190 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[January 1, 1912. 



The Obituary Record. 



ALBERT FISCHER. 



ALBERT FI.SniER, president of the St. p.„,l Rubber Co., St. 

 Paul, Minnesota, and for many years widely and favorably 

 known in tlie rubber footwear jobbing trade, died of apo- 

 plexy, in St. Paul, on December 12. lie liad ])een in poor health 

 for a year, but was about the city as usual on the afternoon pre- 

 ceding liis death. 



Albert Fischer. 



He was born in St. Paul 50 years ago, attended the public 

 schools until he was 18 years of age, when he entered the 

 employ of Ranney & Hodgnian, dealers in rubber goods. He 

 became connected with the firm in 1889, and in 1895, when the 

 company was reorganized and became the St. Paul Rubber Co., 

 he was elected its president. He was prominent in public and 

 business afifairs, being a member of the Minnesota, Commercial 

 and Town and Country clubs, the Junior Pioneers and Elks. 



The funeral was held at the Cathedral December 14. Eight 

 employes of the company acted as pallbearers. They were 

 A. C. Kreiger, H. N. Hodgman, L. G. Schackford, D. McGrath, 

 A. W. Smith, James Phillips, W. D. Fritz and F. T. Pfeififer. 



JOHN A. C. HAMILL. 



John A. C. Hamill, well known as an expert in the rubber busi- 

 ness, and at one time proprietor of a small rubber factory on 

 Bristol Neck, in the town of Bristol, where the National India 

 Rubber Co.'s plant is located, died at the home of his sisters, 

 Lincoln avenue, that town, December 6. He was born in New 

 York fifty years years ago. 



Mr. Hamill went to Bristol with his parents when young, and 

 was employed after leaving school at the factory of the National 

 India Rubber Company. Clothing of rubber fabric was his 

 specialty. About twenty years ago he accepted a position as su- 

 perintendent of a rubber factory at Liverpool, England. After 

 several years abroad he returned to Bristol, but later was superin- 

 tendent of the Chicago Rubber Company's plant at Racine, Wis- 

 consin. 



Besides a widow, he is survived by two brothers, Michael Ham- 

 ill, a government employe at Panama, and Dr. William H. T. 

 Hamill, a physician at Phillipsdale, Rhode Island, and four sis- 

 ters, Mrs. John J. Hughes, of Stamford, Connecticut ; the Misses 

 Katherine, Molly and Margaret Hamill, of Bristol. 



The funeral was held December 9 at St. Mary's Churcli, Bristol, 

 follow'ing services at his home. 



Mr. llamill's life was not without its romantic side, for during 

 a brief period he was one of the most prominent baseball players 

 in the country. Lyman Bean, of Fall River, discovered him play- 

 ing amateur ball at and around Bristol, and in 1884 secured for 

 him a position as pitcher for the Washington Nationals, of the 

 Union Association. He was a star widely talked about during 

 that season, but dropped out of sight at the end of the summer 

 when his team disbanded. During one famous game at New York 

 he was carried of? the field on the shoulders of his fellow-players, 

 and was later presented a testimonial which his widow still pos- 

 sesses. 



DR. EUGEN DE HAEN. 



Closely following upon the celebration of the firm's golden 

 jubilee comes the sad intelligence of the death, on November 

 16, of Dr. Eugen De Haen, founder of the well-known German 

 chemical factory of E. de Haen, Seelze near Hannover. He had 

 attained the age of 76, and by his careful and energetic manage- 

 ment had achieved for his firm an international reputation, par- 

 ticularly in the rubber industry. 



PAVING STONES AND RTTBBEH. 



While dealers in the crude article have of late received many 

 complaints of the substitution of stones for rubber, with the 

 object of concealing false weights, it has been hitherto assumed 

 that the fraud had been committced either on board the vessel 

 which carried the merchandise, or before the shipment had been 

 made. It was reserved for a New York dealer to lately run a 

 specific complaint to earth, with the result that the responsibil- 

 ity was placed upon the trucking firm which had carried the 

 rubber from the steamship dock in South Brooklyn to the 

 freight yard of the New York Central. Upon being unpacked, 

 two paving stones, weighing 70 pounds, were discovered. 



From the stones being undoubtedly Belgian paving blocks, 

 which are not used in Para, and from their similarity to those 

 common at New York, suspicion was at once directed to the 

 handling of the rubber here. Upon investigation it was found 

 that the truck driver had been discharged, by reason of his not 

 having been able to account for a delay of two hours on his 

 trip. It was evidently during that time that the substitution 

 had been made. The South American shipper was therefore 

 exculpated. 



phenomenal prosperity of tire companies. 



The season just closed has been by far the most prosperous in 

 the history of the tire industry. One company alone, and this an 

 independent company, is said to be producing at the rate of 

 750,000 tires a year. It is believed that the tire output for 1912 

 will amount to $140,000,000. This prosperity is reflected in the 

 dividend returns of the diflFerent companies. The Boston News 

 Bureau has the following to say on this phase of the matter : 



"A glance at the financial 'log' of the tire companies reveals 

 almost uniform prosperity. Both the Goodyear and Diamond 

 companies have in the recent past distributed stock dividends of 

 100 per cent, each to stockholders, not to mention extra cash 

 disbursements. The B. F. Goodrich Co. last year paid a 20 per 

 cent, stock dividend, of $2,000,000 preferred stock, and it is be- 

 lieved that the company's shareholders are in line for another and 

 similar division of profits before long. And it is quite generally 

 accepted that the phenomenal earnings of its tire organization had 

 a very close connection with the recent inauguration of common 

 dividends by the United States Rubber Co." 



