July 1, 1912.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



48= 



deemable at 120 at the company's option after January 1, 191S, 

 tlie holders of the present one million preferred having agreed to 

 exchange their stock share for share for new preferred. The 

 balance of the new preferred, four million, will be ofifered to the 

 common stockholders at par. The new plan is wholly separate 

 from the transfer completed some weeks ago, in which the stock- 

 holders received 100 per cent, stock dividend and rights to take 

 $340,000 treasury common stock at par. 



The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. contemplates several addi- 

 tions and two new buildings. The first will be an addition of two 

 stories to building 13, now used as a factory building. This build- 

 ing will be 296 feet x 60 feet, and of brick steel and re- 

 inforced concrete construction. Plans are being prepared for a 

 large garage, 405 feet x 78 feet, and another- new factory build- 

 nig, details of which have not been given to the public. 



Much speculation has been put forth as to the reason why The 

 B. F. Goodrich company made its cut in the price of tires at the 

 beginning of the year. The writer has been informed, upon in- 

 quiry, that some manufacturers in this country were giving dif- 

 ferent prices of tires to various dealers and that to make a regu- 

 lar price to all, so that one wholesaler would not buy at one 

 price and another at another price, The B. F. Goodrich Co. made 

 a straight cut of 15 per cent., thus enabling the small consumer 

 to stand on an equal footing with the large consumer. At the 

 same time, the price of rubber would allow a cut in the price 

 of tires, but other material and labor have not decreased in cost, 

 but, if anything, have increased in the last few years. The fact 

 that most of the rubber tire plants are, and have been for some 

 time, running two shifts and some three, that it is not their 

 policy to run night shifts unless compelled to, and the fact that 

 many of the companies are back in their orders, leads the writer 

 to believe that the demand is still greater than the supply. The 

 writer does not believe that there will be any further price war 

 between the rubber companies, at least for some time to come. 

 The demand is increasing at least as rapidly, if not more so, than 

 the supply, and the additional uses to which rubber goods are 

 put, and the amount of new articles of which crude rubber is a 

 part, that are placed on the market each year, enlarge the field 

 of this line of business. 



* * * 



Old stockholders of The B. F. Goodrich Co., of record of 

 April 6, were agreeably surprised with an additional dividend of 

 $5 per share on the old stock. This is a final dividend of the 

 old company, the cleaning up before its transformation into the 

 New York Company. This is $5 additional to what was antici- 

 pated. 



* » * 



H. B. Dodd, of this city, formerly with The Diamond Rubber 

 Co., has recently received a patent on a tire which he calls the 

 "Dreadnought," the claim for which is that it does away with the 

 inner tube. The casing is all in one piece, which grooves the bead 

 which the tire fits. The bead is held in place by a steel rim which 

 is clamped over the bead by bolts from the outside. The Dread- 

 nought tire differs from the ordinary tire in that the strips of 

 fabric in it lap around the bead and go back into the body of the 

 tire, and are thus vulcanized. Mr. Dodd is now making a test 

 trip of the tires. 



SUPPORTING LOCAL INDUSTRIES. 



An interesting feature of the recent Jersey City local exposi- 

 tion (held under the motto "Know Your City"), was the exhibit 

 of the Jersey City fire department. It included three lengths of 

 fire hose, prominently branded with the names of the Eureka 

 Fire Hose Manufacturing Company, New Jersey Car Spring and 

 Rubber Company, and Voorhees Rubber Manufacuring Com- 

 pany; all of which, it is understood, furnish hose to the local fire 

 department. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN CHICAGO. 



By a Resident Correspondent. 



RUBBER news in Chicago lies buried so deep beneath political 

 discussion at the time of writing, that it is somewhat of a 

 task to unearth it. The city is up to its neck in the Republican 

 National convention. As an instance of the present state of the 

 average business man's mind, your correspondent approached a 

 manager of a local rubber goods concern who was busily en- 

 gaged in reading a communication on his desk. "What do you 

 think of the rubber situation in Chicago just now?" was asked. 

 Without looking up and still in a brown study over the paper 

 in hand, the manager replied offhand, '"Oh, I think it'll be 



Roosevelt, don't you?" 



* * * 



Chicago weather during June has been a series of phenomenal 

 conditions, and despite this fact reports that business is good are 

 heard on all sides. Only one or two warm days have visited 

 us as yet and still for the most part the days have been bright 

 and sunny. A cool spell — some say "cold" — has struck us just 

 now and this always more or le.^j affects the rubber trade in 

 general. Tennis shoes seem to have a remarkable sale through- 

 out the Middle West and the dealers in this staple are always 

 to be found with smiling faces, except in cases where the 

 orders exceed the supply. 



* * * 



One of the interested spectators of the convention was 

 Edward R. Rice, manager of sales of the United States Rubber 

 Co. Mr. Rice, in company with Kimber L. Barton, of Kansas 

 City, Richard C. Hall, the western sales agent with headquarters 

 in Chicago, and A. F. Solbery, Mr. Hall's assistant, attended the 

 convention nearly every day. 



"It's pretty hard for me to get away from the office, too," 

 said Mr. Hall, "because our sales in tennis shoes are remarkable. 

 We have been making shipment after shipment and just simply 

 can not make them fast enough to supply the demand. It would 

 seem that with the cool weather we have been having, the de- 

 mand would not be so great, but from the number of orders 

 that are rolling in there must be some fine 'tennis' weather 

 throughout the West." 



4: ^ * 



"In spite of the cold weather we are keeping right up to the 

 standard," said A. W. Moore, local manager of the Firestone 

 Tire and Rubber Co. 



* * * 



R. T. Davis, local manager of the Boston Woven Hose and 

 Rubber Co., with offices at 667 West Lake street, has just re- 

 turned from a two weeks' visit to Boston where he attended the 

 conference of managers. He expressed himself as pleased with 

 the trip, despite the fact that he returned to find work piled 

 mountain high on his desk. 



4: * ^ 



No changes have been made in the local sales force of the 

 Diamond Rubber Co. as a result of the consolidation of that 

 company with the Goodrich people. A. S. Franklin, assistant 

 manager, reports business as "booming." 



* * * 



In speaking of the solid Staggard electric tire which the 

 Republc Rubber Co. manufactures. Manager J. W. Maguire, of 

 the local branch, declared that this tire increases the resilience 

 and adds to the comfort and enjoyment of electric motoring. 



"The studs on the tire are so arranged that the intervals be- 

 tween the studs in one row and those of the adjoining row are 

 placed at alternate distances so that the studs are always on the 

 ground as the tire revolves," he said. "This gives a smooth, 

 continuous cushion tread, the depressions or grooves between the 

 studs giving added elasticity to the tire. This makes for easy 

 and comfortable riding. Each of the studs takes ho:d on the 



