January 1, 1921 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



277 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN MASSACHUSETTS 

 By Our Regular Correspondent 



AS ELSEWHERE throughout the country, the rubber trade in 

 Massachusetts remains quiet, especially tire manufacture. 

 Footwear production has been more nearly normal, but with 

 advance orders for rubbers and arctics taken care of and a mild 

 winter in prospect,> factories are now running on part time sched- 

 ules or have shut down for inventory taking, repairs and the 

 holiday season. Increased activity is anticipated, however, after 

 the new price-lists for tennis lines are issued about January 1, 

 1921. Meanwhile, wage schedules are undergoing readjustment 

 in conformity with the slump in the raw material market and the 

 public demand for lower price levels. 



Massachusetts rubber manufacturers arc optimistic regarding 

 the future, the recent statement of M. M. Converse, president of 

 the Converse Rubber Shoe Co. in the Boston Evening Record, 

 typifying the consensus of opinion among them. He writes : 



While it is a fact that in many industries there is at the 

 present time a slacking up in the demand for goods, it is not 

 due to conditions that should cause apprehension. Instead, it is 

 quite the reverse. The present situation means a liquidation of 

 surplus stocks that the manufacturer, the wholesaler, and the 

 retailer have all felt obliged to carry for the past three years 

 to overcome the shortage of merchandise and the lack of trans- 

 portation facilities, thereby enabling them to serve their customers. 

 This created an abnormal situation, and abnormal situations are 

 always dangerous. However, everything is now working back to 

 normal, and this means a healthy situation in 1921. We should 

 see during the year the stabilization of industry that has been 

 freely predicted and that has been inevitable since the beginning 

 of abnormal times. I believe 1921 will be one of the most pros- 

 perous years in the history of the country. 



The New England Tire & Rubber Co., which started business 

 in Holyoke, Massachusetts, last June, has placed its Holyoke cord 

 tire on the market. The New York City salesroom is located at 

 43 East 47th street, and the Boston distributer is the City Rubber 

 Co., 288 Columbus avenue. F. E. Powers is Boston representative 

 with an office at 161 Devonshire street. The firm's new plant at 

 Holyoke is about one-third completed. The officers and directors 

 of the company are : president, John Keams, vice-president and 

 general manager of the Lee Tire & Rubber Co. ; vice-president 

 and production manager, E. J. Kearns, formerly with the Fisk, 

 Lee and Dunlop companies ; treasurer and general manager, C. S. 

 Huntley, president of the Midco Tire Co. and organizer of the 

 Delion Tire & Rubber Co. ; directors, the foregoing and George 

 K. Culp, of the United States, Mid-Continent and other com- 

 panies, W. C. Van Brunt, Joseph F. Granger, T. F. Morris, F. W. 

 Callahan, J. Sidney Bernstein and Frank J. O'Neil. 



The plant of The Fisk Rubber Co., Chicopee Falls, Massachu- 

 setts, like numerous others in this state, has been operating for 

 several weeks past on a schedule of three days a week in order to 

 find partial employment for as many operatives as possible. 



A reduction of 15 per cent in wages, effective December 6, has 

 been accepted by the employes of the Tyer Rubber Co., Andover, 

 Massachusetts. Full time, following several weeks of a three-day 

 week schedule, is a possibility in the near future. 



Owing to the belief that prices of foodstufTs, already falling 

 rapidly, will soon return to normal, the Hood Rubber Co., Water- 

 town, Massachusetts, has closed its cooperative grocery store 

 established in 1916 which often served 2,000 customers daily. 



The plant of the Cambridge Rubber Co., Cambridge, Massachu- 

 setts, which closed December 15, resumed operations December 

 27. The footwear department of the business has been idle for a 

 longer period. 



The Insurance Commissioner has recently approved a new 

 schedule of manual rates for Workmen's Compensation in the 

 State of Massachusetts eflfective at midnight December 30, 1920, 

 and applying to policies expiring in January or February, 1921. 



