660 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[September 1, 1914. 



case of damage through unwarranted delay, the measure of 

 damage is the difference between the market value at the 

 point of destination on the day when delivery should have 

 been made and the market value on the day when it was 

 made. This whether the decline which may have occurred 

 was due to a market decline or a deterioration of the goods 



themselves. 



(Cofynght by Elton J. Buckley.) 



THE RUBBER DEALER'S PARADISE. 



Labrador — Where sealskins are gladly exchanged for rubber 

 boots and coats. 



By Fcli.v I. Koch. 



<<I NOTE in the papers that you are going to Labrador," a 



*■ friend wrote, "and I'm presuming to make a suggestion : 

 See if some store in your city is closing out an old stock of 

 lubber coats, or drop in on the shoe dealers and see if they 

 have a stock of rubber boots or shoes that they want to get 

 rid of — soiled, out of date, or possibly factory damaged. If they 

 have, buy it and take it along, and trade it in Labrador for furs. 

 I know you'll be thankful for the hint." 



My friend was a newspaper correspondent, whose work took 

 him all over the globe. I knew that he had already "done" Labra- 

 dor and that he knew whereof he affirmed. 



I hadn't been on that ten thousand miles of peninsula very 

 long without learning that he was right. Labrador is indeed the 

 cod-fisherman's happy hunting ground. Some freak of nature 

 has caused the old dame to send the cod fish to this bleak, inhos- 

 pitable shore in schools of such size as to pass all reckoning. The 

 cod from here go to supply the world, well nigh, and without 

 them strict church people in Europe and America would be sadly 

 put to it indeed throughout Lent. Wherefore thirty thousand odd 

 fishermen come, every year, from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia 

 to compete with the miserable "liveyeres" — as the settled in- 

 habitants are termed — in taking the cod. 



The Newfoundlanders live in temporary huts erected on the 

 shores, some of which are fairly well equipped. 



The simple native Labradorean, born on this coast, never leaves 

 it except to put to sea in a fishing smack. Back from the coast 

 rise the mountains, behind which is an unexplored region. In 



to cod fishing. He has never seen a horse, has never used a cart 

 or any form of wheeled vehicle. When he has enough fish they 

 are cured and barreled, and in the fall some "planter" will come 

 up to find him and buy what he has, or rather, barter (for 

 money is to little purpose there) ; and the man is content. 



In the winter he traps and gets beautiful skins, but he knows 

 little of values, so he devotes these to his family needs first, stor- 

 ing what is left till he gets a load, when he goes by dog-team 

 across the frozen fiords to the nearest Hudson Bay trading post. 

 There he arranges for barter, and always gets the worst of it. 

 He has many wants to be filled — powder, ammunition, guns. 

 He needs baking powder, spices, groceries — things that don't 

 abound in Labrador. He wants garments ; but most of all he 

 wants a good stout "slicker," as he calls a rubber coat — and he 

 eyes the wonderful rubber boots the company is prepared to 

 trade him. What he would sav to the regular fishing boot, with 



L.\nR.\D0R Fishermen" in Their Se.\l-Skix Boots. 



the winter the native traps a bit in this unknown country, but 

 never farther than points he can see from those coast mountains 

 as he crosses their ridge to come down on the landward side. 

 In the s;)ring he kills the seal on the ice; in the suiumer he takes 



L.\BR.-\DOR Children We.\r Se.\l-Skin Boots. 



the stifT lower leg and the pliable upper part, in which a man can 

 go to his waist in water and be dry. it is interesting to speculate. 



That no one has as yet come up here with a boat load of 

 rubber goods of substantial and serviceable description is a 

 wonder. Seal-skin coats, taken and cured as only a trapper can 

 cure them, would be nothing to the native compared with a rubber 

 coat. He knows how the waves dash over the punt when he 

 rides out to the cod-trap; he knows how rheumatism comes on, 

 as a result of years of such exposure, and he envies the happy 

 Newfoundlanders who have coats, hats and boots of rubber. Of 

 course he hasn't money, but he can barter. If you prefer fish, 

 which you can sell the "(ilantLr" or his agent, well and good. If 

 you want furs you can come to conclusions even quicker. He 

 knows furs are the more valuable, but he knows, too, that for 

 him they are easy to get. He knows that in the winter those 

 rubber boots would be extremely handy. He knows the supreme 

 comfort of that rubber coat ; and when the chance comes to get 

 one he takes it. He will trade what he has for it and believes 

 he has got by far the best of the bargain. 



Some day when 1 get time I will buy up all the second grade 

 rubber goods I can and set sail for Labrador. Until then, any 

 enterprising dealer is welcome to the suggestion. But perhaps 

 oven now some commercial adventurer is planning an invasion 



1 this rubber-man's paradise. Who knows? 



MANY AKRON-WILLIAMS TIRE REPAIR VULCANIZERS IN USE. 



The sales manager of the Williams Foundry & Machine 

 Co.. of .^kron, states that thirty tire manufacturers, including 

 practically all the leading tire makers in the United States, 

 are using the Akroii-Williams tire repair vulcanizers in their 

 factories, branches and service stations. The Ford Motor 

 Co. recently ordered fourteen .A-W plants f r their accessory 

 stations. 



