438 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[September i, 1910. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN SAN FRANCISCO. 



HV A RESIDENT CORRESPONDENT. 



U" ( (RTUN \ I ELY for the good nature of the local merchants, 

 * there is always something to look forward to and always 

 thing developing which promises to bring back the long-lost 

 period of prosperity. Just at present attention is being given to 

 the election of a governor and other state and county officers. 

 The primary election is supposed to practically determine who 

 the future officers will be, and when this matter is settled it is 

 hoped and believed that people can settle down to business 

 again. Another matter which is expected to bring a great 

 amount of business to this city and the coast is a proposed 

 world's fair. 



So artful have the politicians been by putting New Orleans into 

 competition with San Francisco that this city and state are 

 making gigantic efforts to make the fair certain, and although 

 the United States congress has so far asked that the city put up 

 at least $7,500,000, the fear that New Orleans may subscribe a 

 like amount has induced the present governor to plan to raise 

 another $5,000,000 by taxation, and the city proposes to raise 

 $5,000,000 by taxation, and as the people have already volun- 

 tarily subscribed the first amount required, there will be the 

 sum of $17,500,000 with which to make a show that will be worth 

 while. 



These two contingent events, taken in connection with the 

 favorable crop reports, the unusual productiveness of the mines 

 and oil wells, are enough to satisfy the most forlorn that con- 

 ditions are ripe for the development of a flourishing business. 



* * * 



In the rubber trade those merchants who have sufficient capital 

 are planning — probably ahead of their present incomes — to make 

 preparation for the big business which they are certain is coming. 

 None of the houses that can afford it is holding back in the mat- 

 ter of improvements simply because business just now may not 

 warrant it. Others who are not financially strong enough to be 

 reckless in expenditures are nevertheless working patiently and 

 securing results which under present conditions are satisfactory. 



The mechanical lines have had a turn at quiet business and 

 the druggists' sundries branch is more active than usual. Trade 

 throughout the interior sections of the coast territory is gen- 

 erally good, and if the trade of the larger cities were anywhere 

 near proportionately good there would be no complaint any- 

 where. 



* * * 



The Sanitary Plumbing Appliance Co. has recently been incor- 

 porated, with offices in the Sheldon building. The company has 

 been organized by ( '•. If. Brown as president and manager, and 

 R. O. Mead treasurer, and is making a business of handling 

 specialties, but principally a new sanitary toilet appliance invented 

 by Mr. Brown, and which promises to be a success. It is a 

 rubber gasket which is used to make the connection at the base 

 of a toilet with the sewer pipe, instead of using the putty con- 

 nection used heretofore The gasket is being manufactured by 

 the Phoenix Rubber Co. 



* * * 



The Pacific Coast Rubber Co., in furtherance of their plan to 

 carry everything in the rubber line, have made a new departure 

 and are now carrying a complete line of druggists' sundries, 

 manufactured by the same well-known firm which makes their 

 shoe line, the Goodyear's India Rubber 'dove Manufacturing Co. 

 "We have received our first shipments," said Mr. Winslow, the 

 manager, "and we are sending out three lines on the road this 

 week. We expect this department to work in nicely with our 

 other lines, and we will have everything in rubber before we 

 get through." 



The report from the Gutta Percha and Rubber Manufactur- 

 ing Co. is that business has been picking up right along, and now 

 can be said to be very good in the country. Trade is undoubt- 



edly quiet in San Francisco, but the indications point to a 

 renewal of acth itj there. 



The Boston Belting Co.'s branch, under Mr. A. T. Dunbar, is 

 gradually getting in its new stock and supplying orders. It has 

 been slow work getting the goods, but the firm has plenty of 

 room and a big stock coming so that they expect to soon be 

 actively in the running. 



* * * 



Mr. How irs gave the factory and office employes of the Bowers 

 Rubber Works a big picnic this month, this being the third 

 annual picnic given to them. He chartered a boat and took them 

 up the river to Isleton, and there were over 300 in all. This 

 establishment reports that business has been good for this season. 



11. C. Norton, manager of the American Rubber Manufactur- 

 ing Co., has returned from the springs, where he has been 

 recuperating from his recent illness. 



* * # 



Mr. C. E. Mathewson, manager of the Pacific Coast branch 

 of The Diamond Rubber Co. (Akron, Ohio), is away on an 

 automobile trip to the northernmost parts of the state, to spend 

 a month deer hunting. He is accompanied by Frank Fageol, the 

 Oakland agent for the "Rambler" automobile. Their destina- 

 tion is a big ranch owned by Mayor Mott, of Oakland. 



Mr. William J. Gorham, of the Gorham Rubber Co., and the 

 company's San Francisco manager, William Heckmann, are down 

 at Catalina on a month's hunting trip. Business is reported as 

 satisfactory at the big store. It is said that the Goodrich people 

 recently offered Mr. Gorham $500,000 for his business, but the 

 offer was refused. 



Mr. J. H. Cobb, of the New York Belting and Packing Co., 

 Limited, spent a few days in San Francisco this month and 

 expressed his appreciation of the good work being done by the 

 local branch. 



AMERICAN TRADE IN GERMANY. 



' I ' HE American Association of Commerce and Trade, at Ber- 

 4 (in, founded seven years ago by Americans, is run by 

 Americans on American lines for the purpose of promoting 

 American trade with Germany, and German trade with the United 

 States. This is a thoroughly American institution, organized 

 especially for assisting American business firms to start branches 

 in Germany. The organization has the most complete American 

 reading room in the empire, in which are filed 30 daily American 

 papers and 150 trade publications, all United States government 

 reports and statistics, directories of the leading American and 

 German cities, and the principal telegraph codes — all of which 

 are at the disposal of American business men and travelers 

 visiting Berlin. This association appeals to all American busi- 

 ness men intending to do business in Germany, whether tem- 

 porary or permanent. It deserves the support of American busi- 

 ness firms, as it can help them as perhaps no other institutior 

 or commercial agency can. 



THE WORKING QUALITIES OF FOSSIL FLOUR. 



' I '< ) Tin: F.inni) of the India Rubber Wiulu : Please have the 

 * rubber goods manufacturers inform the trade, through your 

 publication, what the difference is in the working qualities of 

 fossil flour, kieselgu or an infusorial earth; also tripolite and 

 diatomaceous earth. My reason for asking is to secure informa- 

 tion wherein one or the other of the fillers named are employed 

 to the disadvantage of the other, when in reality they are one 

 and the same character of goods. A merchant. 



New York, July 17, 1910. 



Indianapolis, the Financial News (London) hears, has eleven 

 automobile factories which have contracts for the production of 

 20,000 cars for the 1910 trade. 



