'16 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



JiLV 1, 1921 



balance that the chances are that the golden flood will 

 continue this way for a long time to come. Desirable 

 indeed as is the great influx of yellow metal, and flatter- 

 ing as it is to our national pride to be heralded as the 

 earth's greatest creditor — owing five billions before the 

 war and now being owed fifteen billions — the fact must 

 not be overlooked that a nation, like an individual, may 

 even be embarrassed with ric)ies. Nor must we forget 

 that in becoming the world's chief creditor we have as- 

 sumed obligations that must be discharged if we are to 

 prosper and if our debtors abroad are to have the means 

 for liquidating the claims we hold against them. 



We are going to finance Europe. We may be slow 

 about starting, but we are going to do it nevertheless. We 

 shall have to do it in self-protection, or else lose much 

 of the immense foreign trade that cost us such a great ef- 

 fort to build up. Long-term credits must be provided to 

 promote imports and exports; and the sooner the war- 

 spent Europeans get such assistance, the sooner will 

 American manufacturers experience a marked improve- 

 ment in their overseas commerce. Someone must start 

 the ball rolling, just as in the case of the tire-makers. For 

 months they realized that the time was ripe for a re- 

 duction in the prices of tires ; they knew that buyers were 

 holding ofif because they thought prices were too high ; 

 but each tire-maker was waiting for the other to make a 

 move. Finally one started and others followed. 



Perhaps it would have been better for both sides anfl 

 for business generally had the price-shading taken place 

 before ; but the "buyers' strike" has been fairly well 

 broken and that is an achievement at any rate. So, toe, 

 may be found a somewhat analogous condition in our for- 

 eign dealings. The trading stalemate will soon be sup- 

 planted with active, profitable operations when we prove 

 to our European customers that we are quite as willing 

 to give as to take. Moreover, we cannot afiford to hoard 

 the gold that we are collecting from them in enormous 

 quantities. We must do as Great Britain did when it 

 was the world's creditor nation, reinvest with the debtor 

 countries the bulk of the money collected from them. By 

 pursuing such a policy our foreign trade will flourish 

 soon like the proverbial green bay tree, and the golden 

 flood will prove a two-fold blessing instead of an em- 

 barrassment. 



PROFIT RATHER THAN VOLUME 



ONE of the best lessons we learned in war times is that 

 of standardizing methods of manufacturing; cutting 

 out the wasteful frills and getting down to essentials. 

 When the War Industries Board began to regulate pro- 

 duction it found that buyers of rubber hose were being 

 oflFered 139 grades to meet their needs and whims. The 

 board decided that a fraction of that number would serve 

 all useful purposes. So, too, it made sweeping reductions 

 in the 287 sizes and styles of tires, the 325 classes of fruit-- 

 jar rings, the innumerable varieties of rubber shoes, not 



to enumerate the various other rubber productions. 



The signing of the armistice abruptly checked the carry- 

 ing into effect of a standardization program that would 

 have vastly increased the productive power of the nation; 

 but enough had been accomplished to demonstrate its 

 great value, even to indicate that were the manufacturers 

 to get together in real earnest they might almost double 

 the national output without considerable additional effort. 

 But all this means more large-scale specialization and less 

 small-scale diffusion. 



As a general principle, the man who makes one article 

 well, both from the standpoint of workmanship and low 

 co.st of production, can undersell his rival whose efforts 

 are less well-directed. A small manufacturer may spe- 

 cialize on an exceptional article and win if he has a good 

 shop and low overhead ; but the chances are that a mid- 

 dle-class man will fare better by confining himself to 

 staple goods, utilizing specialized machinery, and keeping 

 that going to full capacity. But, it may be asked, how do 

 many of the big, successful rubber companies produce 

 such a diversity of goods? The answer is that they have 

 separate, finely-organized, perfectly-equipped units, prac- 

 tically distinct factories, for each class of goods. Even 

 they are disposed more than ever toward eliminating the 

 least-used varieties and concentrating their capital and 

 endeavors on the production of smaller, more-standard- 

 ized assortments, obviating much lost motion, and en- 

 abling them to figure future business with much more 

 certainty. 



A striking illustration of the advantages of specializa- 

 tion and standardization is a big New Jersey concern 

 that found in trying to meet the wants of numerous buy- 

 ers accustomed to a great profusion of brands and a wide 

 array of styles, it had run its line of manufacture up to 

 an unreasonably high figure. It then decided that 

 henceforth, even though it were to lose some orders, it 

 would simplify and concentrate, and discard small, fussy 

 production that often retarded the execution of large and 

 profitable orders. Nor was it long before the wisdom of 

 such new policy was amply vindicated. 



General standardization would be a great step toward 

 national economy, and is no less important in times of 

 peace than in the stress of a world war. It is needed to 

 fortify industrial America against an aggressive and for- 

 midable European competition that may be delayed but 

 is still inevitable. It is a road that is but little traveled, 

 yet it is one of the best highways that lead to abiding 

 prosperity. 



A RECENT CANVASS OF THE TIRE COMPANIES FOR 



figures upon puncture of giant cord tires discovers the 

 fact that there are no statistics. The reason is that the 

 big air containers rarely get punctured. The eight to 

 fourteen plies of cord, the heavv layers of cushion stock 

 and tread stock, to say nothing of the breaker strips, 

 make the tire practically unpuncturable. The bigg'er they 

 are the better they are. 



