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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



January 1, 1921 



Yachting Commissioner of the State of Connecticut for several 

 years, became one of the world's most famous yachtsmen. 



In 1913, with the "Atreus," formerly the property of John Hays 

 Hammond, he was the first private yacht owner to steer his ves- 

 sel through the Panama Canal. In his best known yacht, the 

 "Oneida," he cruised more than 275,000 miles, making it practi- 

 cally his home during the latter years of his life. His love of 

 fishing and other sports won the firm friendship of former Pres- 

 ident Grover Cleveland, Rear Admiral "Bob" Evans and Thomas 

 Jefferson, the actor, with whom his name has requently been 

 associated, and all of whom he outlived. It was on the "Oneida," 

 July 1, 1893, while cruising slowly up the East River, New York 

 City, that President Cleveland underwent the now famous secret 

 operation whereby his entire left upper jaw was removed be- 

 cause of a malignant growth, an artificial rubber jaw being sub- 

 sequently fitted. And it was with the "Oneida" in 191S that he 

 rescued the crew and eleven passengers from the wrecked sloop 

 "Southern Cross" and towed the sloop to the Leeward Islands, 

 for which he was officially thanked by the British Government. 



Commodore Benedicfs yachting hobby served his business 

 interests to an eminent degree, however. It was his habit to 

 spend his winters cruising in southern waters, and his con- 

 nection with the rubber industry led to numerous trips of in- 

 vestigation to the rubber country of South America during the 

 period when crude rubber demand overtook supply. In the 

 winter of 1904-5 his steam yacht "Virginia" with a party of 

 New York rubber men was the second vessel to carry the 

 American flag up the Amazon, which he ascended for a thou- 

 sand miles. From the facts unearthed by this and several sub- 

 sequent trips, together with his experiences as prime mover in 

 the Moju Rubber Plantations and Development Co. near Para 

 on the Moju River, a tributary of the Amazon, he foresaw the 

 hopelessness of greatly increasing the Amazonian rubber output, 

 and his investigations were largely instrumental in the early 

 interest of the United States Rubber Co., in the plantation rubber 

 industry of the Far East. One of his most prized possessions 

 was a $5,000 gold cup, presented by the United States Rubber 

 Co., commemorating his first trip up the Amazon. It was Com- 

 modore Benedict who established wireless telegraphy on the 

 Amazon for commercial purposes, it having been found impos- 

 sible to establish ordinary telegraph systems in the forests. 



When in 1917, owing to failing health. Commodore Benedict 

 retired from the firm of E. C. Benedict & Co., of which he had 

 been the senior partner for sixty years, he was the third oldest 

 member of the New York Stock Exchange in the order of ad- 

 mission. That year he donated a $500,000 hospital to Green- 

 wich, Connecticut, and completed the conversion of his extensive 

 and beautiful estate at Indian Harbor, near Greenwich, into a 

 model bird sanctuary on plans laid down by the Greenwich 

 Bird Protective Association, an organization of prominent resi- 

 dents of that town. It was at his Indian Harbor home that he 

 died quietly November 23, 1920, in his eighty-seventh year, fol- 

 lowing an illness of more than a year due to a complication of 

 diseases incident to old age. 



One of our great financiers, keen, progressive and enthusiastic 

 in business, jovial, witty and companionable in his leisure hours, 

 a thorough sportsman, his death closes a notably active, eventful 

 and useful life and will be regretted by those who enjoyed his 

 acquaintance. 



A MANUFACTURER OF TIRE FABRIC LOOMS 



Lucius J. Knowles, president of the Crompton & Knowles Loom 

 Works, Worcester, Massachusetts, died of influenza in London, 

 England, November 26, 1920, while on a business trip. 



Mr. Knowles was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on April 

 6, 1879, the son of Francis B. and Hester A. Knowles. Follow- 

 ing his graduation from Worcester Academy he took a course 

 at Harvard University, graduating with the class of 1902. His 



business career began when he joined the Crompton & Knowles 

 Loom Works, of which his father was one of the founders. In 

 1906 he was appointed treasurer; in 1911, vice-president, and in 

 1917, president. He was also president of the Reed-Prentice Co., 

 of Worcester from 1914 to 1915. 



He was a director in the Merchants' National Bank and the 

 Bancroft Realty Co., a trustee of the Worcester City Real Es- 

 tate Association, a trustee of Burnside Associates, and managing 

 trustee of the Knowles Building, all of Worcester. 



He is survived by his widow, one daughter, Sarah M. Knowles, 

 and a son, Lucius J. Knowles, Jr. 



PROMINENT IN THE CRUDE RUBBER TRADE 



The death of F. C. J. Pusinclli at the age of 61 years, at Berne, 

 Switzerland, on October 30, 1920, has removed one of the best- 

 known international figures in 

 the Para rubber trade. Mr. 

 Pusinelli became associated with 

 the London firm of Heilbut, Sy- 

 mons & Co., in the early eighties 

 and about 1884 he went to Bra- 

 zil, where he founded the house 

 of Pusinelli, Prusse & Co., the 

 chief rubber exporting firm in ' 

 Para and with the London firm 

 mentioned practically controlled 

 the Para rubber trade at that 

 time. 



He continued at the head of 

 this company for ten years, 

 serving also as German Consul 

 and Austrian Vice-Consul for 

 several years and for a time as 

 a member of the Commercial Chamber of the State of Para. 

 In 1897 he returned to London to take a prominent place in the 

 management of Heilbut, Symons & Co. 



Mr. Pusinelli was prominent in the rubber trade of the United 

 States through his continuous connection with the well-known 

 New York firms, Reimers & Co., Poel & Arnold, Arnold & Zeiss, 

 and Poel & Kelly. 



F. C. J. Pusinelli was a man of unusual business ability and 

 possessed of a broad and analytical mind. He was really a big 

 man, yet modest and retiring in disposition. His genial presence 

 will be greatly missed by his friends and colleagues in the trade. 



F. C. J. Pusinelli 



MANUFACTURER OF RUBBER SUBSTITUTE 



Dr. Louis A. Dreyfus, president, treasurer and general manager 

 of the L. A. Dreyfus Co., Rosebank, Staten Island, New York, 

 died suddenly December 1, 1920, while speaking at the inaugura- 

 tion of the municipal trolley service on Staten Island. 



Born in Fremont, Ohio, in 1867, and educated in the public 

 schools there, he graduated from the University of Michigan 

 with the degree of Ph.C. in 1887, then studied at Heidelberg, 

 Germany, and in 1891 received the degree of Ph.D. at the Uni- 

 versity of Zijrich, Switzerland. 



Returning to the United States he started his business career 

 as an analytical cheinist in Cleveland and later in Chicago, spe- 

 cializing in cold water paints, for which he was granted several 

 patents. In 1902 he came to Staten Island as chemist for the 

 Muralo Co., a large manufacturer of cold water paints which 

 still uses his patents. 



In 1909 Dr. Dreyfus organized the company which bears his 

 name. From a small beginning the business grew until in 1917 

 it made necessary the erection of the large and modern rubber 

 substitute factory at Rosebank. 



The Berlin Gummi-Zeitung retorts the death in Vienna 

 of Georg Schneider, senior partner of G. Schneider, Gummihof, 