The classifications of interest to the rubber trade follow: 



Old Rate New Rate 



Rubber ^oods manufacture $1.97 $1.60 



Rubber boot and shoe manufacture 83 .76 



Rubber garments manufacture (includini? rubber mill) . . .69 .76 



Rubber garments manufacture (no mill) 45 .25 



Rubber belting manufacture 1.35 1.60 



Rubber reclaiming 4.10 ilgs 



Rubber tire manufacture 1.23 1.30 



Under the disability insurance plan effective since June 1, 1920, 

 in the plant of the Converse Rubber Shoe Co., Maiden, Massachu- 

 setts, compensation is on the following basis: employes rated as 

 foremen will be given full pay for any period up to twenty-six 

 weeks from date of disability; assistant foremen and all other sala- 

 ried or "straight time" employes full pay for two weeks from date 

 of disability and thereafter 90 per cent of their pay for any period 

 up to and including twenty-five weeks. 



As an incentive to thrift. Converse Folks, the factory magazine 

 of the Converse Rubber Shoe Co., Maiden, Massaschusetts, is 

 starting a savings bank account to the amount of $5.00 in the name 

 of every baby born whose father or mother is at the time in the 

 company's employ. Converse Folks acting as trustee. On the child's 

 first, second, third, fourth and fifth birthdays Converse Folks WiW 

 deposit to the account $1.00, $2.00, $3.00, $4.00 and $5.00 respective- 

 ly, so long as the parent is in the company's employ, and provided 

 the parent adds at least $5.00 to the amount every year. In the 

 event of the parent's failure to pay the specified amount before 

 the child's first birthday, the original deposit reverts to Converse 

 Folks. Similar neglect in any subsequent year closes the ac- 

 count as it stands, the parent becoming trustee of the amount on 

 deposit. Should the parent leave the company's employ before 

 the child's first birthday, the original $5.00 deposit reverts to 

 Converse Folks. After the child's first birthday the entire ac- 

 count may be withdrawn if the parent wishes. On the child's 

 fifth birthday, if the account has been maintained, the parent be- 

 comes trustee of the account, which amounts to at least $45. 



The Hood Rubber Products Co., Inc., Watertown, Massachu- 

 setts, has been awarded the contract by the Bureau of Supplies 

 and Accounts, Navy Department, to furnish 30,000 pairs of rubber 

 overshoes for various naval stations at $30,000. Bids for these 

 were opened on November 23. 



Frederic C. Hood, treasurer of the Hood Rubber Co., Water- 

 town, is onfe of the directors of the newly organized Association 

 for the Promotion and Protection of Savings, Inc., for helping 

 employes to learn and practice the principles of thrifty living, 

 systematic saving and wise investment. The Associated Indus- 

 tries of Massachusetts has been the prime mover of the or- 

 ganization. Membership is open to individuals, firms, corpora- 

 tions and associations, all of whom are entitled to the use of 

 films, slides and literature for plant meetings of employes and 

 material for shop publications, all of an educational character 

 regarding savings and investments prepared by the Association. 



George A. Torrey, sales manager of the Tyer Rubber Co., 

 Andover, is making his annual trip to the Pacific Coast. 



The Tyer Rubber Co., Andover, reports very satisfactory re- 

 sults from its employment and service department, which vvas 

 organized in July, 1919. A very marked reduction of the labor 

 turnover was maintained under the generally trying labor condi- 

 tions of the past year. One of the chief accomplishments of the 

 department has been the organization of the Tyrian Service As- 

 sociation, the plan of which was outlined in The India Rxjbber 

 World of February 1, 1920. It has been responsible for numer- 

 ous social events which have promoted good fellowship among 

 the employes, and for the organization of athletic activities. It 

 has assisted in the installation of a plan for savings, conducted 

 a plan for cooperative buying, and created a fund to bring com- 

 fort to sick employes, known as the Happy Thought Fund, from 

 which ninety-five gifts were made during the year. 



