April 1, 1914. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



339 



feet of this new departure, not only on industrj' gener- 

 ally hut on the ])articular iiuluslry involved. 



It is quite possible, however, to help employes with- 

 out doubling their pay. The best help that can be ex- 

 tended to them is to widen their horizon and increase 

 their efficiency. That education is to be preferred to 

 money in luuul i.s ])rove<l liy tlie groat numher of thriv- 

 ing institutions of learning all over this country and 

 the vast sums in the aggregate expended by fond par- 

 ents to secure for their children what these institu- 

 tions have to pflfer. To give employes a chance to ed- 

 ucate themselves is, therefore, quite as great a gift, if 

 not an even more valuable one. than to give them an 

 increase of pay. An item in the news columns of our 

 March number spoke of a ruhlier manufacturing com- 

 pany in New Jersey that is pre])aring an auditorium in 

 which its employes, and particularly the younger peo- 

 ple, both boys and girls, can meet tw(j evenings in the 

 week to get the benefit of illustrated lectures covering 

 the various departments of the industry with wliich the\ 

 are connected. Now here is a helpful service, as it must 

 necessarily broaden the outlook of these young workers 

 and give them some idea of the relationship between the 

 particular piece of work they are doing and the whole 

 industry of which it is a part. 



Perhaps someone may raise the objection that to 

 give a workman instruction beyond the jjarticular line 

 of work that he is called upon to do is to make him dis- 

 contented with his present task and fill him with an 

 ambition to do something else, something better and 

 more remunerative. But that is no objection. Every 

 workman should be permitted to push up as high as he 

 can. It is always easier to fill the lower positions than 

 the higher ones. Besides, quite ai)art from the manu- 

 facturer's own personal interest, it is his duty as a good 

 citizen to encourage all those in his employ to become 

 as useful as possible. Broadly viewed, it seems quite 

 reasonable to ask if it is not really a greater benefaction 

 to open wide to the workingman the door of opportun- 

 ity than it is to give him immediate and exceiHional 

 access to the till. 



THE ANNUAL SHOW LOSING FAVOR. 



A FTER the recent automobile show in Manchester, 

 •* * England, a vote was taken by the manufacturers 

 and traders as to whether it should be held again next 

 year. A general ballot of exhibitors showed 413 against 

 its repetition to 220 for it, while a vote of the manufac- 



turers was 42 against and 14 in favor of another show. 

 It will be recalled that at the time of the automobile show 

 in New York last January most of the large tire manu- 

 facturers decided to abstain from participation, on the 

 ground that the results were not commensurate with the 

 outlay, and on the further ground that these annual func- 

 tions cause a considerable disturbance of the regular 

 routine of business. 



Industrial expositions held from time to time to show 

 the progress made in any line of manufacturing activity 

 are undoubtedly desirable, as they are instructive, serve to 

 increase the enthusiasm of those connected w^ith that par- 

 ticular industry and excite interest in it among people 

 generally. Expositions of this sort are without doubt 

 profitable to the trade, but the regular annual show — pro- 

 moted largely as a vehicle of advertising — is evidently 

 losing favor on both sides of the water. 



THE LATEST EXPLOIT OF INVENTIVE GENIUS. 



AY/E Americans are rather fond of boasting, in our 

 modest way, of our national genius for invention; 

 and this contention seems to be fairly well established by 

 the great number of patents — now reaching considerably 

 over a million — that have been issued by our patent 

 office. As one result of this great multiplicity of original 

 devices we pay, ordinarily, very slight attention to new 

 inventions, unless they are of an epochal character — as, 

 for instance, wireless telegraphy and the much feared 

 dictagraph. 



But here comes an invention that is bound to command 

 attention. Some humanitarian has devoted a great deal 

 of thought to the unhapjiy condition of the people who 

 ride on motor cars, who, in his opinion, between the elec- 

 trical mechanism of the car and its continual vibration, 

 and the fact that it is completely insulated by its rubber 

 tires, are liable to become surcharged with electrical 

 forces, to the serious undoing of their nervous systems. 

 To remedy this disquieting situation, so menacing to our 

 national health, he has invented a kind of trailer reaching 

 from the body of the car to the earth, which conducts 

 away the electrical currents as fast as they are generated, 

 so that the motorists go unscathed. 



This new invention will doubtless prove a great boon, 

 and all motoring mankind will rise up and bless the in- 

 ventor, but it is susceptible of one improvement. There 

 should be an additional appliance— a sort of side wire — to 

 convey to the absorbing and purifying earth the usual 

 language of the natural man who. far from home and 

 without a spare tire, encounters a blow-out. 



