December 1, 1913.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



111 



WHY LEATHER SHOES? 



HEKK is anulhcr axi(jin to be added to the collection 

 of the ages : A man's civilization is in inverse 

 ratio to the amount of skin (or leather) clothing he 

 wears. 



Now see if that isn't so. The aborigine envelops him- 

 self in skins. That is (|uite natural. As long as he is 

 in pursuit of game for the pur])ose of dining on its car- 

 cass, \\h\ not utilize its skin for clothing? As he pro- 

 gresses on the upward scale he learns the art of tanning 

 and converts the skin into leather. .As he becomes more 

 civilized he substitutes garments of wool and cotton but 

 still clings to skin caps an<l Icalher boots. When he 

 yields to primitive impulses and goes on the hunt be i)uts 

 on a leather jacket; and when he turns cowboy and 

 rounds up the wild steers on the western plains he encases 

 himself in leather l)recches. I'.ul as he gets fiunher :m<l 

 fmllicr auay from savagery he discards all ie;niier 

 clothing except shoes. And wliy should he cling to leather 

 shoes ? 



That is just what society is asking itself. Tradition 

 dies hard. It has as iiuich \italit\' as a bad habit. .Men 

 kept on wearing long-legged boots two and three genera- 

 tions after they had left the woods and the farms and 

 gone into stores and office;. The leather shoe is a tradi- 

 tion, but it is a tradition that is getting harder knocks 

 with each summer. The canvas shoe with rubl)er sole is 

 doing it. And why shouldn't it? How much more com- 

 fortable, appropriate and sensible for summer wear is a 

 light, cool canvas shoe with a light, buoyant rubber sole, 

 than hot leather with stitif soles and jarring heels! The 

 first canvas shoes manufactured were made for children. 

 and especially for boys, and the reason of their appear- 

 ance was largely one of economy. Then they were taken 

 up, because of their suppleness and pliability, by those 

 who engaged in athletic sports. And soon they com- 

 mended themselves, by reason of their comfort, to the 

 great body of citizens, irrespective of age and also irre- 

 spective of whether or not they ever attempted tennis or 

 devoted their energies to golf. The canvas shoe appears 

 earlier each spring and remains later in the fall. And 

 why shouldn't it remain through the entire twelve 

 months? Why seize the unoffending calf and do it to 

 death to cover the human foot, when the cotton plant and 

 the rubber tree can do it better? 



tressed over the continuous loss of life at sea, and he 

 applied himself day and night to devising the best sort 

 of rubber life preserver. But rubber has recently been 

 applied to a life-saving service that probably never oc- 

 curred to Goodyear, even in the wildest flight of his 

 imagination. Not only die medical profession, but the 

 pu!)lic at large has been greatly exercised of late over 

 the number of fatalities from the accidental taking of 

 bi-chloride of mercury tablets, and many people have 

 busied themselves in the attempt to di.scover the best 

 |)reventive. .\ llrooklyn doctor and a New "\'(jrk chem- 

 ist have put their heads together and devised a rubber 

 coating for the tablet, thick enough to withstand the acids 

 and digestive juices of the stomach. To prove that thev 

 have succeeded in their quest the chemist recentlv 

 .swallowed a five-grain tablet so prepared and retained 

 it for tv.enty-four hours without any injurious effects. 

 L nless some better preventive is discovered it is quite 

 likely that within a short time all bi-chloride of mercurv 

 tablets when sold over the counter will be equi])ped with 

 a rubber coat impervious to stomachic influences. 



The one gre.-\t possibility in the utiliz.vtion of 

 RUBBER that appealed most to Charles Goodyear was its 

 life-saving potentialities. He was inexpressibly dis- 



Liiu.\(;() ii.\s recextlv p.vs.sed .\n ordinance requik- 

 i.xt; that all motor trucks. and delivery wagons be fitted 

 with fenders within ninety days from the passing 

 of the measure. It is not taken into consideration, how- 

 ever, what those concerns which will be imable to obtain 

 suitable fenders in the allotted time are to do. The motor 

 vehicle industry has been searching for a proj)er fender 

 for the past two or three years, but the ideal device for 

 this purpose has not yet appeared. The ordinance reads 

 as follows ; 



"It shall be imlawful for any person, firm or corpora- 

 tion to use and operate within the city of Chicago any 

 motor car or truck for the purpose of conveying therein 

 bundles, parcels, baggage, merchandise or other similar 

 articles unless said car or truck is provided with a fender, 

 as in the case of street cars operated and used within said 

 city, of such design as may be approved by the Board of 

 Inspectors of Public Vehicles." 



It is plain to be seen that it will be physicalls impos- 

 sible to comply with the ordinance within the allotted 

 time, since few such devices as those required have been 

 designed and put into actual practice. A few of those 

 fenders and bumpers which have been brought out have 

 embodied rubber as a part of their construction, and if 

 the above ordinance is to be complied with there is no 

 reason why the rul)ber industry should not contribute its 

 share toward the developnient of a satisfactory device. 

 But even if a suitable fender should be introduced, it 

 would be at least a year before it could be placed on the 

 irarkct in quantities sufficient to supply the demand. 



