January i, 1910.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



131 



ing pictures were shown by Mr. Augustus Post, secretary of 

 the Aero Club of America, and one who has successfully 

 navigated the air in Europe and America for many years past. 

 After the moving pictures came a series of stereopticon 

 views showing the progress flight in balloons and aeroplanes 

 from the time of Montgolfier brothers up to the present. Mr. 

 Post described all of the types in a few well chosen words 

 and ended by a bit of personal experience describing his 

 marvelous escape from death in Berlin, when his balloon 

 burst and he and his party fell, wrecking the roof of a 

 house, but themselves escaping serious injury. This con- 

 cluded the evening's entertainment, and the Rubber Club's 

 committees, and particularly those upon whom most of the 

 work devolved — Messrs. Mayo, Appleton, Coe, and Stedman 

 — were very warmly congratulated by all present. 



GOOD CONDITION OF THE TRADE. 



A NUMBER of representative men in the india-rubber indus- 

 ■**■ try have been asked by The India Rubber World for an 

 expression of opinion on the condition of trade, and in regard 

 to prospects. Without exception those who have been inter- 

 viewed have regarded the situation favorably, as indicated by 

 the quotations which follow. 



$ $ $ 



John H. Cobb, president New York Belting and Packing Co., 

 Limited : "Business is very good and the conditions on all lines 

 throughout the country have improved materially over last year. 

 In some lines, particularly in belting, the improvement is hardly 

 as great as we had reason to anticipate. This is due largely 

 to the fact that many saw mills are not running. Taken as a 

 whole, however, the improvement for all kinds of mechanical 

 rubber goods is very considerable and the prospects for next 

 year are very satisfactory. Profits have been on a smaller per- 

 centage basis, owing to the great advance in rubber and in cotton 

 duck. The raw materials used in our business have never been 

 so high, and I do not see any chance for them to be lower very 

 soon. The tremendous demand for rubber, particularly for tires, 

 is likely to continue and keep up the price of rubber, while the 

 shortage of the cotton crop seems likely to keep up the price of 

 duck for another year. Fortunately our duck contracts are made 

 in November and a further advance will not hurt us immediately. 

 Our competitors in the belting trade are in no better condition 

 than the rubber manufacturers. The advance in leather and 

 leather belting has been even greater than in our product, and 

 of course cotton belting has advanced in line with duck. I do 

 not think that the advance in prices has had an adverse effect on 



the manufacturing business." 



* * * 



Rufus A. Brown, treasurer New York Rubber Co.: "We have 

 done a very good business ; much better than in 1908. The high 

 prices of rubber and of cotton duck have done much, however, 

 to curtail the profits of our business. We cannot advance the 

 prices of our product as rapidly as the prices of the raw materials 

 have been advanced. We had our contracts made for the mate- 

 rials for last year's manufacture on a much lower basis and so 

 we got through all right. Now we must contract for new sup- 

 plies on a high basis. It will necessitate considerable advance 

 in our prices. Everything is up — litharge, and other compound- 

 ing materials as well as rubber. These high prices must event- 

 ually limit business to some extent." 



* * * 



O. A. Barnard, manager J. H. Lane & Co. : "Trade has been 

 very good for the past year and the indications are for even 

 increased business next year. The tire people are all very busy, 

 and every branch of mechanical goods is booming. The advance 

 in prices cannot stop trade. The railroads cannot stop using air 

 brake hose on account of some advance in price, and people will 



not quit using automobile tires. For certain classes of goods 

 there is bound to be constant demand, no matter what the price 

 may be. The price of cotton is high and will continue to be 

 high. This year's crop was the smallest in 10 years and the 

 demand is greater than ever." 



if if if 



Max Loewenthal, treasurer U. S. Rubber Reclaiming Works : 

 "Our retail business has not quite been up to the normal of our 

 best years, but it has been a great increase over the previous 

 year and has been better than at any time since the beginning 

 of the times of depression. There has been a great increase in 

 activity, and the outlook for the next year is most promising. 

 There has been an especial development in the line of mechanical 

 goods and this increase we expect to increase. The high prices 

 for all classes of goods has to some extent curtailed sales, but 

 this has been felt most extensively by the retailers." 



if. it if. 



Arthur F. Townsend, president Manhattan Rubber Manufac- 

 turing Co. : "Business has been good for many months past and 

 is going to be even better in the future. Of course we suffer 

 from the increase in the cost of new material. Increases in this 

 line can never be followed exactly by fluctuations in the prices 

 of the finished product. We cannot change the price of our 

 goods to suit every fluctuation in the price of rubber and of 

 cotton duck. The result of this is that we must be content with 

 smaller profits and must learn to economize in our manufactur- 

 ing processes. Our cotton duck contracts, however, have been 

 made on a sliding scale, and this will help us to some extent." 



F. H. Appleton, of F. H. Appleton & Son, reclaimers of rub- 

 ber : "Business in general appears to be normal, though in 

 some branches of the rubber industry manufacturers are disposed 

 to limit their production to actual current wants of customers, 

 on account of the continued high cost of raw material. This is 

 true just now of rubber footwear, and of various lines of me- 

 chanical goods. The condition described, however, evidently does 

 not apply to the tire branch. Naturally the higher cost of crude 

 rubber has stimulated the demand for reclaimed rubber, which 

 from time to time comes into use in more classes of rubber 

 products, as improvements are made in the quality of reclaimed 

 rubber, and as compounders become more familiar with the pos- 

 sibilities of the use of reclaimed. But in those factories which 

 are limiting production, the demand for reclaimed is less active 

 than for some time in the past. The demand for the better 

 grades of reclaimed — some of which now sell as high as 50 or 

 60 cents per pound — has been better sustained than for lower 

 grades." 



William Hillman. manager of the Peerless Rubber Manu- 

 facturing Co. : "Business is booming, almost beyond control. 

 Trade is so heavy that we are running night and day in our 

 effort to catch up. There seems to be every prospect that it will 

 keep going after the first of the year, but I wish it would hold 

 up a bit and give us a breathing spell." 



* * * 



George Wies, president Eureka Fire Hose Manufacturing Co.: 

 "We have had a very prosperous year and there is every prospect 

 that the good work will keep up. We have just sold 30,000 feet 

 of 2^/2 inch 'Eureka' hose and that is good business. On Decem- 

 ber 2 we had a meeting of all our selling force and every one 

 of them reported that business in his section was improved and 

 promised good orders." 



A report is to hand of rubber secured from planted Hevea 

 trees in the Straits Settlements, at the age of 3^ years, which 

 in London, on October 6, was reported on as "fair immature 

 sheet, value gs. ol4d. [,= $2.20] per pound." From the experi- 

 mental tapping of 100 trees once it was estimated that the yield 

 was at the rate of ij4 pounds per tree per year. 



