January 1, 1921 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



279 



common stock of no par value, while the outstanding preferred 

 stock will be exchanged for new preferred stock with the same 

 rights and privileges as those now carried by the preferred stock, 

 together with the additional exclusive right for voting, or con- 

 trolHng the board of directors. 



At the same time the stockholders, including the preferred stock- 

 holders, authorized the issuance of first mortgage bonds to the 

 extent of not more than $50,000,000, which will be taken over by 

 bankers and sold to finance the reorganization of the company. 



The new mortgage bonds will carry 8 per cent interest and will 

 run for a term of tw-enty-five years. It is understood that in addi- 

 tion to the 8 per cent interest the bankers will receive 2>i per 

 cent of the net profits of the company during the life of the bonds. 



W. E. Falmer has retired as treasurer of the company to become 

 secretary, and T. Jackson, representative of the new banking 

 interests, has been elected treasurer. H. J. Blackburn and H. H. 

 McClosky, Mr. Palmer's assistants, will be given other positions in 

 the company. t 



In a letter to the stockholders, F. A. Seiberling, president of the 

 company, stated that the refinancing of the company was made 

 necessary by the fact that the company's annual budget was made 

 up to meet a production of $250,000,000 worth of goods, and when 

 the financial depression came the company was caught with large 

 supplies of raw material purchased at war and post-war prices, 

 making the inventory unduly high. 



This rendered it impossible to meet the credit demands of the 

 company and necessitated borrowing $28,800,000 until February IS, 

 1921, to carry the inventory and give bankers and company officials 

 time to make plans for the permanent refinancing of the company. 



Although the details of these plans are not yet complete, the New 

 York bankers who are making the negotiations have let it be 

 known that they will control 51 per cent of the stock of the com- 

 pany for a term of years, and through the newly appointed treas- 

 urer will control the financial operations of the company. 



The manner in which Akron bankers and business men have 

 stood by Mr. Seiberling during the dark hours through which the 

 company has passed is a wonderful tribute to their confidence in 

 his business ability and hopes for the future. 



The Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., Akron, has elected the 

 following officers: H. S. Firestone, president; A. C. Miller, 

 and Thomas Clements, vice-presidents ; S. G. Carkhuflf, secre- 

 tarj- ; and J. G. Robertson, treasurer. The former directors 

 were reelected. Plans for improving plant facilities include a 

 railroad system connecting all factory units and cooperating with 

 the trunk line now running parallel to the Firestone factory. 



The announcement of the Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. that 

 quarterly dividends will be reduced from $2 to $1.50 per share, in 

 order to conserve cash resources during the present readjustment 

 period, and salaries of the office force cut 10 per cent was antic- 

 ipated, and similar action on the part of other concerns will not 

 be a surprise. Factory employes have been working on part time 

 schedule, and this fair-minded method of meeting the financial 

 crisis by sharing the burdens as the prosperity has been shared 

 in the past is a typical Akron view of the matter. It is for this 

 reason that practically no protest has been heard from the salaried 

 employes or stockholders regarding the decrease in the earnings 

 or investment returns. Salaries were increased 20 per cent 

 during the past year in order to meet rising living costs. 



The numerical factor regulating the production of tires will 

 hereafter be changed from the theoretical six tires consumed a 

 year per automobile in the United States to probably four or 

 five, according to rubber men in Akron. 



Much of the present diflnculty in which the tire industry finds 

 itself is due to the fact that production was hitherto based upon 

 an assumption which experience has shown to be no longer cor- 

 rect. Upon this basis plants were expanded and raw materials 



purchased, but when trade slackened the fact that consumption 

 had been overestimated became painfully apparent. 



The decrease in the number of tires used by each automobile 

 is due largely to the better quality of tires manufactured during 

 the last two or three years. The cord tire travels perhaps twice 

 as far as the former fabric tire, and the fabric tire itself is better 

 built. Then, too, rubber companies have educated motorists so 

 efficiently and so persistently in the care and use of tires that 

 longer average service has resulted. 



Chester A. Graham, formerly Americanization secretary of the 

 Young Men's Christian Association, has been named .American- 

 ization director of the public schools, succeeding E. C. Vermillion, 

 who resigned recently to take a similar position at Pittsburgh, 

 Pennsylvania. The Americanization department has felt the 

 slackening of industries here, more than 25 per cent of the men 

 and women who registered early this fall having failed to make 

 their appearance at classes. 



The public schools, under the new administration of C. R. 

 Reed, have entered into the field of occupational education. An 

 automobile school has been established, where the repairing and 

 driving of automobiles is taught by four teachers to classes 

 numbering more than 300 boys and girls or men and women. 



The plant of the B. & W. Rubber Co., located at Holmes and 

 East Tallmadge avenues, Akron, will be ready for operation in 

 approximately ninety days, according to officials, and will employ 

 approximately 100 persons. Mechanical rubber goods will be 

 manufactured, and a specialty made of rubber heels. The officers 

 are: H. A. Backderf, president; D. B. Campbell, vice-president; 

 Eric Richards, treasurer, and Mary E. McGowan, secretary and 

 assistant treasurer. 



W. A. Johnston, president of the Rubber Products Co., Barber- 

 ton, has been elected president of the recently organized Chamber 

 of Commerce of Barberton. This organization of rubber and 

 other business men is assisting to solve some of the important 

 problems resulting from an increase of more than 99 per cent in 

 population during the past ten years. 



Akron rubber concerns look upon the success of the community 

 chest plan to raise $500,000 for Akron's charity and welfare 

 organization as a new vote of confidence by the people. 



When the workers, headed by T. E. Smith, editor of the India 

 Rubber Rcvifu; entered the campaign they did not fail to realize 

 that the temporary business depression had greatly decreased the 

 giving power of the people of .\kron. 



But the charities had to be supported, and when the chest was 

 filled the officials of the community chest and rubber men gen- 

 erally felt that the people who know the rubber industry from 

 an intimate view-point had stated in no uncertain terms that 

 the future of the industry is bright, although at present there 

 are only the faintest beginnings of a revival in tire manufacture. 



News comes that Edward S. Babcox, formerly advertising 

 manager for the Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., has acquired a 

 substantial interest in the India Rubber Review, of Akron, Ohio 

 To those who do not know this latest recruit in rubber journalism, 

 the name and the state he lives in may suggest the last Demo- 

 cratic aspirant for the president. Mr. Babcox, however, is not a 

 politician. On the contrary, he is a past master in the art of . 

 industrial advertising, a forceful writer, a keen critic, and withal * 

 a live, energetic and very likable gentleman. We wish him all 

 success. 



The Rubber Engineering Co., Akron, formerly at 46 South 

 Broadway, will be located at its new offices at 437 First Second 

 National Building after January 1, 1921. The officers are W. F. 

 Ridge, president; W. E. McCormish, secretary. 



On its twentieth anniversary, the Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. 

 issued a statement in which total sales of $114,980,969 for the 



