470 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[July 1, 1912, 



ously, there is some reason why our exports to that 

 republic and other South American countries have not 

 yet assumed their proper pro])ortions. It is not un- 

 likely that indil^'erent manners have something to do 

 witii the smallness of these exports. 



Any salesman, who has been in his jxjsition for more 

 than a week, knows that in the domestic field, at least, 

 it is necessary for him to disjilay a certain amount 

 of courtesy to succeed. \\'hen he goes into the office 

 of a hoped-for customer he may detect many things 

 that to his mind are open to criticism ; the offic.e 

 may seem to lack system ; it may be noticeably untidy; 

 and the whole atmosphere of the place may not be at 

 all to his liking, but he is hardly likely to introduce 

 himself by saying, "Well, this certainly is a punk 

 place; 'v'ou ought to get a vacuum cleaner in here, and 

 pump it out." If he should take that tack he would 

 undoubtedly very soon leave the office, but not with 

 a large order for goods. Courtesy may not always sell 

 a bill of goods, but it invariably leaves a welcome for 

 the salesman when he comes again. And if this is true 

 at home there is every reason to think that it is equally 

 true abroad. 



New York may possess quite a numljer of distinct 

 points of advantage over Rio Janeiro, and there is no 

 harm in calling attention to this fact — when in New 

 York. But when in Rio Janeiro the case is quite dif- 

 ferent, and, obviously, it is neither good breeding nor 

 good business to boast there about American bigness 

 to the disparagement of things Brazilian. It is right, 

 of course, for the salesman to emphasize the superior 

 quality of his wares, but if he wants to make friends — 

 and customers — he will not lay too much stress on 

 home superiority in other directions, even should such 

 superiority exist. Good manners are great business 

 builders everywhere; they will do more to open up a 

 new territory than a steamship line or a thousand 

 miles of railwav. 



ing the new shares of the enlarged B. F. Goodrich 

 Co. in light of the exceptional profits made in the re- 

 cent past by the Goodrich and Diamond companies, 

 and the assurance of attractive dividends on the new 

 stock. 



But the general security market is not in the best 

 possible shape. Its present condition is similar to that 

 of three or four years ago when Mr. Morgan described 

 the financial world as "sufifering from undigested 

 securities." During the first five months of the 

 present year the new securities in the form of 

 bonds, stocks and notes offered to the investor by the 

 railroads and industrial corporations of the United 

 States amounted to over $1,200,000,000, and exceeded 

 the offerings of the same period a year ago by a quar- 

 ter of a billion. This enormous amount does not in- 

 clude State or municipal bonds issued during that time. 

 Not only has the issue of securities greatly exceeded 

 that of a year ago, but it comes at a time when the in- 

 vesting public is less than normally receptive. The 

 summer of a Presidential campaign is never a time of 

 brisk financial operations, and with the more than or- 

 dinary confusion in the present political outlook there 

 is certainly no reason to beli?ve that this summer will 

 be an exception to the rule. 



But the general financial situation will not inter- 

 fere with the success of the rubber offerings, as they 

 are exceptional in their character and stand on their 

 own merits. 



A GLUT OF SECURITIES. 



RUBBER COURSES IN LONDON. 



A 



THE new financing that is now under way for the 

 United States Rubber Co. and The B. F. Good- 

 rich Co.- gives a special interest to the general condi- 

 tion of the security market at the present time. There 

 is no doubt, whatever, about the success of these new 

 rubber offerings. The new issue of $10,000,000 pre- 

 ferred stock by the United States Rubber Co. will 

 hardly need to be underwritten, in view of the fact that complete. 



these new shares are offered to the stockholders at par. It is a distinct encouragement to the cause of rubber 

 while they are selling in the market at about $12 research to find the subject so successfully taken up 

 above par. Nor will there be any difficulty in market- in England. 



COURSE dealing with the chemistry and anal- 

 ysis of rubber has been established at the 

 Northern Polytechnic Institute, Holloway, London, 

 Mr. Frederick Kaye being in charge, with a total at- 

 tendance of 38. 



The students may be divided into three groups : 



a. Young men intending to go to Ceylon or 

 Malaya, to be attached to plantations. 



b. Men engaged in the London rubber market, 

 attached either to brokers' offices, or to those 

 of plantation companies. 



c. Men engaged in the manufacture of rubber, or 

 in London rubber warehouses. 



The first part of the course was devoted to the study 

 of crude rubber production, as well as to its analysis 

 and the estimation of the commercial value of differ- 

 ent rubbers. Attention is now being directed to meth- 

 ods of vulcanization, in addition to the physical and 

 chemical investigation of vulcanized articles. 



Next year the students will, it is expected, be able 

 to devote themselves to more thorough analytical 

 work, as the laboratorv installation will then be more 



