2,2,2 



THE INDIA RUBBEIR WORLD 



[April 1. 1912 



era] ofl'iees and examination rooms. The second and third floors 

 are litted up as a hospital proper in the most up-to-date manner, 

 there being several private rooms, as well as small wards. There 

 are also accommodations for the resident nurses. The fourth 

 floor contains seven large laboratories for physical research, the 

 museum, and rooms for physicians and nurses. 



This splendid addition to the hospital will add largely to its 

 usefulness to the profession and the public, and as a monument 

 to the memory of R. D. Evans, it will be a blessing to hundreds, 



and perhaps thousands in the years to come. 



* * * 



The death recently of two members of the old auction house 

 of Johnson, Moody & Co. brings to mind the rubber shoe auc- 

 tions which were an annual feature of the trade the last quarter 

 of the nineteenth centur}-. This method of selling the excess 

 stocks of rubber footwear at the end of the season was an evolu- 

 tion from the older custom in the shoe trade of distributing these 

 goods in the most direct, though not always in the most satis- 

 factory manner. 



Shoe manufacturers, in the old days of 50 or 75 years ago, 

 brought their wares to Boston, and consigned them to auction 

 houses. The two principal ones were J. H. Lester & Co. and 

 J. J. Henry & Co. Buyers representing the wholesale shoe deal- 

 ers of the South and West attended the weekly auctions, and 

 shipped their purchases to the houses they represented. Some- 

 times a few rubber boots and shoes would be included in these 

 weekly sales. But in 1875 a large consignment of Meyer Rub- 

 bers were offered, and quickly snapped up. The success of this 

 led Johnson & Moody, who succeeded J. H. Lester & Co., to hold 

 a rubber auction in 1877, when there were offered thousands of 

 cases of rubber lioots and shoes, factory-damaged, out-of-style, 

 and left-over stock. Buyers flocked to Boston to attend the auc- 

 tion. Mr. Nazro officiated as auctioneer, and on the first day 

 for eleven hours he averaged 200 sales per hour, yet the next 

 day, and the third he kept up tlie pace, and that auction went 

 down in history as the inauguration of a new system of getting 

 rid of all manufacturers' excess stock at the end of the season. 



Each year thereafter the rubber auction was a regular estab- 

 lished feature of the footwear trade, but after a while it was 

 proven beyond a doubt that it tended to hinder the regular trade, 

 buyers holding off until the auction. One of the largest buyers 

 of these stocks was Wm. F. Mayo & Co., or their predecessors, 

 Edmonds & Mayo, and a few years ago arrangements were made 

 with this house to take and distribute such excess goods of the 

 United States Rubber Company, when the Mayos discontinued 

 their leather shoe business and have ever since dealt almost ex- 

 clusively in rubber footwear. And that was the end of the rubber 

 shoe auctions which used to bring to Boston hundreds of buyers 



from all parts of the country. 



* * * 



Francis H. Appleton is back from his Panama trip, which so 

 delighted him that he has ssnt his son, F. H., Jr., over the same 

 route and at present writing the latter is in Jamaica autoniobiling 

 over its splendid roads and enjoying its beautiful scenery. 



* * * 



The Rubber Scrap Dealers Club and the Rubber Reclaimers 

 Club will work together to secure better packing of waste rub- 

 ber, and will endeavor to eliminate some of the evils which have 



crept into the trade. 



* * * 



President Hood and Vice-President Appleton, of the Rubber 

 Club of America, attended the luncheon of the National Associa- 

 tion of Manufacturers at the Algonquin Club, March 19. 



* * * 



Wallace Page, of the Shawmut Tire Co., put up an interesting 

 and handsome exhibit at the Automobile Show, which was to 

 some extent a duplicate of that shown at the New York exhibi- 

 tion, with certain amendments and improvements. The rubber 



tree was there, with its herring-bone tapping, but the latex re- 

 fused to flow, owing to- some defect of the internal mechanism. 

 However, the public was interested in the constructional exhibit 

 of the tires, and orders are coming in for the non-skid block 

 tread tires in satisfactory amounts. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN CHICAGO. 



By a Resident Correspondent. 

 'T'HE offices of the Chicago Rubber Clothing Co. will be re- 

 *■ moved on May 1 to the eleventh floor of the new North 

 .•\merican building, South State and West Monroe streets. The 

 new building is one of the most conspicuous, from an architec- 

 tural standpoint, in the downtown district, and is located in the 

 heart of the business section. The company at present is lo- 

 cated at 208 North Fifth avenue. 



* * * 



Chicago tire men are greatly interested in the fate of a bill 

 proposed in the State of New York to compel tire makers to 

 place the date of manufacture on their products. Protests 

 against such legislation is heard on every hand. J. C. Matlack, 

 of the Ajax-Grieb Rubber Co., is one of those opposed to the bill. 



"The bill will impose an unnecessary restriction on the trade 

 and will create a false impression in the minds of dealers and 

 consumers," he said recently. "The average tire is not a bit 

 worse off for si.x months' or a year's seasoning, and probably the 

 better for it. yet the consumer, looking at the tire, is bound to 

 say : 'I don't want an old tire. Give me a fresh one, a new one.' 

 If the dealer tries to say that the tire is no worse off for being a 

 few months old, the customer will likely put his remarks down to 

 self interest. The dealer won't want to carry stock if it must 

 be dated, and so the burden will fall upon the shoulders of the 

 manufacturer. The bill is not needed, and if it becomes law will 

 give rise to a complex and difficult situation. It will not serve 



tlie public interest as far as I can see." 



* ♦ * 



The Punctureless Tire Co., of Illinois, recently moved its of- 

 fices one block south in Michigan avenue to new quarters at Nos. 

 1323-25. On account of increased business, larger offices were 

 needed, and one more room has been added in the change. The 

 concern claims that the Dahl Tire filler is the answer to the ques- 

 tion of why there has been such an increase. 



"Our newspaper advertising during the last two weeks has 

 brought us more than 4,000 inquiries, which shows that people 

 are looking for something in this line," said Mr. Hagerling. of 

 the Punctureless Tire Co. "It is an assured fact that the perfec- 

 tion of a tire filler will do a great deal to promote the use of 



motor cars." 



% * * 



W. W. Wuchter, general manager of the Swinehart Tire and 

 Rubber Co., is one of the enthusiasts on the subject of tires for 

 commercial cars. Recently he said : 



"In claiming a large share of the credit for the advancement of 

 the commercial truck industry we do not hesitate to admit that 

 tires are usually the largest item of expense connected with tlie 

 up-keep of the conunercial car. Nevertheless we have made real 

 progress toward remedying these conditions. Three years ago 

 there were no demountable tires on the market. We were con- 

 vinced that it was necessary and our present type has been on 



tlie market for nearly three years." 



* * * 



Another deal which marks the exodus of the wholesale rubber 

 goods concerns from the congested downtown district to the West 

 Side, was a recent transaction closing the lease of a four-story 

 building to be erected at 210-12 South Jefferson street to the 

 Beacon Falls Rubber Shoe Co., of Beacon Falls, Connecticut. 

 The new building will have a ground area of 70 x 150 feet and 

 will be equipped v^'ith elevators, automatic sprinklers and heating 



