February 1, 1921 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



533 



A Ten-Vear Financial Survey of the Rubber Industry 



By Richard Hoadley Tingley 



CUMP.'VREi) with (ithcr "big business"' in the essential coniniodi- 

 , ties, wool, cotton, iron, the grains, etc., the rubber industry 

 is but an infant in point of age. yt-t its lusty growth during 

 the pa.st few years has been so phenomenal and has placed it, 

 young as it is, in such a premier commercial position, that a 

 brief review of its wonderful strides into prominence will not be 

 out of place. Escaping, up to now, most of tlic maladies to which 

 children are usually subject, it is suffering at the moment with 

 its llrst disorder. As in most children's diseases, however, the 

 patient is considered to be in no danger and is expected soon to 

 be up and about as usual — belter than before. 



There are hundreds of rubber manufacturing companies, large 

 and small, that make every conceivable thing from that raw 

 product, from buttons and "human shock absorbers" to the big 

 tire casings and inner tubes. It takes many factories to use up 

 the two hundred odd thousand tons of crude rubber that annually 

 comes into this country. To enumerate all the important rubber 

 manufacturers and to give an account of their doings is too 

 much to be contained in a magazine review. Out of the liundreds, 

 .however, I have selected ten, whose linancial operations I shall 

 review, and out of the ten, there are six of the largest to which 

 special attention will be paid in order to bring out, in graphic 

 form, some of the big figures that are involved in the industry. 

 These six are the United States Rubber Co., the Goodyear Tire 

 ■& Rubber Co., The B. F. Goodrich Co.. Kelly-Springfield Tire 

 Co., The Fisk Rubber Co., and the .A.jax Rubber Co., Inc. 



Regarding the history of what these six have been doing, I 

 shall s.^y nothing but what is contained in the financial graph 

 "herewith. Regarding the other four, the Firestone Tire & Rubber 

 Co., Hood Rubber Co., The Miller Rubber Co., and The McGraw 

 Tire & Rubber Co., 1 shall tabulate some of the leading financial 

 figures bearing on each. 



In W'hat follows I wish to draw particular attention to the fact 



that no attempt has been made, except in the graphs where price 



ranges have been brought nearly to date (December, 1920), to 



display any of the 1920 figures of capital, earnings, balances, etc. 



FIRESTONE TIRE & RUBBER CO. 



This company was incorporated in Ohio in 1910, taking over a 

 •company of the same name which dates back to a West \'irginia 

 incorporation of 1900. In addition to rubber products, it manu- 

 factures steel rims for tires, with plants at Akron and Hamilton, 

 Ontario, Canada. Table .'X speaks fnr itself. The company has 

 no funded debt. 



TABLE A 



Firestone 



Stock Outstanding 



High 



1920 99!-; 



1919 101 



1918 101 



1917 lOST/iS 



1916 107)(i 



T.ow 



'97 



93'.: 



97 

 107 



High 

 200 

 205 

 150 

 ISO'A 

 155 



Low 



iio 



8954 

 97 

 132 



HOOD RUBBER CO. 



Incorporated under the laws ni Massachusetts in 1896, this 

 company manufactures rubber boots, shoes and tires at its plant 

 at Watertown, Massachusetts. It is said to be the largest inde- 

 pendent rubber footwear company in the country, having a daily 



capacity of 75,000 pairs. The company publishes no income and 

 expense sheet, and has no funded debt. Table C will show its 

 financial position. 



TA13LE C 

 Mood 



Ciross Commtnl 7% Prcferrt-d 



Sales Stock Stock Assets Surplus 



VH'J $22,969,000 $3,000,000 $5,000,000 $16,067,000 $2,864,000 



1918 22,341,000 3,000,000 4,000,000 15,046,000 2,660,000 



1917 18,573,000 3,000,000 4,000,000 13,748,000 2,312,000 



1916 11,662,000 2,500,000 2,750,000 8,607,000 1,077,000 



1915 9,084,000 2,000,000 2,500,000 7,355,000 1,275,000 



The 7 per cent dividends have lieen regularly paid on the pre- 

 ferred stock since ISOS. Tlie common stock has been on a 12 

 per cent basis. 



On October 27, 1920, the directors voted to change the existing 

 common stock into an issue of 100,000 shares of no par value. 

 The exchange has been made on the basis of two new shares 

 for every one ($100) share held of the old stock. 



THE MILLER RUBBER CO. 



Incorporated in Ohio in 1906, this company owns The Miller 

 Rubber Company of New York and of California. It has a 

 capital stock outstanding of $10,000,000 in 1st preferred and 

 $5,060,500 in common. Par value of shares, $100. In February, 

 1920, the authorized capital was increased from $20,000,000 to 

 $60,000,000, of which $40,000,000 is to be 8 per cent cumulative 

 preferred, par $100, and $20,000,000 common stock, par $10. 

 There is no finided debt. 



TABLE D 



Miller 



\'et Earnings 



1919 $2,904,000 



191S 1,650,000 



1917 1,355,000 



Dividends 

 Paid 



^710,651 

 528,243 

 417,921 



Operating 



Surplus 



$932,896 



214,660 



413,351 



TABLE E 

 Miller 

 Pirst Prefer'-ed Second Preferred 



Common 



High 



1919 Ill 



1918 !00;4 



1917 107 



1916 112M 



1913 113'4 



Low 

 99 a^ 

 90 

 95 



113 



High 

 107 



Low 



102 



High 

 227 

 160 

 262 i/S 

 268 J^ 

 27954 



Low 



145 

 99'A 

 112 

 2A1'/, 

 193 



THE McGRAW TIRE & RUBBER CO. 



This company was incorporated in April, 1913, in Ohio. Its 

 plant at East Palestine. Ohio, has a capacity of 5,000 tires and 

 5,000 inner tubes a day. 



TABLE F 

 McGraw 



Capital Slock 



Balance 



X Sheet 



Net Profits 7% Preferred Common Assets Surplus 



1919 $380,393 $2,500,000 $496,540 $6,362,000 $1,621,000 



1918 165.131 870.00(1 1.300,000 4,970,000 495.000 



1917 726,832 1,000,000 1,333,333 5,246,000 601,000 



1916 255,442 1,000,000 1,333,333 4,852,000 261,000 



1915 312.306 500,000 750,000 



There is no funded debt on the property ; 7 per cent dividends 

 have been regularly paid on the preferred stock. On the com- 

 mon stock, whose par value was formerly $100, 12 per cent divi- 

 dends have been paid through 1919. In 1920, the common stock 

 issue was changed to 100,000 shares, no par value, and an initial 

 dividend was paid on this stock March 1, 1920, amounting to 75 

 cents a share. 



SUMMARY 



The foregoing discloses some big figures that did not exist 

 before. It discloses, for the year 1919, total assets amounting to 

 $822,820,000 and a net working capital of $333,894,000. It tells 



