February 1, 1921 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



315 



Twenty -First Annual Dinner of The Rubber Association of America 



WITH eight hundred and fifty members and guests in at- 

 tendance, an excellent dinner, good music, three distin- 

 guished speakers, and a brilliant assemblage of ladies to 

 grace the occasion, the twenty-first anniversary dinner of 

 The Rubber Association of America, Inc., at the Waldorf- 

 Astoria, on the evening of January 10, 1921, was a distinct 

 success. 



After the repast, which was accompanied by a program of 

 popular selections by the orchestra and much good fellow- 

 ship on tiic part of the diners, the postprandial exercises 

 were led by the retiring president. Homer E. Sawyer, who 

 spoke and later introduced guests of the evening with cliar- 

 acteristic brevity and fitness. 



FORMER PRESIDENT SAWYER'S ADDRESS 



Mr. Sawyer delivered no prolonged valedictory, but alluded 

 in a few well-chosen words to the accomplishments of the 

 Association during the past two years and thanked members 

 one and all for their unfailing and whole-hearted support. 

 Said he: 



Your enviable financial position is due to the broad-minded 

 spirit of all the manufacturers of this association who have 

 adhered to the informal agreement to pay three cents per 100 

 pounds on all rubber purchased, and this, together with your dues, 

 has placed your directors in a position to pay all necessary ex- 

 penses, to make certain proper contributions, to add materially 

 to your invested reserves and leave a very comfortable cash 

 balance on hand. Your numerous sub-committees have been 

 indefatigable in their work for the welfare of the association 

 and have with the utmost vision and unselfishness worked to- 

 gether for the good of all, and all of the work has been concen- 

 trated and centralized under our able general manager. Mr. Viles, 

 and his able staff. 



Your business represents a magnitude of something consider- 

 ably over a biliion dollars annually, and business of such magni- 

 tude, the products of which are necessary to nearly all of the 

 other industrial lite of the country, has a distinct duty to perform 

 along progressive and cooperative lines, and we do not know how 

 it can best be done except with the aid of a helpful aggressive 

 association. 



Under the wise leadership of the few, none of us has any doubt 

 of our realizing our fondest hopes and aspirations for The 

 Rubber Association of America. 



CONGRESSMAN FESS' ADDRESS 



Introduced as a wise and experienced legislator and a 

 scholarly economist who has a wide sympathy with the 

 legitimate requirements of commerce, and who ably repre- 

 sents that growing force in national affairs which justifies 

 faith in the future cooperation of business and legislation. 

 Honorable Simeon D. Fess, United States Representative 

 from Ohio, outlined some of the early duties of Congress 

 and the incoming administration. His sound and welcome 

 doctrine and his manifest optimism were enthusiastically 

 received. 



READJTTSTMENT OF COSTS AND TAXES INEVITABLE 



How the inevitable liquidation of the war can be effected 

 without disaster is not only the problem of the legislator but 

 of every business man, he said, and problems inherited from 

 the war should be solved in council with those who bear the 

 burdens. Readjustment must take us from a world stage to 

 a business basis; must get us down from a very high cost 

 level, if possible, without danger. The war machine, he ex- 

 plained, had to be built quickly and every step pushed costs 

 higher — employing the major portion of labor, shortening the 

 basic day, higher overtime wages, increasing the number of 

 workmen to the piece, transporting and housing labor, com- 

 petition with industry for labor, cost plus contracts, bond 



(r) Undi'rWiOtl &- Underwood, N . V. 



Hon. Simeon D. Fess 



issues and excess profits taxes. The Government, he pointed 

 out, wanted profiteers taxed heavily, but ignored the fact 

 that excess profits taxes were passed on to the consuming public 

 to pay in higher prices. 



HOW THE GOVERNMENT CAN HELP 



As a beginning toward lower cost levels, he asserted that 

 the cost of government can be reduced below the estimate 

 of four billion dollars annually, a total six times the cost in 

 1912 and fmir lime^ the cost in 1917. The war has increased the 



public debt from one to twenty-four 

 billion dollars, on which the in- 

 terest alone is $1,200,000,000, or 

 nearly the total cost of govern- 

 ment in 1912. Therefore it is the 

 duty of Congr.ess to cut all ap- 

 propriations -as far as is safe. A 

 large army, he maintained, is un- 

 necessary and naval estimates can 

 also be reduced, effecting a saving 

 of at least one billion dollars. The 

 present unscientific system of taxa- 

 tion must be revised with repeal of 

 the excess profits tax and reduction 

 of the higher ranges of the surtax 

 to avoid forcing the investment of 

 incomes in non-taxables and thus 

 destroying the purposes of the tax 

 system. Congress, he said, will soon 

 adopt a budget system to put the 

 Government cm a business basis. Government departments must 

 he reorganized to save useless duplication. Customs will prob- 

 ably be revised to yield more than double the present three hun- 

 dred million dollars annually. A final sales tax would probably 

 yield $4.SO,000,000 additional. 



THE BUSINESS OUTLOOK 

 Regarding the immediate future of -\merican business he 

 said in part : 



Now, gentlemen, what of the future? What can we expect in 

 business? Why should men lose faith? Why should we lack 

 confidence? Think of the position of this nation. We have 

 today harvested the largest crop from the agricultural fields that 

 we have in any years, save three. There has been no famine, 

 there has been no failure. Our fields have responded until our 

 food products and the agricultural supply is abundant. 



AN IMPROVED TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM 



We have had the boldness — and it has taken courage — to enact 

 a Transportation Act, not in the interest of the owners of the 

 railroads, not in the interest of the security holders, not in the 

 interest of labor, but in the interest of all these people who 

 are included in the public for whom we must legislate ; and con- 

 sequently, you have seen a remarkable increase in the efficiency of 

 our transportation system, that now promises to get back to a 

 form of efficiency where, instead of increasing cost and decreas- 

 ing efficiency, you ought to decrease cost and increase efficiency, 

 which is the law of progress. 



BETTER RELATIONS BETWEEN LABOR AND CAPITAL 



Not only have we entered upon a safe transportation system, 

 but, gentlemen, we have seen a new relationship between labor 

 and capital. These two cannot be enemies. They are beginning 

 to see the necessity of cooperation, of a better spirit toward labor 

 by capital, and a better spirit of capital toward labor. We 

 recognize that each depends upon the other and we see, now, in- 

 stead of decreasing the product of labor and increasing the cost, 

 WT are beginning to increase the product and decrease the cost, 

 which is again the law of progress. 



W'e must not undertake to control the price of labor or any- 

 thing else by reducing the production, because, gentlemen, the 



