640 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[September 1. 1914. 



THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SOLDIER'S SHOE. 



A N unusual competition, interesting at any time but 

 ■* ^ under present conditions of exceptional impor- 

 tance, has just come to a close. A little over a year ago 

 the Quartermaster's Department of the United States 

 Army determined if possible to discover the best foot- 

 wear human ingenuity could devise for the soldier. The 

 officials invited the manufacturers to submit two pairs 

 of shoes each which should be best adapted li> arni)- use. 

 Two hundred and forty-two pairs of shoes were entered 

 in the competition. 



In the opinion of military experts, the most impor- 

 tant article of a soldier's equi])ment, next to his gun, is 

 his shoes — a fact which it needs no particular argument 

 to prove. The greatest pains were taken to ascertain 

 the proper requirements of a marching shoe. Innumer- 

 able X-ray photographs were taken of the anatomy of 

 the foot before, during and after marching, and after 

 months of scientific and most painstaking investigation 

 the award for the best army shoe was made and con- 

 tracts were given two manufacturers w"hose shoes 

 offered in competition appeared best to comply with the 

 stipulations. As a result of this thoroughgoing method 

 it is asserted with great confidence by the experts of 

 the Quartermaster's Department that the soldiers of the 

 United States Army will be the best shod in the world. 



This matter is of interest to the rubber trade, as rub- 

 ber footwear will naturally follow the lines prescribed 

 for leather footwear. As a matter of fact, the govern- 

 ment on giving a contract either to the manufacturer 

 of leather footwear or the manufacturer of rubber foot- 

 wear supplies its own lasts, so that whether the foot- 

 wear is leather or rubber it necessarily follows the lines 

 which the government requires. The contracts for rub- 

 ber footwear for army use are of course small as com- 

 pared with those that go to the makers of leather shoes, 

 but still they are large enough to be of interest to the 

 rubber footwear manufacturers. In normal times the 

 standing army requires each year about seventeen 

 thousand pairs of two-buckle Arctics and two or three 

 thousand pairs of boots, mostly of the ''Storm King" 

 variety. The navy uses about ten thousand pairs of 

 rubber boots per year and has lately discovered the 

 suitability of the tennis shoe for life on shipboard and 

 orders annually about twenty-five thousand pairs of these 

 very light rubber-soled shoes. In addition to the quanti- 

 ties already mentioned, the marines require about twelve 

 hundred pairs of boots and Arctics during the }ear. It 



will be seen that these are not extremely large figures, 

 but still no rubber footwear manufacturer is disposed 

 to turn a deaf ear to a government contract. 



THE POSSIBILITIES OF THE MOTORCYCLE. 



' I 'Iil-J\!'. lia> been a tendency to look u])on the motor 

 ■*• cycle as a plaything, cliiedy characterized by the 

 amount of noise it could emit, but it is beginning to be 

 appreciated that this obstreperous vehicle has vast and 

 various possibilities of utility. 



To illustrate, the luiglish postal authorities have 

 found after much experimentation that the rural carrier 

 equipped with a motor with side car attachment can de- 

 liver two mails where the horse delivers only one, and 

 at one-half the expense. The free rural delivery sys- 

 tem of the United States covers over 1,100,000 miles of 

 highway. If in this great system the faithful but plod- 

 ding horse could be eliminated and the fleet motorcycle 

 take his place, the economy in time, not to mention the 

 saving in provisioning, would make a tremendous ag- 

 gregate. 



The possibilities of the two-wheeled motor in war — 

 discussed theoretically for some time past — is likely be- 

 fore this European upheaval is quieted to be given a: 

 very thorough test. A few companies of expert motor- 

 cyclists equipped with machine guns and trained in all 

 the arts of modern war could make a swift descent upon 

 the enemy and deal a blow out of all proportion to the 

 number of men involved. 



But probably the two-wheeled motor will display its 

 greatest efficiency and utility as an adjunct of the fire 

 departments, especially in smaller places where the 

 maintenance of an extensive equipment would be too 

 burdensome. Practically every fire starts in a small 

 way. The most disastrous conflagrations could have 

 been stopped with small damage if the means had been 

 at hand immediately. The experienced fireman, with 

 axe and chemical extinguisher, could on a motor reach 

 the spot so quickly as often to snuff out the blaze at the 

 very start. It will be remarkable if the motorcycle does 

 not play an important part in the fire equipment of 

 .\merican cities and towns in the near future. 



Elbert EIubbard s.vys that Dr. B. F. Goodrich was 

 the inventor of the pneuinatic tire. The editor of this 

 paper knew Dr. Goodrich fairly well, and had from his 

 own lips the story of his life, but no ^uch claim was then 

 made. If there is any truth in the story proofs should be 

 ottered, ti;at due crerlit be given. Otherwise it will lie 

 set down as merely another Hubbardesque fancy. 



