Sei'TEmber 1, 1912.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



577 



The New York Rubber Exposition. 



.AN INTERVIEW WITH MR. MANDERS. 



SHORTLY before this issue went to press a representative 

 of The Indi.\ Rubber World called upon A. Staines 

 Manders, organizing manager of the International Rubber 

 and Allied Trades Exposition, to be held in Grand Central 

 Palace, New York, from September 23 to October 2. 



The Grand Centra! Palace of New York is said to be the 

 finest exhibition building in the world. It certainly lives up to 

 its name. It is a palatial structure. It runs the whole block 

 from Forty-sixth to Forty-seventh street, is about 275 feet in 

 depth, and rises thirteen or fourteen stories high. The first three 

 floors are arranged especially for exhibition purposes and extend 

 the whole width and depth of the building. The second and 

 third floors, how- 



ever, have less 

 floor space be- 

 cause of the 

 large open court 

 in the center 

 looking down on 

 the first floor. 



Mr. Manders — 

 who may be call- 

 ed a cosmopoli- 

 lan Englishman, 

 because, though 

 a Britisher-born, 

 he has been all 

 over the world, 

 and at one time 

 lived long 

 enough in New 

 York to, at least 

 partially, Ameri- 

 canize him — was 

 found in his 

 private ofiice 

 deep in business 

 Belated exhibit- 

 ors were anx- 

 i o u s 1 y inquir- 

 ing about space ; 

 early delegates 

 from abroad 

 were calling to 

 pay their compli- 

 ments, and to get 

 the news. But 

 in due time he 

 managed to dis- 

 pose of the other 

 callers and the 

 interviewer was 

 ushered into his office. 



"Mr. Manders," began the man from The Indi.\ Rubber 

 World, "the purpose of this call is to get all possible informa- 

 tion about the exhibition- that you are organizing; but first I 

 would like to ask you how you ever came to get into this ob- 

 viously sizeable undertaking." 



"That is easy to answer," he replied. "In 1907 I was inter- 

 ested in the Travel Exhibition in London. Among the exhibits 

 from South America were two big biscuits of rubber from Brazil. 

 Some of the rubber men of England said tO: me, 'Why don't you 

 get up for us a good rubber show?' Fifteen months from that 

 time the first International Rubber Exhibition ever held was 



Ihe Gk.\nd Central Palace, New V. 



opened in London. It was in the fall of 1908. That created so 

 much interest that a repetition of it was demanded, and the 

 Second International Exhibition was held, on a much larger 

 scale than the first, in July, 1911. Then it seemed very natural 

 that the third exhibition should be held in the country, where 

 the greatest amount of rubber is consumed, for America uses as 

 much rubber as all the rest of the world besides. Moreover, 

 a good many of the American visitors to the London show said, 

 'We ought to have one.' So that is the way the New York 

 Rubber Exposition came about." 



"How is this exposition going to compare, in size, and in 

 other respects, with the two London shows?" 



"Well, in point 

 af size, it will oc- 

 cupy about four 

 times as much 

 floor space as the 

 first London 

 show, and about 

 the same floor 

 space as the last 

 London show 

 We had more 

 room in London 

 last year because 

 we occupied two 

 buildings, and 

 that enabled us to 

 spread the ex- 

 hibits a little 

 more. We used 

 there 160,000 

 square feet of 

 space, and we 

 will use here (in- 

 cluding the room 

 occupied by the 

 rubber moving 

 picture shows) 

 140.000 square 

 feet, which is the 

 total of the three 

 exhibition floors. 

 In point of ex- 

 hibits, the New 

 York show will 

 be equal in every 

 respect to the last 

 London exhibi- 

 tion — and in 

 many respects 

 superior to it. It 

 will be noticeably superior in the extent and variety of manu- 

 factured goods displayed ; and even in the crude rubber depart- 

 ment, where London was particularly strong, the New York 

 Exposition will excel in a number of features. Brazil, for 

 instance, will contribute five times as much crude rubber on 

 this occasion as it did in London. The Brazilian contributions, 

 all told, will amount to 100 tons of rubber. 



"There will be a number of working exhibits here quite 

 ahead of anything seen before. There will be an experiment 

 station, open to visitors. The United States Government will 

 have a testing plant presided over by Government, experts." 

 "How many divisions will there be in the exposition?" 



