March I, 1910.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



203 



Mr. Rider's Seventy-fifth Birthday. 



THE seventy-fifth birthday of Mr. John P. Rider, president 

 of the New York Rubber Co., was celebrated at his home 

 on "Spy Hill," Fishkill-on-the-Hudson, on the evening 

 of January 28, at which time he gave a dinner to a number of 

 gentlemen prominent in business or the professions in Dutchess 

 county, New York, in which county he was born and has spent 

 the greater part of his life. Mr. Rider is one of the leading 

 citizens of that region, and no less active and progressive than 

 when at half his present age. Indeed, it is said that, at the age 

 of forty, he was disposed for a while to retire from business, 

 in the belief that he had little more time to live. 



Mr. Rider, connected with the New York Rubber Co. for 

 nearly half a century, and for most of the time in an official 

 capacity, became its president after the death of Mr. William 

 H. Acken, in 1906, his position before that having been, for 

 many years, vice-president. Similarly he was promoted last 

 year to the presidency of the Matteawan National Bank, of 

 which he had long been vice-president, on account of a vacancy 

 having been caused by death. 



At the dinner given by Mr. Rider the 

 table was decorated by a beautiful vase 

 containing 75 Jacqueminot roses, which 

 had been presented in honor of the oc- 

 casion, and by trailing smilax. Another 

 present much appreciated by the host was 

 a massive table ornament in silver from 

 the New York offices of the rubber com- 

 pany. There were many other gifts, and 

 numerous congratulations by telegraph. 

 One of the guests. Professor De Garmo, 

 read a poem — "A Greeting. To my friend 

 John P. Rider, on his Seventy-fifth Birth- 

 day" — which was much appreciated by 

 host and guests alike. 



The guests were Dr. Robert Lamb, 

 superintendent of the State asylum at 

 Matteawan; Ralph S. Tompkins, Judge 

 Samuel K. Phillips, Gustavus A. Schra- 

 der, James G. Meyer, Professor James 

 M. DeGarmo, Dr. Keith Sears, E. Lakin 

 Tompkins, Sylvanus M. Davidson, John 

 Place, Henry Montgomery, Dr. Amos T. 

 Baker, Rev. George A. Green, A. Mont- 

 gomery, Jr., and David Graham. 



John P. Rider was in his twenty-ninth 

 year when, on October 25, 1863. he became connected with the 

 New York Rubber Co., through a suggestion by Johnson Letson, 

 one of the founders of the New Brunswick Rubber Co., in New 

 Jersey, in 1850, and long president of the same. John Acken. 

 who was also an incorporator of the New Brunswick Rubber 

 Co., was the father of the late William H. Acken, so long presi- 

 dent of the New York Rubber Co., and grandfather of John 

 Acken, now first vice-president. William H. Acken, who married 

 a daughter of Mr. Letson, was introduced to the New York 

 Rubber Co. and became its treasurer two years later at the 

 solicitation of Mr. Rider, and he and Mr. Rider were thereafter 

 associated in business for 43 years. Long continued service by 

 the officers and staff has been characteristic of the New York 

 Rubber Co., but Mr. Rider seems likely to exceed any past 

 record in that company. 



Mr. Rider was elected secretary of the company in 1864, since 

 which time he has continuously filled an official position with it. 

 For twenty years after becoming connected with the company he 

 resided in New York city, since which time he has made his home 



John P. 



President New Y 



up the Hudson, near the company's factory, at Matteawan, 

 New York. 



On becoming connected with the rubber industry Mr. Rider 

 found himself a contemporary of most of its prominent founders. 

 The company was incorporated in 185 1 to acquire and work cer- 

 tain licenses under Goodyear's patent. Two of the charter 

 members — original licensees — were still connected with the com- 

 pany : John Greacen, Jr., as president, and Benjamin Franklin 

 Lee, as treasurer and manager. Charles Goodyear was no longer 

 alive, but his brother, Henry B. Goodyear, who had worked with 

 him, survived, and Mr. Rider, in a recent conversation with an 

 India Rubber World man, quoted the latter with relation to the 

 earlier vulcanization experiments. As is well known, the work 

 of the Goodyears led to important results quite apart from what 

 they had set out to accomplish, and this led Mr. Rider to remark : 

 "I have been going to school in rubber all these years, and am 

 not yet at the end of the course. I haven't got my degree yet. 

 There is something new coming up in the industry all the time." 

 Among the newer developments Mr. Rider mentioned the 

 changing regime in the production of 

 crude rubber, and evinced an interest in 

 the Rubber Congress at Manaos, a 

 modern city where stood only an Indian 

 village when Mr. Rider first engaged in 

 business. The place had not then become 

 known in a connection with rubber. 



An interesting feature in the interview 

 with Mr. Rider came when he was asked 

 for a few details regarding his connection 

 with the rubber company. 



"Why you have it in The India Rubber 

 World," he said ; and it was true. Back 

 in 1893, in the issue for November 15 

 (page 55) was the article referred to — 

 an account of the average long service of 

 the company's staff, and likewise the 

 effect upon the fortunes of the company 

 of such devoted and uninterrupted service. 

 In view of Mr. Rider's having been 

 connected continuously with the manufac- 

 ture of india-rubber goods in the United 

 States longer than any one else now 

 j^ IDER living, he may appropriately be termed 



ork Rubber Co. " the dean of the industry." 



* * * 



At the annual meeting of the shareholders of the New York 

 Rubber Co., held in the offices of the company in New York city, 

 January 25, the following were elected trustees for the ensuing 

 year : John P. Rider, A. Montgomery, Jr., John Acken, Rufus A. 

 Brown, William H. L. Lee, Edward S. Woodward and Henry 

 Montgomery. The trustees later elected officers as follows." 



President — John P. Rider. 



Vice-President and Treasurer — John Acken. 



Second Vice-President and Secretary — Henry Montgomery. 



The Mr. Lee mentioned in the list of trustees is a son of one 

 ■ if the original incorporators of the company. 



The use of flake graphite for lubricating the inner surface of 

 tire covers is recommended by William Hinds in The Horseless 

 Age. After a year's use he writes that he considers it so far 

 superior to talc that the latter does not enter into competition 

 with it. Mr. Hinds says : "Flake graphite will adhere to an 

 inner tube for at least a year, whether the tube be carried loose 

 in the car cr in use in a casing." 



