170 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[January 1, 1912. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN BOSTON. 



(By a Resident Correspondent.) 

 T"" HE year just closed has been less successful than some 

 ■*• previous ones, but, on the whole, fairly satisfactory. The 

 tire business has shown a substantial increase, and individual 

 houses report a larger sale, even with the additional competition 

 of new agencies. The sales of belting, hose, packing and factory 

 supplies has totaled up well, even though there seems to be a 

 growing tendency, on the part of consumers, to buy in smaller 

 quantities, and run closer to day-by-day requirements. The 

 weather has been unusually favorable for a good demand for 

 rubber and other waterproof garments, and every manufacturer 

 of these goods has run his factory to full capacity, and many 

 could have sold much more had they been able to deliver the 

 goods. The year was an unsatisfactory one for rubber footwear, 

 as might be expected, with real winter holding off so long, and 

 the entire absence of snow during the early part of the season. 

 It is generally conceded that a snow storm in November is worth 

 two in January and three in February, to the rubber shoe trade, 

 and as there was much less advance buying last spring, because 

 of the absence of inducements, the orders came late, and some 

 of them did not come at all. But with this exception the trade 

 is doing but little grumbling and is looking for a better business 

 all around in 1912. 



* * * 



The Wilkie Rubber Company, of Lynn and Saugus, has sent out 

 a circular letter announcing the retirement of Robert J. Wilkie 

 from the treasurership of that company. His successor is Philip 

 K. Parker, formerly of the Security Trust Company, of Lynn. 

 Harvey F. Mitzel, formerly of Barberton and Akron, has been 

 made factory manager and superintendent. 



* * * 



A new arch support for the correction of foot troubles will 

 be placed on the market by the Lynn Rubber Manufacturing Com- 

 pany. Under a process patented by Dr. C. D. S. Lovell, of Lynn, 

 sponge rubber is molded and vulcanized on a last and then cov- 

 ered with leather. The company will also make rubber soles and 

 Jieels for the shoe manufacturing trade. 



* * * 



^Mention was made last month in this department of the sou- 

 venir framed in the office of Francis H. Appleton, in this city, 

 a memento of his visit to England as representative of the An- 

 cient and Honorable Artillery Company. This company plans to 

 "go over to England and make a short visit to France, to show 

 off their tar-bucket chapeaux, blue tail-coats and pearl-colored 

 pants." An insular and continental trip is planned, and the above 

 briefly describes the new uniform which is proposed, and will 

 probably be adopted. It is interesting to note that a regular 

 part of this uniform will be a rubber cape sufficiently large to 

 protect the new clothing and accountrements from the showers 

 and fogs which may be encountered on the various marches to 

 be taken during the journey abroad. 



* * * 



For more than half a century the ultimate consumer of rubber 

 goods of almost any description, from a submarine diver's suit to 

 a fine-tooth comb has been able to supply his wants in this line 

 on School street. At one time there were three competing rubber 

 stores, all run by H's, Hall, Hodgman and Hayes. Two of these 

 disappeared from this locality years ago, but the "Goodyear 

 Rubber House" removed from the old church building only last 

 month, driven out by the march of progress and the increased 

 cost of doing business under the shadow of City Hall and the 

 uptown trend of retail trade. The new location is at 46 Boylston 

 street, a few doors above the C. J. Bailey establishment. Robert 

 Josselyn, the proprietor, has been connected with the rubber trade 

 all of his business life. At the age of 17 he went to work in the 



Hall rubber store. Then he ran a branch store for Mr. Hall in 

 Washington until after the war, when he again came to the 

 Boston store. He was with C. M. Clapp nine years, and after a 

 few years in Detroit, came back and formed the partnership of 

 Josselyn & Conant, and bought out the Hall store in 1879, since 

 which time he has run the business uninterruptedly, buying out 

 his partner twenty-four years ago. Mr. Josselyn's billheads 

 describe him as a jobber and retailer of rubber goods, although 

 his business is principally retail, and his new location is in a sec- 

 tion where retail trade is growing more and more every year. 

 His billheads still bear the imprint of the old wood-cut, used a 

 half-century ago by Mr. Hall, showing the contrast between the 

 man who wears a rubber coat and the one who doesn't, but it 

 may be needless to say that if the picture is old-fashioned, the 

 new store is up to date in all essential particulars. 



* * * 



The annual meeting of the Boston Belting Company was held 

 December S and 6, at which -the officers and directors were re- 

 elected. A list of the officers, together with the company's bal- 

 ance sheet on September 30 last, will be found on another page 

 under "News of the American Rubber Trade." 



* * * 



This is the bowling season, and all the alleys are being worked 

 to full capacity. The Rubber Tire Bowling League, comprising 

 eight teams of five men each, together with several substitutes, 

 has been formed, and is already busy at Trinity Court bowling 

 alleys. The tire companies forming the league are the Good- 

 rich, Diamond, Goodyear, Fisk, Firestone, Kelley, Springfield, 

 United States, Swinehart and Republic, the two last combining 

 forces and entering one team. Great rivalry is manifested and 

 some excellent scores are already recorded. 



The tournament is to last fourteen weeks, and a prize of the 

 value of $80 is to go to the winning team, besides $20 for indi- 

 vidual high average, $20 for individual three string, and $20 for 

 individual single string. 



* * * 



The Boston Woven Hose & Rubber Company has acquired the 

 old Hayden mill in Plymouth, Massachusetts, which has an ex- 

 cellent water power. The company will make such changes as may 

 be necessary to install an electric generating plant, to furnish 

 power which will be conveyed by cables to the company's factory 

 at Russell's Mills, a village not far from the newly acquired 

 property. 



* * * 



An interesting feature of the recital of the Maiden Musical 

 Club on the evening of December 20, was the presentation of an 

 original play, the text of which was read by the authoress, while 

 the incidental music was rendered by the orchestra, and the songs 

 sung by the club members and chorus. The whole work, dra- 

 matic and musical, is by Mrs. Harry E. Converse, wife of Col. 

 H. E. Converse, of the United States Rubber Co., and daughter 

 of the late John H. Parker, whose leather-soled rubber boots 

 made him well known in the trade. 



* * * 



A gentleman who accompanied Colonel S. P. Colt on his trip 

 to Europe last year, says that Russia has America "skun a mile" 

 in the size and importance of its rubber factories. One which 

 they visited and inspected in St. Petersburg, has a force of em- 

 ployes numbering between 8,000 and 9,000. The daily output 

 of boots and shoes is an average of 75,000 pairs. There is a sim- 

 ilar large output of mechanical goods and druggists' specialties, 

 and again an equal value in the production of clothing. The 

 concern did a business of $28,000,000 in 1909, and on this amount 

 they were taxed 28 per cent, by the government, but in spite of 

 this handicap, the year was a very profitable one, owing to the 

 heavy protective tariff, on imported manufactures of rubber. 

 "W^e saw much of the factory, though there were some things 

 we didn't see, which we would like to have seen, yet we consid- 



