July I, 1921 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



763 



Keltic has this da.v been appointed plant manager. (ieorge 

 Schlosser will continue in charge for the receivers." 



Mr. Sweeney had served in many capacities, both in the clerical 

 and administrative departments of the company. He entered its 

 employ as a clerk in the office force and for 16 years was man- 

 ager of the cost department. In 1916 he was in charge of the 

 mechanical roll department and was also purchasing agent. He 

 was promoted to assistant plant manager in 1918, a position which 

 he tilled until his appointment as manager on January 1, 1921. 

 For many years he was one of the executive assistants of the 

 late Michael Flynn, general manager. The new plant manager 

 has been employed at the plant for about a year in an executive 

 ■capacity. 



Closing exercises of the Americanization School at the factory 

 of the Xational India Rubber Co., at Bristol, were held at 4 

 o'clock in the afternoon, June IS, in the conference room of the 

 plant. The exercises were in charge of Miss Marguerite L. 

 MacDonald, one of the teachers. The pupils to the number of 

 115 were present. An excellent program of vocal and instru- 

 mental music and recitations was rendered by the pupils. In the 

 evening the pupils and guests enjoyed a complimentary entertain- 

 ment at the rooms of the Y. M. C. A. The program included 

 six reels of patriotic and instructive pictures, as well as comedy 

 films and vocal and instrumental music. A collation was served 

 and the latter part of the evening was devoted to dancing in the 

 gymnasium. 



At the Revere Rubber Company plant on Valley street on the 

 ■evening of June 7 a presentation was made by the Colt plant 

 employes to the factory manager, John J. Shea, on the occasion 

 of the anniversarv' of his fiftieth birthday. The presentation 

 consisted of a gold Waltham watch and a bouquet of fifty roses. 

 The employes assembled in the cafeteria immediately after work 

 and sat down to a buffet luncheon served by the factory steward. 

 Seated at the head table with Mr. Shea were George W. Seiber- 

 ling, of Detroit, general factory manager of the United States 

 Tire Co. ; Dr. E. Meyer, consulting chemist ; Arthur Carr, factory 

 manager of the Revere Rubber Co., mechanical division ; J. T. 

 Brogden, superintendent of the Revere Rubber Co. ; F. O. Miles, 

 treasurer of the Revere Rubber Co.; A. P. Delahunt, treasurer 

 lof the Colt plant, and W. T. Mead, engineer. . 



The presentation was made on behalf of the employes by 

 Walter C. Eaton, Mr. Shea responding. Brief remarks were 

 made by Messrs. Seiberling, Carr, Brogden, Mead, Miles and 

 Delahunt and Dr. Meyer. The luncheon was followed by dancing. 

 The committee in charge of the arrangements comprised L. B. 

 Martin, superintendent; George V. Burgess, divisional superin- 

 tendent ; Gus Mix, divisional superintendent ; Richard Newsmith, 

 mechanical engineer ; Samuel Reed, cashier ; Miss M. Kilroe and 

 Miss E. Moore ; Oliver Hopkins, industrial relations manager ; S. 

 D. Johnson, employment manager, and Walter C. Eaton, chief cost 

 accountant. 



Out of the several hundred old graduates who returned June 

 IS to attend the 131st annual commencement exercises at Brown 

 University interest centered in two, both of whom have served 

 as Chief Executive of two of the most important states in the 

 Union, One of them. Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes, 

 gave the glamor of renewed achievement to his fellows of the 

 class of '81. The other, the Honorable Augustus O. Bourn, of 

 Providence, president of the Bourn Rubber Co. and a former 

 governor of Rhode Island, came as the only representative of 

 the class of 'S5, the oldest that responded to the roll-call. Both 

 men have helped mold the history of their country, the first as 

 a jurist and the most important officer in the President's Cabinet; 

 the second as a boy soldier in Dorr's Rebellion (Rhode Island's 

 .political war), who later guided his native state tlirough trying 

 .days. 



Michael J. Bowes, who has been with the Lawrence Felting 



Co. for 26 years, and for the last few years superintendent of 

 that company's mills at Millville, has tendered his resignation to 

 the United States Rubber Co., operating the Millville plant, 

 which was originally the Bannigan & Bowes Felting Co., formed 

 in 1876. The late William Bowes, father of Michael Bowes, was 

 the first superintendent. Francis Sage, of the Hastings (Mich- 

 igan) Wool Boot Co., succeeds Mr. Bowes. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN MASSACHUSETTS 

 By Our Regular Correspondent 



WITH the tire buying season in full swing, automobile man- 

 ufacturers stimulating new business by generous price re- 

 ductions, and tire manufacturers selling at the new list prices, which 

 represent reductions of 10 to 20 per cent, the tire demand is 

 now fair and improving. Production averages about two-thirds 

 normal with a few plants very close to normal production. 



Apart from the seasonable demand for jar rings and garden 

 hose, business in mechanical rubber goods continues quiet and 

 will pick up only with a resumption of general manufacturing. 

 This applies particularly to belting and packing. Stationers' sim- 

 dries are affected somewhat by the same causes. The demand 

 for insulated wire has been satisfactory because of the great 

 amount of extension work deferred by the war. 



The proofing trade is quiet, especially auto-top material, al- 

 though it is anticipated that increasing sales of cars will enlarge 

 the demand. The call for raincoat materials is better. Druggists' 

 sundries sales are improving, but large orders cannot be expected 

 until fall, when jobbers generally replenish their stocks. While 

 reclaimers view the falling crude rubber market with some un- 

 easiness, they find that compounders still prefer for certain pur- 

 poses some of the well-known brands of reclaim with which they 

 are familiar, and anticipate an increasing demand as rubber 

 goods manufacture returns to normal. Moreover, they believe 

 that a rise in crude rubber prices when general buying com- 

 mences, after stocks and commitments have been exhausted, will 

 favor them. Business in heels and soles is good, and in these 

 much reclaim is used. 



The canvas footwear season is at its height and the demand 

 most gratifying. Manufacturers report constant small orders 

 from jobbers and large dealers which call for all that can be 

 produced. In rubber footwear there is little activitj-. 



A shortage of light rubber footwear this coming winter is pre- 

 dicted by those in close touch with the trade. Retailers are not 

 placing future orders as usual, but are relying upon jobbers to 

 carry their stocks for them. Jobbers, however, are not inclined 

 to carry more than minimum stocks this year, and their orders to 

 manufacturers are smaller than ordinary. Manufacturers are not 

 inclined to carry sufficient stocks to overcome the strong buying 

 aversion of both retailers and jobbers, and are making up few 

 goods in excess of actual orders despite the certainty that the 

 situation will create a shortage. 



The same conditions existed to a lesser degree regarding canvas 

 footwear during the normal season for accumulating stocks, with 

 the result that a shortage is already being felt in the more 

 popular numbers, while most manufacturers have orders for all 

 the canvas footwear that can possibly be produced for the bal- 

 ance of the season. 



Rubber footwear conditions are more acute, however. Nor- 

 mally it takes about nine months to manufacture the rubber foot- 

 wear used in three months. Were every retailer to order at 

 once for nonnal requirements, it would still be impossible to meet 

 the demands of a winter of average severity, and another mild 

 winter is hardly to be expected. While the abnormal weather 

 last winter left retailers with some stocks of rubber footwear 

 on hand, one good storm in December would exhaust them. 



