August 1, 1921 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



809 



An Analysis of the Preliminary Summary of the Manufactures of 



Rubber Goods 



From Report of the Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce, 1914-1919 



By Richard Hoadley Tingley 



PRIOR to 1899 rubber manufacturing as an industry had not 

 found itself. In the twenty years previous to that time its 

 advance had been slow, gradually increasing in value from 

 $25,000,000 in 1879 to about double that figure in 1899. But the 

 twenty years that have since elapsed have seen the manufacture 



of rubber goods emerge from a comparatively insignificant 

 industry of less than $50,000,000 a year to figures well above 

 the billion-dollar mark, an increase of something like 278 per cent. 

 Most of this advance came about between 1914 and 1919, when 

 the total value of all the products of rubber manufacture in the 

 United States increased nearly four-fold, the two items of auto- 

 mobile tire casings and inner tubes amounting, in the latter year, 

 to more than double the value of the entire rubber manufactured 

 product in the former. 



Official figures of values and percentages of increase have been 

 tabulated as follows : 



GROWTH OF THE RUBBER MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 



T(4.tI Vtarly 



Value Increase Increase 



Per Cent Per Cent 



1879 $2S, 310,000 



1899 49,212.000 94.4 9.4 



1904 80,848,000 64.3 12.8 



1909 126,404,000 56.4 11.3 



1914 300.994,OO0« 138.2 27.6 



1919 1,138,2I6,0<X)» 278.1 55.6 



•Kstablishments assigned to other classifications report, in addition. 

 IM-odiicts valued at $7,574,000 in 1919. and in 1914, products valued at 

 $752,503. 



The Bureau of the Census has recently published a preliminary 

 statement of the results of its 1920 canvass of the rubber manu- 

 facturing industry, which includes information received from 475 

 plants for the year that ended December 31, 1919, as compared 

 with that reported by 342 establishments in 1914. The final report 

 will probably not be available for several months to come and 

 the Bureau states that its preliminary figures are subject to change 

 and correction as may become necessary upon further examina- 

 tion of the original reports. Those who have followed previous 



comparisons of this kind, however, will realize that no marked 

 amendment of present figures may be looked for. 



.Although The Indi.\ Rubber World published last month some 

 of the tabulated comparative results contained in the preliminary 

 report, a further analysis of the subject matter will not be out 

 of place in order to bring out the relative values, and increase in 

 values, of the different classes of rubber manufactures, which 

 can best be illustrated graphically. 



The greatest contrast, as well as the largest totals, are seen in 

 the figures bearing on the tire industry, where the number of 

 casings for automobile tires increased from 8,022,000 in 1914 

 to 22,727,000 in 1919, and the value of these products increased 

 from $105,679,000 to $485,904,000 in the same period, an advance 

 of 360 per cent. During these five years, also, the number of 

 inner tubes for automobile tire casings increased from 7,908,0(X) 

 to 39,700,000, and their value from $20,101,000 to $199,305,000, 

 the per cent of increase being 891. 



In 1919 there were manufactured 3,422,000 casings and 1,393,000 

 inner tubes for motorcycles and bicycles, representing a value of 

 $11,892,000 and $2,904,000, respectively, the total value of these 

 two items being $14,796,000. In the census report for 1914 these 

 amounts and values are not separated. Combined, however, the 

 total of the two is 3,728,000 in number, and $6,906,(XX) in value. 

 The value of the two items taken as a whole represents an 

 increase of $7,890,000 between the years under review, or 114 

 per cent. 



There were 8,255,000 solid tires of all kinds made in 1919, of 

 a total value of $52,992,000. This compares with a value of 

 $13,736,000 in 1914, an increase of 285 per cent. This advance 

 is due in a very large measure to the increase in the use of the 

 motor truck in commercial work of all kinds, including not only 



COMPARATIVE VALUE OF 

 TOTAL RUBBER GOODS MANUFACTURES AND OF 

 AUTOMOBILF CASINGS AND INNER TUBE5-19I4-I9I9 



Hundred Millions of Dollars 

 I ? 3 4 5 6 7 8 3 10 II 12 



1 9 1 9 1' : .'/y,; w4'///J^''/a 



1914 



vh/zA/A'A-y/ 'I ■ ■■■]■ ■ :■ h/ ■ {y- 



*l,/38,?IG.00l 

 '300.994.000 \/ncrease27$% 



Total Value of Products 



1919 

 1914 



«i'j;xi 



|^z>yj:^-y/| 



■mz 



\»I0S,679.000 



I I I 



'm.ad^fioo | 



Increase 360% 



I I I L_ 



Value of Au+onnobile Casings 



1919 

 1914 



I ^20101,000 



J ' I 



'199.30^000 



Increase Sei'lo 



Value of Automobile Inner Tubes 



short, but comparatively long hauls. The rapid increase in the 

 use of motor trucks in freight haulage became apparent in the 

 early part of last year. The slump of a year ago caused a halt 

 in this comparatively new industry — as it did in all industries. 

 There are many, however, who expect to see a much greater 



