv visible to the iiakoil eve, and must adjust 

 the chemical processes in order to maintain the health of 

 the operatives and indirectly make it possible for them 

 to render the most efficient service. 



We will usually find that the superintendent is a man 

 who has been in the world of commerce and industry 

 since the day he left preparatory school. This has made 

 it possible for him to gain a fund of practical, empirical 

 information and to be almost if not totally self-support- 

 ing since the day he left school. After his preparatory 

 he entered college for a four-year course, which led to 

 the certificate for "Bachelor of Science in Chemical En- 

 gineering." If he so desires he may spend two or even 

 three years additional at a university, and learn the meth- 

 ods which are used in research work, in discovering the 

 cause of certain effects. We might call it Chemical 

 Philosophy, or, to use a factory expression, we might 

 call him "trouble man for chemical processes." This is 

 the work which develops in a chemist the bumps of "in- 

 genuity," "initiative" and '"farsightedness," and these are 

 after all, the properties which make a chemist of indis- 

 pensable value to the manufacturer who has a desire to 

 increase production and lower the cost of production 

 while increasing the quality of his products. 



.\ chemist who cannot lay claim to these properties 

 is of very doubtful efficiency as a chemical engineer in a 

 rubber mill. Now let us turn from these necessary 

 qualifications to the "dollars and cents" side of the 

 course which was necessary to obtain the same. The 

 total expense of the college course has averaged for each 

 year between $300 and $400. This may then be multi- 

 plied by the number of years which we would allow our 

 student, say four years preparatory school and six years 

 of college study, at the end of which he has reached his 

 twenty-fifth \ear. From this data we obtain the figure 

 of $4,000 — for educational expenses. Next we may 

 figure the earning capacity of an intelligent man 

 (between the ages of 15 and 25) as averaging 

 $1,000 per year. In total, an intelligent man would 

 earn in these ten years, in round numbers, $10,000. His 

 living expenses are equal to or less than those of a college 

 student, so that these items counterbalance. The trained 

 chemist at the age of 25 finds himself without these 

 $10,000 and without these $4,000. He has, however, in- 

 vested time and labor and thought equivalent to this 

 amount in a thing which we may call "knowledge." 



This brings us to the still more interesting question : 

 "What interest does an intelligent manufacturer expect 

 to receive from his invested capital?" You may answer 

 6 per cent, or even 12 per cent. If we take the lesser 

 rate, we find that $14,000 should yield $840. This you 

 will note is not the earning capacity of a graduate chemi- 

 cal engineer, but only the fair interest to w^hich his in- 

 vested capital entitles him. To this we may add whatever 

 we consider to be a fair salary for an employee who 

 makes it possible for the corporation to save from $5,000 

 to $100,000 per annum. The question, which is a logical 

 consequence of the last statement is this: "What per- 



centage of the total saving wrought by a chemist should 

 be paid to him for his services?", and the answer to this 

 query is probably found in the law of suppl\- and demand. 

 Thus, if it is possible to secure the services of a carefully 

 trained man, twenty-five years of age, for the same 

 money that is paid to a good stenographer, this would be 

 equivalent to the statement that this university trained 

 chemical engineer was (in this world) entitled only to 

 the interest on his investment, but was impotent to earn 

 a fair salary over and above that sum. These thoughts 

 are an outcome of various inquiries which have been 

 made during the past year for rubber-works-chemi.sts 

 and the "Wages" which have been offered. In certain in- 

 stances, the corporations admitted that they had exhausted 

 their fund of information, and had therefore decided to 

 draw into their works an expert rubber chemist to sni)er- 

 vise the processes, examine the raw materials and turn 

 out products measuring up to definite .specific'itiims. 



The advent of the chemist in the rubber works took: 

 place but a short time ago ; in fact, it was not until 1900 

 that any notable number of firms manifested any interest 

 in the matter. After the university trained chemist has 

 invested time and money in studying methods of investi- 

 gation, the manufacturer is well justified in making an 

 ap])ro])riation which will insure the highest dividends. 



COMPETITION OR RESTRAINT, 



■"THERE has liccii for years an accepted dogma that "coin- 

 *■ petition is the life of trade." As it stands the phrase 

 means not only that which is fair, honorable and intelligent, but 

 dishonest, suicidal criminal competition as well. The truth is, 

 that competition is often a serious injury, and sometimes the 

 death of trade. In the rubber business one needs only to hark 

 back to the days of rubber car springs to have a conclusive 

 example of how keen competition may damage and destroy. 

 Unfair and foolish competition is always a curse, just as grasp- 

 ing and selfish "restraint of trade" is an evil. Whether either 

 can be wholly controlled, is a question yet to be answered. So 

 far, manufacturers who follow economical and original methods 

 of manufacture, and who possess the ability to market goods of 

 unvarying quality under registered brands, suffer the least, either 

 from competition or restraints. It would be a calamity if com- 

 petition were to cease out of the land, for it would mean the 

 paralysis of effort, the death of invention, while the abolition of 

 all trade restraints would result in industrial anarchy. 



Why sHoui.n anyone delight in calling a rubber-soled shoe a 

 "sneaker"? Possibly, when the term was first coined, if the 

 setting was right and the utterance timely, it was worth a laugh. 

 But its constant iteration has worn off all of its mirth producing 

 significance, and the word at present is neither cute slang nor 

 good English. It is descriptive, of course, if the wearer sneaks. 

 But it is not euphonic, elegant, nor in good taste. If it is per- 

 sisted in the dictionaries will in time be compelled to adopt it — 

 another stumbling block in the way of pure English. 



As A COAGULANT for the latex of Ficus dastica. Dr. O. v. 

 Faber, head of the Sugar-Laboratory in Soerabaja, Java, recom- 

 mends the following mixture: Cream of tartar, 3 per cent.; 

 formaldehyde, in the shape of formalin, 0.5 per cent. ; carbolic 

 acid, 0.5 per cent. : water, 96 per cent. The cost of a bottle of 

 the mixture is s;iid to aniotmt to but a few cents. 



