June i, 1910.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



315 



The United States Rubber Co.'s Best Year. 



Till, eighteenth annual meeting of shareholders of the United 

 States Rubber Co., incorporated under the laws of New 

 Jersey, was held at the registered offices of the com- 

 pany in that State, at New Brunswick, on May 17. The opera- 

 te ns of the company during the last business year and its con- 

 dition at the close of the year are indicated in the annual reports 

 of officers, as read and approved, and which are presented here: 



PRESIDENT COLT'S REPORT. 



To the Stockholders of the United States Rubber Co. : 

 The past year on the whole has been the most prosperous in the 

 history of the company. The sales of merchandise by the United 

 States Rubber Co. and its subsidiary companies, as also by the 

 Rubber Goods Manufacturing Co. and the Canadian Consolidated 

 Rubber Co., Limited, were larger than in any previous year, and 

 the net profits likewise were greater. 



The report of the treasurer appended hereto gives the consoli- 

 dated general balance sheet and the consolidated income state- 

 ment of the United States Rubber Co. for the fiscal year ending 

 March 31, 1910. 



The operations of the Rubber Goods Manufacturing Co., the 

 Canadian Consolidated Rubber Co., Limited, and the General 

 Rubber Co. are not included in the treasurer's report, but only 

 the dividends derived from the United States Rubber Co.'s 

 stock interest therein. The share of the undivided earnings of 

 these companies for the year which appertains to such stock in- 

 terest amounts to approximately $1,700,000. 



The increase in "Property and Plants" of about $8,000,000 

 shown in the treasurer's report represents the investment in the 

 Revere Rubber Co. and the total investment in the Canadian Con- 

 solidated Rubber Co., Limited. 



VOLUME OF BUSINESS. 



The sales of the company for the year were $38,711,051.43 as 

 against $31,889,351.34 the previous year. Part of this increase, 

 however, is accounted for by the higher selling prices which the 

 company was compelled to establish owing to the higher cost of 

 crude rubber and other materials. 



The past winter was exceedingly favorable to the sale of rub- 

 ber footwear and clothing. This is indicated not only by the 

 increased volume of sales, but by the further fact that the stocks 

 of goods in the hands of retailers, jobbers and mill warehouses 

 have beeen materially reduced and in the aggregate are smaller 

 than for many years past. 



As against $4,507,655.39, the net profits for the year ending 

 March 31, 1909, those for the present year are $5,535,163.15, this 

 net profit being after setting up $500,000 as a "Reserve for Con- 

 tingencies." Should we add to these net profits the company's 

 share of the undivided profits of the companies in which it is a 

 stockholder, which are not included in the consolidated statement, 

 the profits for the year would be about $7,235,000. 



It will be observed by reference to the treasurer's report that 

 all interest charges, including coupons on the $19,500,000 funded 

 debt, are deducted before this net profit is arrived at. 



EXPORT BUSINESS. 



The export business of the company was larger than in any 

 previous year. The several foreign agencies for our standard 

 brands are now established on a substantial basis, and we look 

 for a steady growth of this branch of our business. 



ECONOMY OF CONSOLIDATION. 



Further progress has been made during the year toward con- 



solidation of manufacturing with the view of producing goods 

 with greater efficiency and economy; and other moves of this 

 nature are now in contemplation, including the utilizing of one 

 of our mills, not now in operation, for the growing business of 

 the recently acquired Revere Rubber Co. 



RUBBER GOODS MANUFACTURING CO. AND AUTOMOBILE TIRES. 



The sales of the Rubber Goods Manufacturing Co. for the 

 year ending December 31, 1909, were $25,629,592.71, as against 

 $18,491,987.90 the previous year — the larger part of this increase 

 being in automobile tires. The product of the Revere Rubber 

 Co. amounted last year to about $6,000,000. The brands of tires 

 made by the Rubber Goods company are the "Hartford," "Hart- 

 ford-Dunlop," "Morgan & Wright," and "G & J". The Revere 

 company manufactures the "Continental" brand. Judging from 

 the past, the growth of the automobile tire business will be of 

 momentous importance in the future, and the Rubber Goods and 

 Revere companies are well equipped to maintain their share of 

 the tire business under the above standard brands. 



CRUDE RUBBER. 



There probably has been no period since rubber became an 

 article of general and important use (following the discovery of 

 its vulcanization by Charles Goodyear in 1838), when it has been 

 so much talked of on both sides of the Atlantic as during the 

 past year. The causes of this are the unprecedentedly high price 

 of the article (fine Para and Ceylon rubber having reached 

 about $3 a pound as against a normal price of about $1 a pound), 

 and the formation of numerous companies, chiefly in London, 

 to operate plantations in Ceylon, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and the 

 Malay peninsula. The profits of those plantations that are in 

 bearing are very great — the market price of the rubber at the 

 present time being eight to ten times the cost of production there, 

 the Brazilian product now selling here for at least three times 

 its cost of production. Though undoubtedly in some instances 

 speculation in the securities of these companies has enhanced the 

 price of their shares beyond reason, the future nevertheless prom- 

 ises, in the absence of some unforeseen calamity, good returns 

 from investments made for the cultivation of the rubber tree in 

 the Far East, even when rubber shall have returned to normal 

 prices, which it will undoubtedly do when production shall have 

 overtaken the consumption of the article. With almost unlimited 

 forests of native rubber trees in Brazil and other tropical coun- 

 tries and an almost unlimited area in the Far East, upon which 

 the rubber tree can be successfully cultivated, it would seem 

 that rubber cannot be maintained indefinitely at a price from 

 three to ten times the cost of production. 



COST OF MANUFACTURE AS COMPARED WITH PRICE OF CRUDE RUBBER. 



The subjects which are receiving most serious consideration by 

 the directors and officers of the United States Rubber Co. are 

 the present condition of the market for crude rubber, and the 

 adequate provision for the needs of this company. Fortunately, 

 it has obtained control, through the General Rubber Co., of a 

 large stock of crude rubber, acquired at prices which enable it 

 with some profit to maintain its standard of quality and to meet 

 the demands of its customers, though it has recently been com- 

 pelled to advance prices somewhat. 



The wisdom of our establishing our own houses in Para, 

 Manaos, London, and Liverpool, which was done a few years 

 ago, is manifest, and during the past year we have given much 

 attention to every phase of the problem of bettering the con- 

 ditions under which supplies of crude rubber are obtained. In 

 this work special attention has been given to the initiation of 

 plans for ourselves producing both in the Far East and in 



