April i, 1904.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



247 



of the two companies together. The Camp Rubber Co. is now 

 one of the principal industries of Ashland, and the Faultless 

 Rubber Company of this city, while not as large as some of the 

 companies which carry on the manufacture of tires, is an im- 

 portant concern, and growing rapidly. Under the able man- 

 agement of Mr. T. W. Miller, it has developed into one of 

 the best paying rubber plants in Akron. 



* * ♦ 



Judge Hayden, sitting in the court of common pleas of Sum- 

 mit County on March 6, rendered a decision, which, if sus- 

 tained by the higher courts, will allow Harvey L. Miller to ex- 

 amine the books and records of the Miller Rubber Manufac- 

 turing Co. at his pleasure. The troubles of Mr. Miller in 

 connection with the Miller company are of long standing. At 

 the present time a suit is pending in common pleas court here 

 against Mr. Miller, filed by Mr. Jacob Pfeiffer, Jr., president 

 and treasurer of the Miller company, in which he seeks to have 

 stock in the Miller company now held by Mr. Miller, returned 

 to the company. Mr. Miller filed a suit against the local com- 

 pany, alleging that he is unable to see the books of the com- 

 pany, although he is the holder of 189 shares of their capital 

 stock. His contention was sustained by Judge Hayden, who 

 held that he has a perfect right to see the books, and that the 

 company have no right to prevent him from doing so. The 

 company will carry the case to the circuit court. 



» • * 



The long delayed orders for automobile tires are at last be- 

 ginning to come in, and tire manufacturers expect to be very 

 busy from this on to the end of the season. As has been pre- 

 viously stated in The India Rubber World, the selling pool 

 of the tire manufacturers resulted in a backward season, owing 

 to the agreement to change the policy of credits on tires. Auto- 

 mobile manufacturers who in the past began to lay in a supply 

 of tires in January, refused to do so under the terms of the sell- 

 ing pool, and as a consequence the tire business so far this year 

 has been practically at a standstill. It is now beginning to pick 

 up, and it is expected that from this time the tire makers will 

 be very busy. The present high prices of crude rubber will 

 make it imperative, the tire manufacturers say, to increase the 

 price of tires if a profit is to be made on them. So far there 

 has been no advance in the price of tires. The prices of other 

 rubber goods still remain the same, but it is hinted that they 



will be advanced soon unless the price of crude rubber drops. 



* * * 



The St. Mungo Manufacturing Co., of England, who former- 

 ly manufactured the Kempshall golf ball in England, have en- 

 tered into an agreement with the Haskell Golf Ball, of Akron, 

 by which they have become licensees of the Haskell ball. Mr. 

 B. G. Work, of the Haskell company informs The India Rub- 

 ber World that this is the case. The business of the Haskell 

 company is increasing in a manner that is most pleasing to the 

 company, and the litigation over patents has been amicably ad- 

 justed. 



* * * 



The first annual report of the secretary of the Employers' 

 Association of Akron, Ohio, and vicinity, shows a growth in 

 membership from 29 to 92 firms, including representatives of 

 practically every industry in Akron, and firms employing on an 

 average about 10,000 hands. The report expresses satisfaction 

 with the work done by the association, in bringing about a bet- 

 ter understanding between employers and employes in a num- 

 ber of cases where trouble was threatened. Since the associa- 

 tion was formed a national organization, on similar lines, has 

 come into existence, with which the Akron association is now 

 affiliated. 



At a meeting of the directors of the Second National Bank, 

 of Akron, on March I, Colonel George T. Perkins retired from 

 the office of president, in favor of Mr. Henry Robinson, but he 

 remains a member of the board. The reasons for this step 

 were suggested in the last India Rubber World. Colonel 

 Perkins continues, of course, in the presidency of The B. F. 

 Goodrich Co. 



Mr. C. C. Goodrich, assistant superintendent of The B. F. 

 Goodrich Co., is having in course of construction a 30 HP. auto- 

 mobile of novel design, which he had planned, by the Smetzer 

 Automobile Co., of Akron. 



Mr. B. G, Work, vice president of The B. F. Goodrich Co., 

 and his wife have returned from an extended trip in the south. 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN CHICAGO. 



BY A RESIDENT CORRESPONDENT. 



TO the Editor of The India Rubber World : Weather 

 conditions continue to interfere with rubber dealers in 

 the middle west. The tire men are simply resting on their oars, 

 waiting for good roads and pleasant weather to open up the 

 automobiling season, while those handling garden hose and 

 similar lines, are hoping for an early and dry summer. Both 

 the tire men and the rubber hose dealers say that while the 

 outlook is for an exceptionally heavy season when once it 

 opens up, the bad weather has delayed shipments for a month 

 to six weeks. 



Among the Chicago rubber men the only branch of the trade 

 that shows any unusual activity is that handling the rubber and 

 combination footwear. The shoe men have been enjoying a 

 harvest the like of which they have not seen in twenty years in 

 this section. The weather conditions, while not so conducive 

 to a heavy trade during January and the early part of Febru- 

 ary, have been almost ideal for a heavy trade since the middle 

 of February. The heavy snow which had covered the ground 

 for nearly ten weeks began to melt, and when there is a thaw 

 in Chicago rubber boots and overshoes are the only things that 

 will insure dry feet, and frequently the overshoe proves inade- 

 quate because of the overflowing gutters and sewers. No sooner 

 had the second snow melted than heavy and almost daily rain 

 set in and the accumulations of mud made the streets all that 

 could be desired from the rubber shoe dealers' point of view. 



But the continued high price of cotton duck and of crude 

 rubber is still causing consumers of mechanical rubber goods 

 to hold back. They cannot get the notion out of their heads 

 that this high price is only the result of manipulation in the 

 cotton market, and that with the downfall of Sully prices will 

 decline. Local manufacturers and manufacturers' agents failed 

 to overcome this, and hence the last two months have been ex- 

 ceedingly quiet ones in those lines. 



Western manufacturers generally have been quietly shoving 

 up prices to offset the big advance in raw material. The local 

 representatives declare that so far they have been exceedingly 

 successful in this effort to raise prices. This is done on new 

 contracts, and the increase varies from 10 to 20 per cent. 



R. T. Whelpley, manager of The B. F. Goodrich Co. (Akron) 

 declares that unless the summer is far different from what is 

 expected, this will be one of the greatest seasons for the sale of 

 garden hose and that class of goods Chicago dealers have had 

 in many years. Orders on the waiting list indicate that the 

 volume of the garden hose business for the coming season will 

 exceed any previous year. The last two years have been excep- 

 tionally wet, and hence poor ones for this trade. This year 

 everyone is counting on a dry season, but just why none are 

 able to say. 



