February 1, 1912.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



215 



Thirteenth Annual Banquet of the Rubber Club of America. 



DESPITE the fact that the dinner of The Rubber Club of 

 America, held at the Waldorf-Astoria on the twelfth of 

 January-, was the thirteenth gathering of its kind, it was 

 a highly successful event, and thoroughly enjoyed by all who 

 had the good fortune to be present. 



This is one of two occasions in the year which bring together 

 members of the various branches of the rubber trade and allied 

 lines, from all over the country, for the purpose of social inter- 

 course, the renewing of old friendships, and the development of 

 many new ones. 



The purposes and general history of the club have been so 

 comprehensively exploited that it would be superfluous to in- 

 dulge in further reference thereto at this time. Suffice to say, 

 that it is the social storm center of the trade in this country ; 

 that it has done and is doing much for the promotion of good 

 fellowship ; and has likewise been a happy force in the regulation 

 of abuses and the advancement of the material interests of the 

 rubber trade. 



The members of the club and their guests commenced to gather 

 about 6 :30 p. m., with a constant increase in numbers from that 

 time on. Shortly after the hour scheduled to begin they filed into 

 the .Astor Gallery, where the ceremonies were formally opened 

 by the president of the club, Mr. Frederick C. Hood, who wel- 

 comed the members and guests, who for some indefinite period 

 thereafter discussed a most appetizing dinner. Joy was uncon- 

 fined. .\t the conclusion of the gastronomic feast Mr, Hood read 

 a very interesting paper on "The Standardization of Rubber," 

 and subsequently introduced the first invited speaker of the even- 

 ing, the Hon. John W. Weeks, Congressman from Massachusetts, 

 who favored the club with an exposition of "The Work of the 

 Monetary Commission." and whose remarks were very much en- 

 joyed and applauded. Incidental to the opening of Mr. Week's 

 speech he made an allusion to the "Kellys," which, it seems 

 rather unnecessary to state, had reference to the two immortals 

 whose tour of the dining room to highly appropriate music, has 

 become a recognized feature of Rubber Club banquets. 



Mr. Weeks was followed by William H. McElroy, whose topic 

 was "Optimism," and who amply vindicated the theory that cer- 

 tain brands of optimism are reflected in the presentation of the 

 choice of two evils, by the acceptance of both. 



Succeeding Mr. McElroy was Charles William Burrows, of 

 Cleveland, who spoke on postal problems, and dilated at length 

 on the injustice practiced by an unduly influenced postal admin- 

 istration, in its obvious partiality for publishers of periodicals to 

 the detriment of the public in general, and the bookseller in 

 particular. 



Mr. Burrows' speech concluded the addresses of an enjoyable 

 evening, which was enlivened by intermittent song, and the thir- 

 teenth annual banquet passed into the history of Rubber Club 

 celebrations. 



We give herewith in full Mr. Hood's paper and the speech 

 rnade by Congressman Weeks. 



; ADDRESS OF THE CHAIRMAN. 



FELLOW members and guests; My first pleasure is to 

 acknowledge my appreciation of the honor of being 

 your president. 

 "Each honor and each pleasure brings its responsibilities. 

 So, as I pondered over the responsibilities of the president 

 of The Rubber Club of America, I naturally turned to the 

 constitution and by-laws. The by-laws adopted for the New 

 England Rubber Club were admirably suited for the purposes 

 of that club. When the New England Rubber Club grew 

 up to manhood and became The Rubber Club of America, 

 the by-laws remained unchanged, except in some minor de- 



tails, the principal change being in Article II, which reads as 

 follows; 



"The Rubber Club of America is established for 

 the promotion of social intercourse among gentle- 

 men connected with the rubber industry, and the 

 furtherance of educational and scientific research in 

 india-rubber production and manufacture." 



This evening is an illustration of Article II. We have had 

 sociability in wine, food and song. We shall soon listen to 

 some results of research from our guests. But should this 

 club limit itself to sociability and research as its chief end 

 and sliow itself as a living creature only at one annual, for- 

 mal, midwinter dinner, and at one annual, informal midsum- 

 mer outing — enjoyable as they are and successful as they are in 

 creating and fostering not only personal but business friend- 

 ships? Are there no other useful functions? Isn't it axio- 

 matic that a thing to be permanently useful must be perma- 

 nently productive? 



It is almost paradoxical to say that when a thing stands 

 still it goes backward. The statement is. anyway, true of 

 those things that live; for a living thing that stands still 

 certainlj- goes backward in comparison with other living 

 things. 



So, as I pondered, one thing seemed clear. The responsi- 

 bilities of your president and directors are those assigned 

 by the constitution and by-laws. In December there was 

 held a meeting of the Executive Committee of the club, com- 

 posed of its directors and ofiicers, to discuss the various 

 functions that might be assumed by the club, and also to dis- 

 cuss whether it was advisable for the club to undertake the 

 assumption of other functions than those prescribed in the 

 by-laws. 



So your directors talked over several functions that the 

 club might assume for its own good, and they were clearly 

 in favor of recommending to the members that the by-laws 

 and constitution be revised. Accordingly, a committee will 

 be appointed for that purpose, in time, so that the suggestions 

 for the revision can be acted upon at the next annual meet- 

 ing of the club, to be held in .\pri! next. 



There certainly can be no objection to the club's having a 

 constitution that will permit the club to be useful as vvell as 

 ornamental. It does not have to be useful because it has 

 the power to be, any more than it is necessary to spend all 

 one's money because one has money in the bank. But we will 

 all agree that it is wise to have money in the bank, for we 

 may have use for it that cannot be foreseen. 



If the adoption of a revised constitution and by-laws would 

 tend to bring the nominating committee into a feeling of in- 

 creased responsibility, so that they would make nominations 

 that would bring in more of the men from representative 

 concerns all over the country, such a revision surely would 

 meet the approval of all of us. 



It is interesting to note that out of nine directors, four 

 are from Boston, four from New York, and one from Akron. 

 It is also interesting to note that of the two hundred and 

 sixty-four members of this club, one hundred and fifty-five 

 are from Massachusetts, fifty-two from New York, twelve 

 from Connecticut, twelve from Rhode Island, five from 

 Ohio, and three from Pennsylvania. The proportion of mem- 

 bership from Massachusetts is gratifying, but it is not pro- 

 portionately representative of the rubber industry. An effort 

 should and will be made to add to our membership men from 

 all representative concerns dealing in rubber throughout the 

 United States. If the club should decide to revise its consti- 

 tution, so that the directors could undertake the solution of 

 problems other than sociability and research, the directors 

 would probably decide whether the problem was one for 

 solution which they ought to undertake. .And if they decided 

 affirmatively they would probably appoint special commit- 

 tees adapted for work on that particular problem. 



Our common interest is rubber. So in our directors' meet- 

 ing in December, our first thoughts were of rubber, and nat- 

 urally we talked of Para rubber. We spoke of the multitude 

 of sins the words, "Para Rubber" cover. Who can say what 

 the words mean? Many would say rubber from the Hevca 

 tree. But when one says "Hevca." does he mean Hcvea 

 BrasUiensis. or some one of the nineteen other kinds of Hevea 

 mentioned in Henry Pearson's book? There are fifty-seven 

 —or, more likely, ore hundred and fifty-seven — varieties of 

 rubber that come within the law of the present definition of 



