486 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



(Jink I. 1914. 



lea>l i.u.-,i;.U jiscomfort to himself. This method of placing 

 employes is supposed to be largely responsible for tlie fact that 

 witii a force of 7.500 men. not greatly larger than the number 

 employed last year, the company is producing nearly double the 



proihict turned out at that time. 



* * * 



A lew months ago, when General Blanco of the Mexican 

 Rebels was attacked by the Federals on an automobile trip from 

 Ensenada to Matanioras. bullets literally riddled the car and all 

 four pneumatic tires. The vital organs of the car were not 

 damaged, and the tires were quickly repaired. This matter 

 came to tlie attention of Capt. .Mfred Aloe, depot quartermaster 

 of the United States Army at Galveston, under whose super- 

 vision the United States automobiles are maintained at that 

 place, and so impressed him that he felt it advisable to change 

 from pneumatic to solid tires, thus obviating the danger of 



Hying bullets putting tires out of commission. 



* * * 



The Indianapolis Speedway record in 1911 was 74.59 miles 

 per hour, made by Ray Harroun. Dawson won in 1912 at a speed 

 of 78.72 miles per hour. The 1913 race was won by Jules Goux 

 in a heavy Peugeot No. 16 at an average speed of 75.93 miles 

 per hour. The preliminary tests of machines and lires which 

 have been made on the Speedway by the contestants indicate 



that the former records will this year be broken. 



* * * 



The balloon "Goodyear"' recently made its record altitude 

 tlight at Akron, reaching an altitude of 8,700 feet. 



H. P. Harris, an experienced aviator, lost his life at Silver 

 Lake May 3 while making a dip. One of the wings of the 

 biplane broke, evidently the material not being strong enough 

 to stand the immense strain occasioned by the change of tlight. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN BOSTON 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 

 *i'~r^\l'E. rubber business is good." "The rubber business is 



■*• rotten." These are the answers to your correspondent's 

 question, "How's trade?" The fact is that in nearly all lines 

 business continues somewhat conservative, and the man who 

 says that it is "rotten" is now complaining because his cus- 

 tomers, having stocked up, are waiting for a retail demand before 

 placing further orders ; while the man who declares that business 

 is excellent may be whistling to keep up his courage, just plain 

 — well — prevaricating. 



The above paragraph may sound pessimistic, iiut it is the con- 

 clusion arrived at from a more or less extensive canvass of the 

 trade in this city. The call for automobile tires naturally is good 

 at this season, and yet there are some complaints that it isn't 

 what it should be. This in part is laid to the backwardness of 

 the spring season, which has not only held back pleasure riding, 

 because of the cold, but has greatly interfered with the regular 

 spring road work in the suburban districts. 



The rubber clothing business has been unusually good for 

 many months, and now there is a lull, which is not unw-elcome 

 to the manufacturers who are behind in their orders. However, 

 salesmen are encountering a rather widespread indisposition on 

 the part of their customers to order largely at this time, hence 

 their report of quiet trade. Mechanicals are in continued steady, 

 but not heavy, demand. There is a manifest policy on the part 

 of many large industrial establishments to buy from hand to 

 month, and to rely on the mills or the distributing agencies to 

 carry stock, rather than stock up heavily as in the past. Drug- 

 gists' rubber goods manufacturers report some large orders. 

 The footwear people are away behind normal, and salesmen are 

 pushing customers hard to get detail orders. Those concerns 

 making tennis shoes, however, are working their forces over- 

 time, so good is the demand for this low priced style of foot- 

 wear. 



Speaking of footwear, the wonderful increase in the demand 

 for rubber soled leather shoes is a marvel of the trade. Rubber 

 soles are in demand in one-third to one-half of the shoe facto- 

 ries in the country. The consequence is a large increase in the 

 number of factories now turning out rubber soles. There have 

 Ijeen for some time quite a number of manufacturing concerns 

 that turned out a greater or smaller supply of rubber heels. 

 With hardly an exception these factories have added rubber 

 soles, with or without attached heels, to their production. Some 

 of them make good soles, which contain a decent proportion of 

 new rubber. Others arc using so much reclaimed rubber and 

 rul>l)er substitute that tliey can hardly be called rubber, except 

 by courtesy. Manufacturers who buy "rubber" heels at less than 

 four cents a pair, and soles at proportionate rates, will kill the 

 demand for rul)ber soled footwear, for such cheap stuff breaks 

 across the bend of the foot, and any one having such an ex- 

 perience is apt to judge all soles alike and go back to leather. 

 Rubber soled footwear has many real advantages, but good rub- 

 ber is necessary in its manufacture. 



* * * 



About the middle of last month an important "luncheon" was 

 held at the American House in this city, under the auspices of 

 the Chamber of Commerce, when "New England and the 

 Foreign Trade'' was the subject of discussion. The Secretary 

 of Commerce was the principal speaker, and ex-Mayor Fitzgerald 

 presided. As a result of this meeting a foreign trade expert 

 will be hired, who will acquaint manufacturers with foreign 

 methods, assist them in foreign selling campaigns, aid in bring- 

 ing foreign buyers to New England, and also in securing com- 

 petent foreign agents for manufacturers. To do this subscrip- 

 tions were solicited, and a large number of firms have already 

 subscribed One Hundred Dollars each year for three years, 

 while to this the Chamber of Commerce has agreed to subscribe 

 One Dollar for every Two Dollars raised by subscription. I 

 notice in the list of those thus subscribing the names of the 

 Boston Woven Hose Co. and Thomas A. Forsyth, president of 

 the Boston Belting Co. 



Two handsome pieces of rubber footwear advertising have 

 just been turned out by the A. W. Ellis Advertising Co. for 

 the Hubmark Rubber Co., of this city. They are of heavy 

 cardboard, so folded as to give six pages on each side, and on 

 one side wonderfully graphic representations of the various 

 boots and shoes made under this trade mark. These half-tone 

 engravings are embossed with such detail that every seam, 

 every overlay, every buckle, every lace and every label is brought 

 into relief; and this, with the color printing and the varnish, 

 makes these folders almost as good as the samples themselves, 

 as far as looks are concerned. This advertising house is doing 

 excellent work for the Hub-Mark rubbers, and this particular 

 department is under the direction of Chester J. Pike, whose 

 many years of experience in the rubber footwear business spe- 

 cially ht him for this work. 



* * * 



The sale of tlie going business of the Walpole Tire & Rubber 

 Co., which was advertised to take place at Walpole on May 11, 

 was not successful, because only one bid was offered, and that 

 was less than the upset price fixed by order of the court. This 

 upset price was $1,150,000, and the one bid received was $800,000, 

 this bid being made by a representative of the stockholders' com- 

 mittee. This auction offering being ineffective, the matter will 

 be again brought before the court on June 1 at 10 a. m., and 

 as under the law sale of the company's real estate must be 

 advertised once a w-eek for four weeks prior to sale, a sale 

 cannot be held before about July 1. Endeavors are being made 

 to allow sale to be effected w-ithout any limit as regards bids. There 

 is now some considerable unwillingness on the part of the stock- 

 holders to have a sale at this time, for the receivers are carrying 



