116 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



November 1, 1920 



Activities of The Rubber Association of America 



DIVISION COMMITTEE MEETINGS 



A MEETING of the Executive Committee ul the Merhaiiical Rub- 

 ber Goods Manufacturers' Division was held in New York 

 City on October 19, at which trade conditions in general 

 were discussed. 



The Specification Committee of the Mechanical Rubber Goods 

 Manufacturers' Division met in the Association rooms on Octo- 

 ber 26, when a conference was held with a committee appointed 

 by the American Railroad Association to confer on subjects of 

 mutual interest to both railroads and manufacturers in connection 

 with specifications for the mechanical rubber goods which are 

 used by the carriers. 



A most interesting meeting of the E.xccutive Committee of the 

 Tire Manufacturers' Division was held in the .Association rooms 

 October 20, when many matters of importance to the tire industry 

 were given consideration. Among the most important of the 

 conclusions reached was the decision to have the .Association 

 gather statistics on a monthly basis from members of the Division 

 with respect to the inventory, production and shipments of auto- 

 mobile tires and tubes and the consumption of crude rubber and 

 fabric in that production. Consideration was also given to the 

 proposed organization of a foreign trade department as an ad- 

 junct to the Association and to the work which might be done by 

 that department on subjects of interest to tire manufacturers, 

 notably the promotion of the straight side tire equipment in 

 foreign markets. 



It was arranged also to appoint a sub-committee of the Tire 

 Manufacturers' Division comprised of advertising or publicity 

 representatives of several members to give attention to matters 

 of an advertising or publicity nature for the Association. It was 

 also recommended that a special committee of the Division be 

 established comprised entirely of those manufacturers engaged in 

 making bicycle tires, in order that due consideration might be 

 given to the problems which are of particular interest to those 

 manufacturers. 



THE INQUIRY REGARDING PRICE GUARANTY 



Members will recall that in 1919 the Federal Trade Commis- 

 sion initiated investigation proceedings for the purpose of securing 

 definite information regarding the practice of protecting customers 

 against decline in manufacturers' prices. The Commission, there- 

 fore, invited all of the important industries in the country to 

 inform it of the manner in which they applied this practice, if at 

 all, and the particular reasons and conditions which made the 

 practice desirable or undesirable from the standpoint of the man- 

 ufacturer, wholesaler, dealer and consumer. 



The two divisions of this Association which are most vitally 

 interested in this practice are the Footwear Division and the Tire 

 Manufacturers' Division, although the practice extends to other 

 specific articles manufactured by the members, namely, clothing, 

 garden hose and possibly one or two others. 



A large majority of the members of the Footwear and Tire 

 Divisions responded to the questionnaires submitted to them and a 

 compilation of the facts and views of the members regarding con- 

 tinuance of the present practice was prepared. This was presented 

 to the Federal Trade Commission August 27, with request for 

 permission to appear at the Trade Practice Submittal held Octo- 

 ber 5. 



A joint sub-committee representing both the Tire Manufac- 

 turers' and Footwear Divisions attended this meeting, which oc- 

 cupied all of October S and 6. The first day of the hearit.g was 

 taken up almost entirely with arguments from those opposed to 

 the practice of protecting customers against decline in prices. 

 Most of the industries represented by those speaking against the 

 practice do not employ it now and their arguments as to unfair- 



ness were based largely upon what 'would occur if the practice 

 were introduced into those industries. No facts were shown indi- 

 cating that any unfairness had actually resulted from the use of 

 this practice. 



During the second day of the hearing representatives of this 

 .Association explained to the Commission the very seasonal na- 

 ture of the footwear business and the tire business and set forth 

 the various reasons why this practice of protecting against price 

 decline should be continued. With relation to tires the practice 

 may be divided into two classes, first, the protection as applied to 

 spring dating business and, second, protection as applied to cur- 

 rent business. The answers to the questionnaire submitted to the 

 members of the Tire Manufacturers' Division showed that an 

 overwhelming majority of the members favored the continuance 

 of this practice with relation to spring dating business. 



At the conclusion of the hearing the chairman stated that the 

 Commission had not yet decided what procedure it would follow, 

 but intimated that it might possibly issue some statement with 

 regard to this practice after a full examination of the informa- 

 tion which it had gathered, or it might use this information merely 

 as a guide in the case of any specific complaints which might 

 hereafter be considered by it in relation to this practice. 



It is the opinion of counsel for the .Association that unless and 

 until the Federal Trade Commission issues a definite order direct- 

 ing manufacturers of rubber goods to cease the practice of pro- 

 tecting their customers against price decline such manufacturers 

 will be warranted in continuing this practice, if they so desire. 



STATISTICS COMPILED FROM aUESTIONNAIRES NOS. 101 AND 102, 

 COVERING THE YEAR 1919 



Number of firms to whom questionnaires were sent 283 



Number of firms responding 167 



Number of firms reporting statistics 160 



Average Total Daily Number of Employes, 177,333 



Number of Pounds of Crude Rubber Consumed in the Manufacture op 



Rubber Products and Total S.«i.es Value of Shipments of 



Manufactured Rubber Products 



Total Sales Value 



.\uniber of 

 Pounds Crude 

 Product Rubber Consumed 



Tires and tire sundries: 



Automobile and motor truck casin.cs 240.904.417 



Automobde .ind motor truck tubes 54.025.307 



Solid tires 27.989,361 



Otlier tires and tire sundries 14,472,416 



"Total — Tires and tire sundries 338.521.064 



Other rubber products: „ ,., 



Mechanical Roods r'-^lol:;'; 



Boots and shoes ??-9?^'sS; 



Other products ' 4.646,895 



•Total -Other rubber products 67,712,158 



of Shipments 

 of Manufactured 

 Rubber Products 



$194,454,021 

 39.550.163 

 13.111.246 

 13.606,740 



$674,249,726 



77,487.032 

 76.539,565 

 59,382,707 



Grand tr tal— All produr-ts... 406,231,563 



$291,835,550 

 $966,085,276 



• Note— It should be noted that the abcvc tot.ils of 'Tires .and tire sun- 

 dries" and "Other rubber products" include some figures which arc not 

 shown under the various ite:nr,. which is due to the fact that some of the 

 reports received were not itemized. 



