282 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[-March 1, 1914. 



form of snow, as was the case a generation ago. If 

 snow storms come late they are very apt to come deep; 

 as an illustration of which may be cited the great 

 storm that swept the country during the second week 

 of February^, after several months of mild, autumnal, 

 snowless weather. 



The financial writers for the daily press, as is quite 

 natural to people of their calling, immediately began 

 to estimate, after this storm, just how much it signi- 

 fied to the rubber manufacturer — and some of them 

 comi)Uted that it meant a net profit to the United 

 States Rubber Co. of $1,000,000, or equivalent to 3 per 

 cent, on its common stock. Perhaps at first blush 

 this might seem like an extravagant assertion, but let 

 us see : 



The bulletin issued by the Weather Bureau for that 

 week showed that this snow storm covered practically 

 the whole northern half of the United States, from the 

 Atlantic to beyond the Rockies, with the exception of 

 a little diagonal strip through Kansas, Nebraska and 

 Wyoming, and the fall was anywhere from a film of 

 snow to a solid 40 inches. 



As the part of the country aiTected is the more pop- 

 ulous part, it is safe to say that over half the popula- 

 tion, or probably 50,000,000 people, were put in a 

 situation where rubber footwear was eminently desir- 

 able ; and it is a safe venture to estimate that at least 

 20 per cent, of that 50,000,000 people bought a new 

 pair of rubbers, in one form or another. That would 

 make 10,000,000 pairs. And as the snow in most places 

 was of unusual depth, so that ordinary light sandals 

 and even storm rubbers would hardly serve — at least 

 in the rural districts — it may be stated without fear of 

 exciting any active controversy, that an exceptionally 

 large number of arctics, gaiters and boots passed over 

 the counter. So that the average amount of money 

 spent for these rubbers would doubtless be at least 

 $1.50, making a snug total of $15,000,000. It probably 

 would be well within the bounds of reason to assume 

 that the manufacturers make 10 per cent., on an aver- 

 age, on their sales ; which would give the manufac- 

 turers a profit on that one storm of $1,500,000. Just 

 what proportion of this sum went into the till of any 

 particular company it would be difficult to ascertain 

 to a nicety, but it is undoubtedly safe to say that over 

 50 per cent, of it went into the coflfers of the big cor- 

 poration. So that the financial writers who estimated 

 that that storm meant a net profit of a million dollars 

 to the United States company, were probably not very 

 far wide of the mark. 



A GREAT LOSS TO BRAZIL. 



BRAZIL, and especially the Amazon country, have 

 .sustained a serious loss in the death — which oc- 

 curred February 18 — of Dr. Jacques Huber. His at- 

 tainments as a rubber botanist, his great activity as 

 director of the Para Botanical Gardens, and his untir- 

 ing efforts to advance the rubber interests of the Ama- 

 zon — which have been dwelt on more fully in a later 

 page of this issue — made him not only a recognized 

 authority in all questions pertaining to the develop- 

 ment of the vast rubber possibilities of the Amazon 

 country, but a constant inspiration to all those who, 

 like himself, ardently longed to see Brazil so shape, 

 organize and utilize her resources that she could hold 

 her own against the fiercest rivalry the East could 

 create. 



Tlio the greater part of his time was passed in Brazil, 

 and his chief labors performed there, and th<i his 

 death will fall most grievously upon his own country, 

 still he was such an international figure that his un- 

 timely taking off is a loss to the whole rubber world. 



A WISE MAN'S VIEW OF THE LABOR UNION. 



AN official of one of the local labor unions in New 

 England recently wrote a letter to President- 

 Emeritus Eliot, of Harvard, asking why he was op- 

 posed to labor unions and adding that he, himself, be- 

 lieved that these unions had added greatly to the happi- 

 ness of the working man by bringing about shorter hours, 

 higher wages and improved conditions. 



President Eliot replied that the unions had indeed 

 accomplished these three particular results — the shorten- 

 ing of hours, the raising of wages and the imjiroving of 

 many conditions. He said his criticism was not directed 

 against trade unionism, but against its methods, and he 

 gave four very substantial reasons for his opposition to 

 these methods, viz. : The habitual use on the part of ' 

 trade unions of violence against persons and property, to 

 gain their ends; second, the limiting of productiveness; 

 third, the demand for a unifomi wage without regard to 

 ability or skill, and fourth, disregard of contracts^ — both 

 those made by themselves and those made by their em- 

 ployers in their various business relations. The first 

 and last of these methods, he stated, "are grave viola- 

 tions of the universal moral sense," and the other two 

 "rob the working man of strong motives for self-im- 

 provement and make it probable that he will not do 

 any hearty, zealous, faithful work." 



