THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[October 1, 1911. 



pound; it is equally true that it has recently told for 

 one-third of that amount, but it is not safe to draw a 

 deduction from these facts that it costs only one-third 

 as much now to make shoes as it did eighteen months 

 ago. 



As a matter of fact, it is probably safe to say that 

 not an ounce of $3 rubber or rubber anywhere in that 

 vicinity went into footwear, and it is probably equally 

 safe to say that no rubber at the recent low prices has 

 been used in footwear manufacture. The highest- 

 priced rubber that went into boots and shoes during 

 the $3 period would probably be in the neighborhood 

 of $2.25, and it is an equally safe conjecture that the 

 footwear now on the market contains very little rub- 

 ber that cost the manufacturer less than $1.45. It 

 would be safe to strike an average of about $1.75. 

 So if the manufacturers were to drop their prices even 

 in a remote proportion to the drop in crude prices, 

 they would be selling at a loss. 



To be sure, the price lists of the "Tennis" lines, 

 issued September 1, show moderate reductions in cer- 

 tain lines, running in some shoes as high as 10 per 

 cent., but the "Tennis" shoe is not a large consumer 

 of rubber, as compared with all-rubber shoes, and espe- 

 cially as compared with the heavier varieties of 

 rubber footwear, like the lumbermen's gocfds and 

 boots. The "Tennis" line, therefore, cannot properly 

 be taken as a criterion for the general footwear line. 



THE SELF-DECEIVED SUGGESTOR. 



nPHE suggestive individual is not to be frowned upon. 

 * He has a large place in modern affairs and should 

 be encouraged. His efforts whether of value or not, 

 should receive adequate thanks, but— that is all. This 

 thought is prompted by certain claims advanced by a 

 brilliant young rubber man for a share in a machine, 

 the invention of which he suggested. The business and 

 industrial world is full of such complacent individuals 

 who doubtless really did suggest improvements of greater 

 or less value and then their effort stopped. Then when 

 after experiment, partial failure and expenditure of 

 brain tissue and money, some worker perfects an inven- 

 tion, the suggestor lays claim to the idea and would if 

 he could share in both its glory and profit. To all of us 

 comes the temptation to say, "I suggested that years 

 ago," but it is one that none but the self-deceived will 

 give voice to. Hundreds suggested a Brooklyn bridge, 

 tunnels under the North River, flying machines, wireless 



telegraphy, rubber plantations. Their equity in those 



accomplishments is absolutely nothing. To suggest a 



million dollars is not to create one cent. Suggest and — 

 forget it. 



A DECADE OF AMERICAN RUBBER EXPORTS. 



' I 'HE tabulation showing manufactured rubber ex- 

 ■*■ ports from this country for the last ten years, 

 that appeared in the September number of this publi- 

 cation (page 504), is interesting as showing what is 

 being done in an exceedingly important department of 

 rubber manufacture. That table shows that there has 

 been an increase of exports in practically all lines of 

 rubber manufacture, but that the increase has not been 

 uniform among the different lines. The exports of 

 belting, packing and hose, for instance, increased from 

 a value of $634,146 for the year ending June 30, 1902, 

 to $2,163,416 for the year ending June 30, 1911— an 

 increase of 250 per cent. Another interesting feature 

 of the exports in these particular goods lies in the fact 

 that the increase was uniform during the entire ten 

 years, each year showing an advance over its prede- 

 cessor. 



In boots and shoes there was an increase from a 

 value of $1,046,315 to $2,219,480, or an advance in sales 

 of over 100 per cent. The increase in these goods was 

 not uniform, however. The first five years showed a 

 continuous growth in exports, but in the sixth year 

 there was a drop. Another advance took place in the 

 seventh year, with a drop in 1909 to approximately the 

 same figures as were shown in 1905. 1910 showed, 

 however, a marked increase, which continued in the 

 year ending with last June. 



The growth of exports in all other rubber goods, 

 exclusive of the lines mentioned above, was quite 

 marked — the figure advancing from $1,781,941 for the 

 year ending June 30, 1902, to $6,564,402 for the year 

 ending with last June, thus showing an increase of 

 about 300 per cent. The exports in these lines show 

 a steady advance from year to year, as in the case of 

 belting, packing and hose. 



Now, the first feature of these tabulations to attract 

 attention, is the fact that the increase in rubber foot- 

 wear exports has not kept pace with the increase of 

 exports in other goods. Exports of boots and shoes 

 barely did more than double in the last ten years, while the 

 foreign sales of belting, packing and hose increased nearly 

 three and one-half times, and of other rubber goods 



