Januarv I, 1914.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



201 



THE VIEWS OF MR. WILLIAM A. DE LONG. 



In an intcT\ic\v uitli a rvprcsfntativc of The Inui.s KuBniiR 

 World. Mr. William A. De Long, who spent almost his entire 

 life in the rubber business until his retirement several years 

 ago. summed up in a few words the principal reasons for the 

 present market conditions. Ills' statement is in substance as 

 follows : 



"A discussion of the question as to whether Singapore is 

 to be the world's future rubber market can only be theoretical. 

 The locations of tlio rubber markets of the future will necessarily 

 depend upon future conditions, the same as present conditions 

 control the present shipments of rubber. If we turn to Thk 

 Indi.\ Rubber World of almost any month, it will be seen that 

 the shipments of rubber from London to Xew York greatly ex- 

 ceed those from all other ports combined, including Hamburg. 

 Antwerp. Colombo. Havre, .■\mstcrdam and Singapore. 



"Singapore is a primary market and if rubber were free to 

 be shipped direct from that port to Xew York, it is plain to 

 be seen that there would be many advantages in so doing. 

 But the greater part of the eastern plantation rubbers are 

 financed in England and Europe and the owners of the planta- 

 tions are therefore often limited as to the disposal of their 

 rubber, by reason of contracts made during the financing of 

 the plantations. It is for this reason that most of the rublier 

 coming from Singapore and other primary ports is shipped to 

 European markets, where it is under the direction of the 

 financiers who control it. Tliis is, beyond doubt, not an ad- 

 vantageous method of getting the rubber to the dealer and the 

 consumer. Init those arc the conditions at present. 



".As to tlic future, it is jirobably not far amiss to predict that 

 it will not be long before plantation owners or European 

 financiers who control eastern plantation rubber will awaken 

 to tlie fact that it is more advantageous to dispose of tlieir 

 product direct from Singapore or other primary markets. 

 Syndicates will pro1)abIy be formed and agents established in 

 Singapore so that tlie rubber may lie shipped direct from plan- 

 tation to dealer and thence to tlie manufacturer." 



MR. FRANKLIN W. PITCHER CELEBRATES HIS 80th BIRTHDAY. 



Mr. Franklin W. Pitclier, president of tlie Kastliampton Rubber 

 Thread Co., long since located that fountain that Ponce de Leon 

 missed, for while he celebrated the eightieth anniversary of his 

 birth on last Christmas Day he is in reality about forty years old. 



PERSONAL MENTION. 



.\t tlie la.st meeting of directors of the Boston Woven Hose 

 Co.. at Boston, Massachusetts, Geo. E. Hall, general manager, 

 was elected to the vice-presidency of the company, his present 

 official title being vice-president and general manager. 



J. Haney. for the past three years associated with the Pitts- 

 burgh liranch of the United States Tire Co., has been transferred 

 to the company's Boston liranch. of which E. H. Kidder is 

 general manager. 



The directors of the Republic Rubber Co. of Te.xas, at a 

 recent meeting elected L. A. Watts, who has been for a number 

 of years connected with the branch at Chicago, president and 

 treasurer. The secretary of the Te.xas company, F. M. Randall, 

 is thoroughly familiar with the trade in that field, having long 

 lieen identified with the distribution of Republic tires in Texas 

 and the surrounding country. 



On January 1, Harry E. Field, a member of the sales force 

 of the Thos. B. Jefifery Co., of Kenosha, Wisconsin, is to sever 

 his connection with that company, in order that he may devote 

 his entire time to the business of the Kelly-Field Co. — thus 

 carrying out the arrangement entered into when this company 

 was formed, in August, 1912, to handle the distribution of the 

 tire and accessory output of the Lee Tire & Rubber Co. 



J. C. McDiarmid has been promoted to the management of the 

 Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. branch at Portland, Oregon, from 

 a position witli tlie same company at Seattle. Washington. 



E. S. Rickel. who for a number of years represented the 

 Diamond Ruliber Co.. has succeeded J. W. Cully as manager of 

 the Swinehart Clincher Tire & Rubber Co. of Detroit. Michigan. 



Fr.\NKL1X W. PiTCHtR. 



lint liis secret, as a matter of fact, is no secret at all. It is his 

 perennial, persistent, overflowing optimism — which is logical, for 

 who being born on Christmas Day would not be an optimist? 

 It may be that tliere is an additional explanation of his youth- 

 fulness in the fact that Mr. Pitclier has always been too busy to 

 grow old. 



Nothing could be more interesting than conversation with Mr. 

 Pitcher on the great industrial development of the eighty years 

 spanned by his life. He makes the statement — which at first 

 seems almost incredible but as a matter of fact is strictly true- 

 that in 1833. when he was born— down in Dover, Maine — the only 

 corporations in the United States were those interested in turn- 

 l>ikes and toll bridges. Reaping was done with a hand sickle; 

 and he still bears the scar of a sickle on the little finger of his 

 left hand, as a reminder of that fact. And all threshing was 

 done with a flail. It has been a wonderful procession of progress 

 during these eighty .\ears. antl Mr. Pitcher has been continuously 

 in it. 



He became associated with the rubber industry in 1882, when 

 he closed out his lumber interests in Wisconsin and invested in 

 the business of the Boston Elastic Falirics Co. When later this 

 company was liiinidated and the Revere Rubber Co. was formed, 

 it took its name from the fact that Mr. Pitcher, one of its 

 directors, lived in Revere. Since 1882 he has been continuously 

 and prominently identified with rubber manufacture, having been 

 for a number of years president of the Easthampton Rubber 

 Thread Co., at Easthampton, Massachusetts. One of the most 

 interesting remarks made by Mr. Pitcher when asked for some 

 review of his rubber career was his eulogy on a number of his 

 contemporaries. "T was very fortunate." he said, "in being asso- 

 ciated with some big-hearted, whole-souled, helpful men. I name 

 especially with reverence Mr. E. S. Converse, Mr. Geo. A. Alden 

 and Henry C. Morse. They were enough to save a city." 



The eightieth birthday party, given in his honor on Christmas 

 Day, was not an invitation affair but simply an "open house," 

 and it was attended by a great number of people, including not 

 only his neighbors in Easthampton but many of his business 

 associates from a considerable distance. And of all the number 

 there. Mr. Pitcher was one of the least old. 



