Apbil 1, 1921 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



521 



Authoritative reports gave the number of tires in the hands of 

 the manufacturers at the beginning of the year as 4,648,060. The 

 first indication that the factory surplus was about used up came 

 when it became known that The Miller Rubber Co. was rushing 

 tires from distant branches to meet urgent orders at the factory. 

 Other companies have nut issued the same reports, but if the 

 dealers persist in living from hand to mouth it is certain that 

 the manufacturers will not put high-priced materials into manu- 

 factured goods and wait until the consumer gets ready to make 

 his purchases. 



If the first few weeks in April indicate that the dealer is ready 

 to place orders for stock, the companies will speed up production 

 accordingly. If, however, the hand to mouth policy continues, two 

 months will see a clamoring for goods, in the opinion of rubber 

 manufacturers. 



The Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. reports that the monthly 

 business of the compa:iy will probably run very close to 

 $6,000,000. This spurt is taking place with labor costs decreased 

 both by a 30 per cent increase in labor efficiency and a 20 per 

 cent reduction in wages, so that the business will be very profit- 

 able. The factory is working two eight-hour shifts and will step 

 up production with definite assurance on the part of the trade that 

 buying has started. The company has notified dealers of a 

 decrease in the price of tires, the percentage not being announced. 

 The increase in the Firestone business followed the increased pro- 

 duction at the Ford automobile plant in Detroit, Michigan, with 

 which the Firestone plant is closely connected. 



The Miller Rubber Co., in spite of the passing of the pre- 

 ferred dividend, has added a few men in the tire department 

 following the reemployment of 500 men two months ago for the 

 sundry and heel department. With $2,000,000 on deposit and 

 only $10,000,000 preferred stock outstanding, the company believed 

 it wise to conserve liquid capital resources by deferring payment 

 of the preferred dividends. Few of the stockholders in Akron 

 took exception to the action, because the statement was clean 

 cut throughout, and they know the conservative policy of the 

 company. The fact that an inventory shrinkage of $3,409,037 

 was written ofT makes it clear that the same policy of thorough- 

 ness ruled in this action. 



The company now has current assets of $14,000,000, and aggre- 

 gate current liabilities of $8,676,000. 



The net loss for 1920, following the write-off, is given by 

 William Pfeififer as $617,878. The net profits before inventory 

 write-off were $2,791,158.94, all earned during the first six months 

 of the year. The sales during the past year jumped $4,000,000 

 not quite as large an increase as previous years have shown, 

 from approximately $27,000,000 for the previous year. This is 

 During 1920 the company retired the old first and second pre- 

 ferred and issued $10,000,000 of the new 8 per cent preferred 

 stock. 



The Portage Rubber Co. has doubled its production to 600 

 tires a day, to take care of orders received from unexpected 

 quarters in the East. The company has enough orders on the 

 books to keep going for several months. 



Walter W. Evans has lieen made manager in charge of mechani- 

 cal goods development for The B. F. Goodrich Co., with head- 

 quarters in Akron. 



The largest single shipment of tires this year is said to have 

 been made by The B. F. Goodrich Co. to tlie Ford Motor Co. 

 The shipment contained 30,000 tires. 



W. N. Fitch, former Goodrich safety man, heads the Chamber 

 of Commerce committee, which will establish a safety club. 

 The campaign for members will be unique in that membership 

 certificates will be sent prospective members in the first letter, 

 permitting the prospects either to sign or destroy their member- 

 ship cards. 



E. C. Shaw, formerly vice-president of The B. F. Goodrich 

 Co., and for the past few years a leader in health work in .Mcron 



and Summit County, has been made a member and later elected 

 chairman of the Ohio Board of Administration, which will have 

 control of all penal and corrective institutions under a reorgan- 

 ized plan of state government. 



More than $20,000,000 worth of public work ready to be 

 resumed or undertaken with the coming of warm weather, 

 together with the men put on in the Akron rubber plants, will 

 clear the streets of unemployed men and women. Every effort 

 is being made, however, by city and rubber company officials to 

 prevent an influx of men into Akron. Chances for single men 

 to obtain work in Akron will be very limited in the future. It 

 will be the policy of the manufacturers to assist in building a 

 stable city by the exclusive employment of married men as far 

 as possible. 



The Amazon .Rubber Co., Akron, announces that production 

 has been increased by at least 60 per cent, and that within the 

 near future the plant will be back on its normal production 

 basis. 



The McAdoo-Akron Co., Akron, manufacturer of rubber 

 gloves and sundries, was recently placed in receivership under 

 Walter Akers, an Akron insurance and business man. 



Scott D. Kenfield, Akron attorney and former city solicitor, 

 has been named receiver for the Supreme Cord Tire & Rubber 

 Co. The receivership was asked following the alleged abscond- 

 ing of a company official with one thousand dollars, according 

 to court records. 



Robert S. Wilson, formerly manager of the truck tire depart- 

 ment of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Akron, has been 

 named manager of the Chicago division of the sales department 

 following the death of Herbert Ziegler, who was for many years 

 in charge of the office. George E. Bruner, manager of the service 

 department, has been named successor to Mr. Wilson. E. J. 

 Samuels, manager of the organization division, has been 

 appointed to take charge of inside sales at New York. 



George C. Winchel, M. E., consulting and designing engineer, 

 600 Second National building, Akron, Ohio, graduated from 

 Carnegie Tech, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He has been asso- 

 ciated with The B. F. Goodrich Rubber Co. and The Goodyear 

 Tire & Rubber Co. as designer, plant engineer and research 

 engineer for a total of twelve years. His last industrial connec- 

 tion was as mechanical engineer with the Woodard Machine 

 Co., Wooster, Ohio, manufacturer of rubber plant machinery 

 and equipment. Mr. Winchel does not intend to specialize in any 

 particular work, but will handle all branches of rubber plant 

 design pertaining to buildings and equipment. 



The State Savings & Trust Co., Akron, and the Merchants 

 National Bank, Massillon, Ohio, receivers for The Biltwell Tire 

 & Rubber Co., Barberton, Ohio, report considerable loss on 

 account of the shrinkage in inventory and general expense of 

 maintaining the company under the receivership. The company 

 is considered in bad shape financially. 



At the annual meeting held February 14, 1921, of The Mohawk 

 Rubber Co., Akron, the following officers were reelected : R. M. 

 Pillmore, president ; S. S. Miller, vice-president and factory 

 manager; C. W. McLaughlin, vice-president and treasurer; 

 M. E'. Mason, vice-president and sales manager; P. H. Goodall, 

 secretary; W. J. Cope and R. E. Bloch, assistant treasurers. 

 The directors were as follows : ,R. M. Pillmore, J. K. Williams, 

 M. E. Mason, C. W. McLaughlin, S. S. Miller, H. L. Rose, 

 George A. Parker and Francis Seiberling. 



Recently The Akron Industrial Salvage Co., Akron, changed its 

 charter from the type of a cooperative company, capitalized at 

 $25,000, each stockholder being allowed one vote only, and each 

 stockholder being allowed to hold not in excess of ten shares, to 

 a capital of $500,000 without the above restrictions. The reason 

 for the large increase is that the company contemplates the pur- 



