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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[March 1, 1914. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN BOSTON. 



By a Resident Correspondent. 



BOSTON is probably having its full share of what trade there 

 is going, and is proportionally busy. The business of vari- 

 ous lines of rubber manufacture is rather unequally divided ; 

 some producers of rubber goods are actively engaged, while 

 others could handle more business. The clothing makers are par- 

 ticularly busy, with orders ahead; and the waterproof fabric 

 makers are also running to large outputs. Some of the tire men 

 report good business, but others are not enthusiastic over present 

 conditions. The makers of hose and belting report trade good 

 on the former and only moderate on the latter lines. Drug- 

 gists' sundries are in good demand. 



The footwear manufacturers in this vicinity have not been 

 overburdened with orders, as the winter had been unusually 

 mild and snowless until the middle of last month. The severe 

 storms at that time started up the retail demand, but as most 

 distributors, both wholesale and retail, were well stocked, the 

 demand did not affect the manufacturers as much as they could 

 wish. However, it enabled them to diminish the stock of floor 

 goods holding in their warehouses. 



* * * 



Boston has a new mayor. The one who retired in January- 

 made for himself a w-ide reputation for tirelessness. He origin- 

 ated the phrase "Bigger, better, busier Boston.'' It is a handicap 

 to any man to succeed such a hustler. But the new mayor is 

 endeavoring to live up to the standard of his predecessor and 

 "to go him one better." and his slogan is "Boom Boston." There- 

 fore he is holding public meetings at which he appeals to busi- 

 ness men to contribute to a fund to bring industries to Boston, 

 by ways familiar to town-boomers. 



As this journal has no partisan interest in booming any par- 

 ticular city, the above facts would have no place in these columns 

 were it not for the fact that at one of the early meetings the 

 mayor stated that he had received a letter from a gentleman 

 well posted in the rubber business, who wrote that much of the 

 crude rubber used in the various rubber industries was shipped 

 from producing points in the far east and from South .Xmerica 

 to London and then reshipped to New York, and again to Bos- 

 ton. He believed there was a good reason for establishing a 

 sort of central receiving station in Boston for this commodity. 

 and for importing direct, thereby making a saving in commis- 

 sions and freight of fully five cents a pound ; advising that a 

 committee be appointed to investigate the situation and report. 

 At present writing no action has been taken on the matter. 

 * * * 



In the Sunday "Herald" of the issues of February 15 and 22 

 appeared long interviews with Dr. Hamilton Rice, of this city, 

 who has recently returned from the last of a series of expedi- 

 tions to the wildest part of South America — the great divide 

 which lies between the Amazon and the Orinoco River basins — 

 mainly for scientific research. The account of his travels in the 

 jungles, his trials and difficulties, and the indomitable spirit 

 with which he overcame them, makes excellent reading, espe- 

 cially for those who know more or less about the difficulties of 

 travel in the torrid wilderness and are posted on tropical vegeta- 

 tion, particularly rubber. 



On his journey he was greatly helped by members of a com- 

 munity of rubber gatherers at San Jose, on the river of that 

 name, at the juncture of the Guaviare River, who guided him 

 to Calamar. 45 miles south, where he met the agent of the Co- 

 lombian government, who had been sent there to investigate 

 the condition of the Indian rubber gatherers. Through him Dr. 

 Rice met Gregario Calderon, a pioneer in the rubber trade of 

 that region, and who at one time was wealthy, but whose for- 

 tune was said to be lost through the trickery of men with whom 

 he dealt. Calderon became his guide through the miles and 



miles of dense thicket — encountering fever, hunger, mutiny, but 

 pushing on until the headwaters of the .-\jaju river were dis- 

 covered and located, as well as the sources of several other 

 rivers. That expedition lasted an entire year, and only whetted 

 the doctor's appetite for adventure, for later he made another 

 expedition along the other rivers of that region, and had even 

 more startling adventures. However, he has returned safely, 

 having accomplished much for science, for which he has received 

 deserved recognition from the Royal Geographical Society and 

 several other scientific associations. He lays much of his success 

 to those engaged in rubber gathering in the wild regions he has 

 traversed. * * * 



When Maiden wants anything done the rubber men are called 

 on to help. Just now a committee is carrying on a campaign 

 against vice in that city. The committee in charge is under 

 the chairmanship of E. F. Bickford, for many years in charge of 

 the manufacturing of the Boston Rubber Shoe Co. So vigorous 

 has been the work of this committee that the Board of Trade at 

 one of its recent meetings declared that the city was being 

 harmed by the circulation of exaggerated stories, and a com- 

 mittee was appointed to investigate that phase of the question, 

 that committee including Walter E. Piper, superintendent of the 

 Sells factory of the Boston Rubber Shoe Co.. and ex-Mayor 

 George H. Richards, who, it will be remembered, was for many 

 years connected with that concern, during the life of Deacon 

 Converse. * * * 



For many purposes rubber cement is a necessity, and a sub- 

 stitute would be hard to find. But it has its disadvantages. One 

 of these is its inflammability. This cement is particularly useful 

 in the repairing of leather as well as rubber shoes. One day last 

 month H. Marcus, a retail shoe dealer, w-as using some cement 

 in patching a pair of shoes. He slipped on a parlor match, and 

 pouf! — he was instantly surrounded with flames from the vapor 

 from the cement. Altho he got out of the affair with slight 

 injury, the store was destroyed with a loss of $4,000, and had 

 it not been for a brick parti-wall, a moving picture theatre would 

 also have been a total loss. 



* * * 



The Knight Tire & Rubber Co., of Canton, Ohio, has opened a 

 branch at 153 Massachusetts avenue, under the management of 

 P. P. Parker, for the sale and distribution of Knight tires in 

 New England. This branch is reported as being equipped up 

 to the highest standard and as enjoying excellent trade. 



* * * 



Judge Dodge, in the United States District Court in this city, 

 recently sustained the indictment against Warren B. Wheeler, 

 Stillman Shaw and G. Alden Whitman, charging them with 

 fraudulent use of the mails in connection with sales of stock of 

 the North American Rubber Co., which were promoted through 

 Wheeler & Shaw. Incorporated. Wliitman acting as sales man- 

 ager. ^ ^ 



The Apsley Rubber Co., of Hudson, is about to place on the 

 market a new line of rubber boots and heavy overs — mainly 

 miners' and lumbermen's boots — under the brand of "Rock-Hill." 

 The company claims for this new line new compound, new con- 

 struction and new process, and that the result is a line of foot- 

 wear of remarkable wear resistance. For months these boots 

 have been undergoing severe tests, being worn under the most 

 adverse conditions, in mines, tunnel construction, in creameries, 

 cold storage w-arehouses, ice cream factories, garages and in 

 places paved with concrete ; and all tests seem to substantiate 

 the claim of extra wear, and to prove that the result of the 

 long series of experiments and research has been a type of 

 distinctly superior rubber footwear. 



Replete with information for rubber manufacturers — Mr 

 Pearson's "Crude Rubber and Compounding Ingredients." 



