254 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[April i, 1904. 



jobbers to take all they could get from the factories. Now, at 

 the end of the winter, nobody, retailer, jobber, or manufacturer, 

 has any goods on hand. It is a lovely situation for the man in 

 the business. The past season has not only been the best we 

 have had, but the character of the weather has been such that 

 an enormous quantity of heavy goods was taken. The snow 

 has been deep all over New England and the Eastern states, 

 and light shoes did not answer. The people had to buy arctics 

 and felt lined shoes and boots. The sale of boots was not only 

 larger than ever before known, but the buyers were not even 

 satisfied with the ordinary short boots but wanted the ' storm ' 

 goods — those that come up to the thigh. There are practically 

 no boots to be had anywhere now. These goods are of course 

 high priced and so the volume of business is largely swelled, 

 and in addition to that the quantity of rubber used was greatly 

 increased. The demand for rubber to replace these heavy 

 goods will be tremendous, and I do not look for much lower 

 prices. Right now the jobbers are busy taking orders from the 

 retailers, and they have their hands full placing them. I have 

 never known such a demand for goods, and I have never 

 known the jobber to have so few goods to sell. 



"There is another branch of the trade that has grown enor- 

 mously, entirely apart from the question of weather. This is 

 the tennis shoe business. In all lines of these goods, for tennis, 

 boating, bowling, hand ball, or any other athletic sport, the de- 

 velopment is phenomenal. The old leather shoe with a coating 

 of rubber on its sole is no longer in vogue. People now want the 

 regular canvas shoe with an all rubber sole, and the factories 

 making these goods are very much rushed. Prices on all this 

 class of goods have been advanced very considerably, but that 

 is not in any way diminishing the orders. The 'Champion' 

 tennis shoe, which may be regarded as a standard, has hereto- 

 fore always retailed to thecustomer at 5ocents. He will prob- 

 ably have to pay 65 for it this season, and even at that there is 

 not a great deal in it for the retail dealer. High prices of ma- 

 terial are of course responsible for these increases, but in an ar- 

 ticle in such popular demand it will not cause any falling off in 

 sales. If a tennis player needs a shoe he will not go without it 

 on account of a few cents additional cost. The sale of this kind 

 of shoe is. fully five times as great now as it was five years 

 ago, and is increasing all the time. The increase in boating 

 and bowling and the development of basket ball and other 

 gymnasium games is responsible for this growth. I look for 



it to continue." 



» * ♦ 



In the retail trade the same report was made as to the de- 

 pletion of stocks of rubber shoes on account of the strenuous 

 winter weather. The managers of the shoe departments of 

 several of the large New York stores reported to a repre- 

 sentative of The India Rubber World that they had been 

 kept more than busy keeping any goods at all on their count- 

 ers. There was not a variation in the statement that the de- 

 mand for rubber footwear had been unparalleled. 



" What would you expect ? " asked the shoe man at one of 

 the largest department stores. "When we have had four solid 

 months of snow and slush and ice in the city — not here on the 

 avenue or on Broadway, where the street cleaners are frequent- 

 ly seen, but in the streets where most of the people live — 

 it is not surprising that retail merchants are out of goods. 

 My stock that I had set aside for the winter was gone by 

 January 1, and since then I have sent in many emergency 

 orders and have bought repeatedly, but still I have only a 

 few odds and ends left. The demand has been continu- 

 ous and it began before Thanksgiving. All kinds of rubber 

 goods have sold unusually well, but of course footwear has been 



most active. A mild winter, even when there is snow and wet, 

 does not force the people to buy, because as long as it is mild 

 they think the moisture will not last long and they can get along 

 without rubbers. But when the snow falls, and then falls and 

 falls again without melting, and the temperature remains below 

 freezing, and the streets remain icy, no makeshifts will do, and 

 they rush for rubber shoes. I know the jobbers are out of 

 goods on account of the difficulty of buying, and I know the re- 

 tailers are out of goods on account of my own condition, but I 

 look for big sales to consumers next year, and I am going 

 to order heavily. It is inevitable that with such continuous 

 bad weather that the rubber shoes and boots in the hands 

 of the users have been largely worn out. People who had 

 rubber footwear at the beginning of the season, or who bought 

 early in the season, have undoubtedly worn out what they had, 

 and while many are stretching along in a dilapidated condi- 

 tion because spring is at hand, they will be compelled to buy 

 again as soon as the first storms come in the fall. For this 

 reason I do not feel that the retailers need believe that the 

 public is stocked up. While the dealers have sold out, the 

 users have worn out, so everybody will have to start fresh. 

 I look for big sales next November and December, unless the 

 weather is abnormally dry and pleasant." 



» » * 

 A Boston report states: "The leather shoe trade has suf- 

 fered and the rubber footwear trade has gained by the weather 

 since the middle of November. Throughout the West the de- 

 mand for rubbers started in early but in the Eastern section of 

 the country there was no rush to the demand until just after 

 Christmas, and from that time to this it has been necessary to 

 wear rubbers almost every day. Old shoes have been good 

 enough to wear under rubbers. This is where the shoe trade 

 have been badly hit." 



A Baltimore report says: " Since the fire there has been an 

 unusual demand for rubber shoes, due to the inclement weather, 

 particularly of the past few days, and also to the fact that few 

 car lines are running, and consequently people have had to 

 walk. Many of the retail rubber houses were burned out, and 

 a shortage resulted, which has been very hard to fill." 



* * * 



UNITED STATES RUBBER CO. 

 The company have retired another $1,000,000 of the 5 per 

 cent, funding notes issued in 1902, leaving $10,000,000 due in 

 March, 1905, which remainder, it is understood, have been 

 funded into bonds running to 1908. The object of these notes 

 was to retire the former floating debt of the company and the 

 constituent companies, and to provide working capital, and the 

 result has been to strengthen the financial position of the com- 

 pany, that it is now confidently expected that a diversion of a 

 portion of the net earnings to the shareholders may be possible 

 this year. The suggestion is made that the company may be 

 able to put the preferred shares on a 4 per cent, dividend basis. 

 One favorable situation is that the company has made a new 

 departure, to the extent that they have reserved the right this 

 year to advance the prices of goods or may be warranted by an 

 advance in the cost of raw materials. Last year, while adhering 

 throughout to prices made at the beginning of the year, al- 

 though the volume of business was exceptionally large, the com- 

 pany was prevented from securing an adequate profit on the 

 business. 



The Russian-American India-Rubber Co. (St. Petersburg) 

 have been permitted to transfer from their reserve fund, of 2,- 

 030,081 rubles, to their capital stock account, 1,500,000 rubles. 



